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The term "Spontaneous Human Combustion" was first coined in 1746 by Paul Rolli, a Fellow of the Royal Society, in an article published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' in an attempt to give an explanation as to the bizarre death of Countess Cornelia Zangari Bandi (of the Papal States). She had spontaneously burned to death in her bedroom in the middle of the night. Oddly though, there was not a single piece of damaged furniture in the room aside from a mess of ashes and soot; both of her legs below the knees were completely intact, as well as 3 fingers and the front section of her skull.
Item of note: The Countess was the grandmother of Pope Pius VI.
Although some direct references to the phenomenon, without a universal term given to it go back at least 100 years earlier. Where a known Renaissance chronicler - Thomas H. Batholini wrote in his 1654 'Historiarum Anatomicarum Rariorum' a risk faced by some mediaeval unfortunes: the predicament of wine imbibers igniting internally. He then goes on to describe the account of a Polish Knight who consumed strong wine and proceeded to burst into flame from within.
In his 1995 book Ablaze!, Larry E. Arnold, a director of ParaScience International, wrote that there had been about 200 cited reports of SHC worldwide over a period of around 300 years.
Many "experts" attempt to dismiss the idea entirely by simply pointing to the fact that many victims of SHC were elderly alchoholics, a majority occuring during the era where candlelight, oil-based lighting, and fireplace-centered heating were the norm. While this may be the case for certain specific instances, the strangeness comes from the fact that in many cases, the SHC victim burns up almost entirely before the fire spreads to any of the furniture (one would expect each case to result in a full-blown house fire, as opposed to one or two charred pieces of furniture - if that). Others also state that these were all just cases of self-imolation by mentally ill persons, which may or may not be the case in a few instances, but definitely not the hundreds that have been reported throughout history.
On the other hand, given the assumption of a large portion of SHC victims, one would also assume that modern day alcoholics - who many are found to be smokers, would encounter this issue just as frequently. Instead of being ignited by some candle or oil lamp, they would be ignited by their lighters - or perhaps their fire pits/BBQs. Perhaps this is a case of the quality of building materials degrading over the centuries, SHC cases slowly fade as they become house fire statistics instead.
There are however, some intruiging Occult explanations to the Phenomenon. Some point to the seemingly arbitrary surviving pieces of SHC victims, why would legs or hands be unaffected but the rest of the body be completely turned to ash? It could be that a message is being sent, to who exactly is unknown for sure, though some theorize it could be spiritual in nature, demons, or ultraterrestrials may have had a negative affect (whether deliberately and maliciously, or entirely by accident). Demons attacking followers of Christ - such as that of the Grandmother of Pope Pius VI as mentioned before, or elderly Christians in Portugal reportedly succumbing to SHC.
An incredibly lesser known addition to the SHC Phenomenon is that of NHC - Nuclear Human Combustion (debates on the "spontaneity" of HC in general are a major aspect of the discussions held on various underground forums and buried investigations/reports). From this theory, it is said that there are levels to these SHC events, from self contained blazes that destroy the victim, all the way up to fusion-level explosions. Given the constant directive to scrub the internet of all useful information and flood it with falsehoods, nearly all information regarding NHC has been anihilated. Only a description of a screenshot of a grainy scan of a memo posted to a long gone forum - dated 1954 from "OC9" addressed to "HMAIC" stating:
Subject CB-32 Test - Success.
Output - Exceeded all parameters.
HC/HF Controllability Possible.