Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Still Sensible

(2,870 posts)
Mon Feb 18, 2013, 11:49 PM Feb 2013

Sheriff Says Spontaneous Human Combustion Kills Man

Source: KFSM (CBS Affiliate)

Sheriff Ron Lockhart said his office is investigating whether a Sequoyah County, Okla., man died after spontaneously bursting into flames.

“This is a case that I’ve never seen before,” said Lockhart.

The sheriff said 65-year-old Danny Vanzandt’s death might be a rare case of spontaneous human combustion.


Read more: http://5newsonline.com/2013/02/18/spontaneous-human-combustion-kills-sequoyah-county-man-sheriff-says/



Certainly a weird one....
22 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Sheriff Says Spontaneous Human Combustion Kills Man (Original Post) Still Sensible Feb 2013 OP
Was he a drummer for Spinal Tap? The Velveteen Ocelot Feb 2013 #1
Saw a documentary about this many years ago (gross alert) Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #2
Exactly. And I wonder, too, if heavy drinking might also be a factor kestrel91316 Feb 2013 #4
I also saw that documentary AsahinaKimi Feb 2013 #5
+ struggle4progress Feb 2013 #10
That seems to be a logical explaination for this. kickysnana Feb 2013 #15
Bingo.... AlbertCat Feb 2013 #21
heartburn? n/t oldhippydude Feb 2013 #3
Was he a FOX "News" fan? Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2013 #6
"It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes." foo_bar Feb 2013 #7
An Episode of X-Files? triplepoint Feb 2013 #8
Not possible Rosa Luxemburg Feb 2013 #9
For all of the so-called ''scientific'' reasons as to why...... DeSwiss Feb 2013 #11
those explanations have failed to discover how temperatures can be reached AlbertCat Feb 2013 #22
Most cases are explained. Discovery channel documentary on link below Tx4obama Feb 2013 #12
How can he rule out evil spirits, the devil, etc.? harmonicon Feb 2013 #13
That sheriff is a damn fool. UnrepentantLiberal Feb 2013 #14
The sheriff killed him. Otherwise, he wouldn't give such a bullshit cause of death. n/t Ian David Feb 2013 #16
So now we have earthquakes, unexplained ufo's, meteors, mega dolphin pods... Earth_First Feb 2013 #17
I wonder what his profession was. Maine-ah Feb 2013 #18
Remember now, Oklahoma is the state where a snake was in a tree and a couple of deputies CBGLuthier Feb 2013 #19
It's all over our local news. The sheriff doesn't know that the man 'spontaneously burst' sinkingfeeling Feb 2013 #20

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,706 posts)
1. Was he a drummer for Spinal Tap?
Mon Feb 18, 2013, 11:53 PM
Feb 2013

Very strange - you hear about these things every once in awhile and I don't know if anybody has an explanation.

Lydia Leftcoast

(48,217 posts)
2. Saw a documentary about this many years ago (gross alert)
Mon Feb 18, 2013, 11:54 PM
Feb 2013

Apparently what really happens is that an extremely overweight person dies of a heart attack or massive stroke while smoking or handling a flame, the cigarette or candle or whatever falls beneath their clothes, so that they smoulder, fueled by their body fat. They don't spontaneously burst into flame for no reason while still alive.

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
4. Exactly. And I wonder, too, if heavy drinking might also be a factor
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 12:17 AM
Feb 2013

in this weird phenomenon. Alcohol is flammable. These people could be really soused at the time they catch on fire.

AsahinaKimi

(20,776 posts)
5. I also saw that documentary
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 12:20 AM
Feb 2013

They more or less proved it scientifically it was not physically possible for a body to do that..

kickysnana

(3,908 posts)
15. That seems to be a logical explaination for this.
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 04:47 AM
Feb 2013

However there was a case where a professional man's leg caught on fire, twice with his wife in the bed next to him and nobody was smoking.

