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SHC & Ball Lightning

evilsprout

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Reading the ball lightning story on BBC.com reminded me of SHC...

The lightning balls move around, sometimes downwards, sometimes upwards, sometimes indoors, sometimes through glass

and...

The ball often disappears in an explosion, sometimes causing damage

Has anyone ever come up with the theory that ball lightning could enter someone's body, and explode inside, or ignite bodily gases?

And couldn't this be tested, by checking weather reports for the days/nights of attacks to see if there was any lightning at the time?
 
Although it's called ball lightning, I believe there are reports of it being seen on days with no other electrical activity such as thunderstorms, so it may not necessarily be electrical in nature.

The spookiest reports of SHC are those where people have witnessed someone bursting into flame, in otherwise quite ordinary circumstances. Usually the fire is then quickly put out. Presumably the deaths by SHC occur to people alone, with no help nearby.
 
Well, that would mean that ball lightning would sure have a preference for people who smoke.

I think the "wick effect" theory has debunked about 90 percent of the cases of SHC.
 
Well, the only time the 'wick' effect was tested, it took several hours to char a pig bone wrapped in pig flesh, and then it took some flammable liquid to get it going.

In case of SHC it is generally reported that the flames emanate from inside the body, which rules out the wick effect. Look up 'The Entrancing Flame' by John E. Heymer.
 
I have a theory that Spontaneous Combustion is a result of Ball-Lightning coming into contact with the human form.
 
What do you base that theory on?
Hello Xanatic,
I base my theory upon two things. (1) Its as good an idea as anyone else's. (2) I have experienced this phenomenon myself.(see my comment on 'It happened to me!' 12/1/16) The most disturbing thing to me regarding my experience, was how this dully glowing, orange ball about the size of a medicine-ball (in my case): how this miniature Sun seemed to respond to my thoughts. If I stared at it too long , then it would change course in the night-sky and adjust its trajectory and manoeuvre to head in my direction. Like a Heat-Seeking Missile! I thought I was a 'goner' for sure.
Fortunately, (maybe, unfortunately) I survived the experience.
 

This Ananova link is long dead ...

Here's the text from the linked news items, salvaged via the Wayback Machine ...

Ball lightning link to human combustion
Scientists studying ball lightning say it may be linked to spontaneous human combustion.

The study includes a rare photograph taken by an Australian wildlife ranger who sent it to scientists after hearing of how rare the phenomenon is.

Experts in various fields have got together to study the rare phenomenon usually seen during thunderstorms.

They have put forward several theories to explain it but admit they are no closer to solving all its mysteries.

Their collection of papers is published in a special edition of The Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions.

It is said to double the number of observations available for study in the literature.

Among their findings are that ball lightning can be powerful enough to boil away water and burn flesh.

They also suggest that water droplets, 'polymer threads' and 'metal nanoparticle chains' may form the actual lightning balls.

The collection's editor Dr John Abrahamson, of Canterbury University in New Zealand, says: "I, like the other authors in this collection, am frustrated at not being able to reproduce the full phenomenon in the lab.

"In spite of this, we all regard our theories as explaining most, if not all, natural ball lightning observations, in sometimes conflicting ways!"

https://web.archive.org/web/20041205174336/https://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_479064.html
 
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