There are two sides to this argument, (I know, imagine that, two sides to an argument!) which is simply yes or no. Personally, I think it’s a load of hooey. In every case of SHC I’ve ever read about, there was a radiator, or a cigarette or some other form of combustion involved. Sometimes however, the form of combustion is not very evident, and as such, people truly believe the person spontaneously combusted. However, on the flip side of the argument, there are MANY minerals and elements in the human body that are VERY combustible. The best example is potassium, which can actually combust by nothing more then exposure to the air! Sodium and Calcium can also react very violently with water. Both of these elements will actually rip the oxygen out of water and replace it with hydrogen, then generate a lot of heat. So you can find up with a highly oxygenated area surrounding the element, a highly hydrogenated area directly around the element and the element itself being very hot, which as you can imagine, is a fire waiting to happen. Since the human body is made up LARGELY of water, it doesn’t seem to be a far jump in logic that SHC could be possible. Beyond this, the human body can also act as a candle when it does catch fire. As the body burns, the fat on the body melts in much the same way as the wax on a candle, and the bones (where a lot of these elements are stored) act as the wick in a candle. So a very small amount of heat added to the human body can actually wind up making the body look as though it had been burned in a very violent manner. Like I said, I think it’s load hooey, but I can understand how it is that some people believe in it. In reply to poor rating; First of all, I am NOT wrong. Calcium is found in LARGE amounts in the bones. Second of all, as I stated, these things CAN happen, I did not say that they WOULD happen. Keep your poor ratings to yourself rather then yip on about what you obviously don't understand the question or the reply.

I watched a show on this very subject on The Discovery Channel, I believe it was; and, they came to the conclusion that all of the know cases of suspected spontaneous human combustion were cause by something else. It seemed valid enough for me to comfortably say that I do not believe in it.

I think taht it may happen if you refrain from farting from a long period of time. However, I don't think that South Park is the most reliable of sources

NOBODY CAN SAY FOR CERTAIN YET I HAVE A THEORY- METHANE. METHANE IS PRODUCED BY THE BOWELS AND IS ALSO A BY-PRODUCT OF SEWAGE PROCESSING. METHANE IS THE GAS THAT IS "EXPELLED " IN THE FORM OF FARTS - THE REASON WHY FARTS ARE HIGHLY FLAMMABLE AND SOME PRANKSTERS HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN INJURED INTERNALLY FROM LIGHTING THEIR REAR-ENDS WHEN FARTING (AS A JOKE THAT WENT WRONG) AS METHANE GASSES BUILD UP WITHIN YOUR BODY THEY ARE NORMALLY RELEASED THROUGH NORMAL BOWEL ACTIONS. HOWEVER BAD EATING HABITS CAUSE PEOPLE TO BECOME CONSTIPATION (AND MOST ELDERLY FOLKS ARE "AFFLICTED" ) - GAS THAT IS TRAPPED IN THE BODY COULD THEORETICALLY BE ABSORBED INTO THE BLOODSTREAM RELEASED IN EXTREME CONDITIONS SUCH AS OVERHEATING AND HENCE BE THE REASON WHY MOST CASES PEOPLE GET BURNED UP BUT THE SURROUNDING AREA IS "UNTOUCHED BY THE FIRE" THE HEAT IS TOO INTENSE FOR TOO SHORT A WHILE TO BE SUSTAINED. JUST A THEORY BUT MORE PLAUSIBLE THAN MOST I WOULD HAZARD A GUESS

There are no documented cases of spontaneous human combustion. There is no logic to it. They have tested such things as pigs placed on a couch and lit, they burn completely from the grease that melts out.

An insatiable belief in fairy tales and propensity to hallucinate?

Wikipedia has an extensive article of various theories and the stories of some victims and survivors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion