Spontaneous Human Combustion
Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
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The 'Candle Effect'
The human body could become a kind of accidental candle or lamp, right? The fat would melt and be absorbed by the clothing, which would serve as the wick and keep the fire going until much of the body was consumed. Such a person would be a kind of inside out candle, with the wick on the outside rather than the inside. Researchers into spontaneous human combustion have named this explanation the candle effect, or the wick effect.
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Every so often, there are reports of people bursting into flames for no apparent reason, reducing most of their body to ashes, but with little or no fire damage around them. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what we should make of these reports of spontaneous human combustion and what could be causing them.