Discover magazine just had an article where a semi-retired scientist was doing some freelancing on things he always wondered about and he found that a certain radioactive isotope decays intermittently and nobody could quite figure out why. He looked and when the experiments were done the decay was seasonal and when he looked further they corresponded with sun eruptions. Then he saw that slowing started a very short time before we could detect the explosion on the sun so he set up an experiment where he was going to try the next big explosion and as it happened he he was opposite the sun, it was night and he was able to give the number of hours 96. hat there was/is, which would be wonderful because every 200 years a mega explosion happens that would take out most technology. The last time was about 1865 and it totally destroyed the telegraph system that was running at the time. This would give us time to unhook, shield and otherwise protect the electrical grid. The estimated time to repair a an event similar to the 1865 one was 10 years. It would affect almost everything. (Note to Bloomberg not so fast on getting rid of the libraries). Whatever it was came though the earth. We are also due for the 100 year, half strength eruption, one that took out a lot of grid in the last century.

Anyway we had a friend who grew up in the depression who was one of us read anything and everything. He passed away about 1988. His idea of the non-smoking incidents was that whatever was taking out the electrical grid was also starting these fires in people.

Then there are the operating room fires. Some of it is oxygen leaks but I would guess if you had a pool of methane in your abdomen etc and you it with a cauterizer that would make a pretty good explosion.

It is late so don't take the dates etc as facts. The article wasn't up the day the magazine came out but it may be now. I am not going to worry to much about this. A scientist in England is usually right says that we should be headed into an ice age in about 2030 and the catastrophic change could come in as little as 10 years. That and the weight of the ice shifting may change the earths orbit/wobble, tectonic pressures, Yellowstone super volcano is overdue and we are way overdue for a polarization shift. That is if we don't burn off our atmosphere before 2030.

But we all have to die sometime and most of this there is little we can do about anyway. Makes me wonder about the man-made silicone part they found imbedded in millennial old rock in the desert in the US. How many times have we got this far only to have things break apart? (On this planet)

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
21. Bingo....
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 11:00 AM
Feb 2013

Tho' Dickens uses it in "Bleak House" and it makes a great literary device.... Spontaneous Combustion is not real.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
11. For all of the so-called ''scientific'' reasons as to why......
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 01:25 AM
Feb 2013

...this phenomenon must be explainable in conventional physics terms that we supposedly understand, those explanations have failed to discover how temperatures can be reached which are sufficient to completely obliterate and convert flesh, organs, cartilage and bone to nothing but ash, and yet still barely singe the furniture the person is sitting on or their surroundings.

- Mother Nature cares nothing for our explanations. She just is......

K&R

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
22. those explanations have failed to discover how temperatures can be reached
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 11:03 AM
Feb 2013

Nope.

They have shown the temps to reach high enough degrees. Easily I might add.

SC is not real.

Tx4obama

(36,974 posts)
12. Most cases are explained. Discovery channel documentary on link below
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 01:26 AM
Feb 2013

Part One:


The additional four parts are on YouTube.

Earth_First

(14,910 posts)
17. So now we have earthquakes, unexplained ufo's, meteors, mega dolphin pods...
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 08:52 AM
Feb 2013

now spontaneous human combustions?

What does it all MEAN, maaaan?!

Maine-ah

(9,902 posts)
18. I wonder what his profession was.
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 09:06 AM
Feb 2013

getting oil on your clothes can cause them to catch on fire. Happens with the fishermen up here once and a while. Washing clothes with oil on them, then putting them in the dryer - then you fold them, or even leave the load of laundry piled in a basket. The combination of the two can cause the clothes to start smoldering and catch on fire. I've seen it happen with a basket of towels from a restaurant I worked at. The towels were greasy from the kitchen - they were not washed at a high enough temp to get the grease out, so when they went into the dryer it heated up the grease, and then folded after they came out of the dryer. Found the laundry basket with smoke coming out of it.

CBGLuthier

(12,723 posts)
19. Remember now, Oklahoma is the state where a snake was in a tree and a couple of deputies
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 10:27 AM
Feb 2013

thought shooting it was a good idea.


Killed a young boy fishing with his grandfather.

I have low regard for the IQ and skill sets of our sheriffs and deputies.

sinkingfeeling

(51,457 posts)
20. It's all over our local news. The sheriff doesn't know that the man 'spontaneously burst'
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 10:41 AM
Feb 2013

into flames. His body was found and the house didn't burn.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Sheriff Says Spontaneous ...