There's nothing quite like a good campfire, and spending a cool evening by a warm fireplace

is like heaven on earth.

Fire helps us cook food, light our way, and heat our homes.

It's even a symbol of rebirth and power.

But what happens when fire defies the laws of science, and people just burst into flames?

One moment they're alive, the next they're a pile of ash.

This is called spontaneous human combustion, and there are hundreds of cases throughout

history.

For the most part, the victims leave behind nothing but a pile of ashes and a slew of

questions, including the biggest question of all.

Is it even possible?

This is Supernatural, a Spotify original from Parkcast, on your host Ashley Flowers.

Every Wednesday I'll be taking a deep dive into a real unexplained occurrence to try

and figure out the truth.

You can find all episodes of Supernatural and all other Parkcast originals for free on

Spotify.

This week I'm looking into spontaneous human combustion.

The first documented deaths emerge in the 1700s, but the phenomenon still seems to appear

today, and nobody is sure why.

When divine wrath to witchcraft to alcoholism, there have been countless theories about

what causes spontaneous human combustion, and the sheer number of explanations reveal a

terrifying truth.

...