Spontaneous Human Combustion with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About'

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sarah Marshall is here to teach me about the confounding phenomenon of Spontaneous Human Combustion in which a person is found almost totally incinerated with no explanation, seeming to have burst into flames from within. From the Victorian era to the modern day, we will look at historical cases and modern explanations to try to separate fact from fiction. Subscribe to The Devil You Know, Sarah's new podcast on the Satanic Panic from the CBC Full SHC episode of Unsolved Mysteries Joe Nickell's Article on SHC ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families. Leave us a message on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Urban Legends Hotline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is mysterious because we don't really understand it fully as a phenomenon, and I would like people to study it more.
0:12.4	I realize we have much higher priorities, but I don't know. Why the heck not? You may recall from childhood the many absurd dangers we thought we might one day have to face.
0:33.4	QuickSand, the Bermuda Triangle, Killer Bees, and today's topic, spontaneous human combustion.
0:43.6	Sarah Marshall of Your Wrong About is here to teach me about this confounding phenomenon in which a person
0:51.1	is found almost totally incinerated in their own home with no explanation,
0:57.8	seeming to have burst into flames from inside their own bodies.
1:03.2	From the Victorian era to the modern day, we'll look at historical cases and modern explanations
1:09.7	to try to separate fact from fiction.
1:14.3	Plus, you'll get to hear about Sarah's new podcast with the CBC on the past, present, and future of the satanic panic called The Devil You Know, which you can subscribe to right now and start listening,
1:30.3	you little devils.
1:32.1	All right, try not to explode from within because this is American hysteria.
1:43.7	Oh, boy, we've got something real spicy for you all today. I am so thrilled to be talking to Sarah Marshall about what else but spontaneous human combustion.
1:57.6	Hi, Sarah. This Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.
2:01.9	Thank you, Chelsea.
2:03.2	I'm so happy and honored to be here talking to you once again about something that used to scare the big Jesus out of me on unsolved mysteries.
2:11.7	Oh, yeah.
2:12.4	It was a good one.
2:13.2	Yeah.
2:13.6	My only real experience with spontaneous human combustion was writing a story about it in my magical realism writing class in college.
2:25.1	Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. That's a good amount of experience. What happened in the story?
2:29.5	It was using like one of the really famous stories, which I'm sure we'll get to, so I don't want to spoil
2:34.8	it too much, but where all that was left of the woman was a foot inside a slipper.
	...

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