I could see where it might have happened when people would wear heavy amounts of cologne and perfume that were made of whale fats and oils long ago in the past before bathing became popular. I can`t buy the spontaneous part though.

@azzow2 it happens in piles of oily rags, no question. People have fat in them that is combustible. Just sayin,'

@Condor5 linseed oil and cotton rags has been known to spontaneously combust:
[naturalhandyman.com]
chemical explanation:
[tcforensic.com.au]
but this phenomenon is not comparable to a human body considering the amount of water in tissue (even in fat tissue).

@Lukian, "The most recent reported case of apparent SHC occurred in the early afternoon of 17 September 2017 in Tottenham, north London. Passers-by watched in horror as a 70-year-old pensioner, John Nolan of County Mayo in Ireland, appeared to spontaneously burst into flames while walking in the street. Some people tried to help him at the scene but he died in hospital the next day from his burns. Investigators were unable to establish a reason for this incident and his death was treated as unexplained. His post-mortem gave the cause of death as severe burns and an inquest was called to further examine the circumstances of his death." From Wikipedia.

Maybe it wasn't the fat, but...

@Condor5 That one is actually a very interesting incident - it was widely reported in the UK and Ireland at the time and is especially notable due to the subsequent investigation's inability to find an accelerant or cause, and for the eyewitnesses who said there was nobody near Nolan when he burst into flame. While I doubt very much that spontaneous human combustion is a real phenomenon, this case leaves much to be answered.

[news.met.police.uk]
[telegraph.co.uk]
[independent.co.uk]

@Condor5 I hope you understood I was pointing out that oily rags do not equal human combustion? If oily rags was the cause of someone catching on fire it would not be called Spontaneous <human> combustion.

Because the cause of a single case remains unknown does not mean it's SHC either.

I Like this argument:
And if some natural (but unknown) mechanism causes the combustion, why would it only occur in humans? Why wouldn't cows, dogs, elephants, birds or other animals suddenly, randomly and inexplicably explode in a ball of flames now and then? Even if the phenomenon is incredibly rare, with billions of animals on the planet, statistically we should expect to see thousands of them exploding every day all around us.
source: [livescience.com]

Nowadays, I wonder how come we don't have more people combusting considering the batteries overheat and sometimes explode?

Still, except for that particular case that remains unsolved (I'll grant that), a source of ignition is commonly found in all other SHC cases.

@Lukian yes, I fully understand, my friend, but I'm also having a bit of fun here, too.

Can see the Title for the therapy group. (Toasted Survivors)

We need to save that idea in the event of a zombie outbreak. lol

@farmboy 217 That's a whole different subject. I always make sure my closet door is closed before I go to bed, and I would NEVER peek under my bed after dark?

Would be an exciting change for long-term congress members.