Oklahoma sheriff: ‘Spontaneous human combustion’ killed 65-year-old man

[ashling]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/19/oklahoma-sheriff-spontaneous-human-combustion-killed-65-year-old-man/

The sheriff of Sequoyah County in Oklahoma believes that a 65-year-old man recently died by spontaneously bursting into flames.

“If you read about spontaneous human combustion that’s what we have here,” Sheriff Ron Lockhart told KFSM.

Raw Story (http://s.tt/1zXxE)

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I'm surprised the sheriff didn't blame Obama

[NYC_SKP]

1. This case had all the earmarks of SHC....

Alcoholic, recluse, messy home.

Boom!

[Agschmid]

2. It's the low information voter's fault dont'cha know. n/t

[Gorp]

3. He wouldn't have been a drummer for Spinal Tap, would he?

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Heh.

“dozens of people spontaneously combust each year, it’s just not really widely reported.” -- lead singer David St. Hubbins

[Gorp]

7. "Don't you find it a bit strange that two of your drummers died the same way?"

"Yeah, I guess that is a little weird. Hmm."

[Baitball Blogger]

4. The reader's comments are a riot.

I learned about the pickling effect and "ERMAHGERD! CHERM TRERLS!"

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Human *corpses* ignite.

These was established by an actuarial study which showed that the likelihood of a case of SHC being reported was zero if the person had not been missing for a sufficiently long time for a corpse to dry out. After that point the probability of "death of SHC" paralleled that of people dying of natural causes, leading to the conclusion that "SHC" was really just people dying of natural causes and their corpses then being ignited by the usual sources -- cigarettes, electrical shorts, fireplace sparks, etc. After a few days, corpses break down enough for fats and oils in the body to ignite. These are not highly flammable, but burn more like candle wax (candles were originally made from beef tallow), and "wicking" appears to be the normal mode of combustion; like unattended candles, such fires often burn out without spreading far.

While a can't find a citation for the actuarial study, the "wick effect" appears to be widely recognized:
http://www.ukskeptics.com/article.php?dir=articles&article=spontaneous_human_combustion.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion#Forensic_investigation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion#Natural_explanations