When I was in second grade, we used to have to bring in an article to discuss for Current Events. One girl, Jamie, brought in an article from the Weekly World News or its equivalent about a girl who had spontaneously combusted. For years afterwards, I was terrified of spontaneously combusting. I mean, it was in the newspaper, it had to be true, right? At some point I figured out that the WWN was not a reliable source.

This subject used to fascinate me too. A girl I was at school with had a book that had a photo of the remains of a man who'd spontaneously combusted whilst sitting in his armchair. It creeped me out for years.

Spontaneous combustion and The Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull were both topics of concerned, frowny discussion on That's Incredible!, and both caused me an undue amount of sleepless nights.

I was also a big WWN and spontaneous combustion fan growing up, and was excited to find this prevention guide. Probably my favorite WWN stories were the "half-goat/half-boy" birth announcements.

That's Incredible

Man, that set me off on a circuitous path of serious google nostalgia. Had you people realized that Debralee Scott's fiance died during 9/11 or that she herself died of unknown causes despite an autoposy? What's this world coming to?

I'll always love you Hotsy Totsy.

If you wake in the morning and feel like you’re coming down with something, however, do the right thing and call in sick. Do you really want to put your co-workers through the trauma of watching you burn to a cinder?

Well, that's always my concern. I mean, how embarrassing is it to explode into flames in front of your coworkers, let alone exposing them to SHC germs...

EJ: a friend in my school had a book with that very same picture! I, too, was creeped out for years.

If you find your bath water suddenly starting to steam and bubble, it’s because your internal temperature is rising dangerously high.

No, it just means I had beans for dinner.

When I was in 4th/5th grade (mid 60's), I discovered Frank Edwards' books. They terrified me, but I couldn't stop reading them.

They were full of all kinds of creepy phenomena, including spontaneous human combustion.

I usually read them at bedtime, which was of course the WORST time to read anything like this.

The ones I remember all had the word "STRANGE" in the title.

STRANGE WORLD

STRANGE PEOPLE

STRANGER THAN SCIENCE

STRANGEST OF ALL