The wick effect is the partial or total destruction of a human body by fire, when the clothing of the victim soaks up melted human fat and acts like the

wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placenames ...

of a

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candles i ...

. The wick effect is a phenomenon that is found to occur under certain conditions, and has been thoroughly observed.

Details

The wick effect theory says a person is kept aflame through their own

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers spec ...

s after being ignited, accidentally or otherwise. The clothed human body acts like an "inside-out" candle, with the fuel source (human fat) inside and the wick (the clothing of the victim) outside. Hence there is a continuous supply of fuel in the form of melting fat seeping into the victim's clothing. Fat contains a large amount of energy due to the presence of long hydrocarbon chains.

Examples

Mary Reeser case

Mary Reeser (1884–1951) of St. Petersburg, Florida was most likely a victim of the wick effect. It was suspected that she had accidentally ignited herself with a cigarette. The fat which over time had been absorbed by her clothing likely acted as fuel for the fire. At the scene, investigators found melted fat in the rug near Mary's body.

1963 Leeds case

An investigation of a 1963 case in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

included an experiment with a wick effect. A small portion of human fat was wrapped in cloth to simulate clothing. A Bunsen burner flame was then applied to the 'candle'. Due to the high water content of human fat the flame had to be held on the 'candle' for over a minute before it would catch fire:

"One end of the candle was ignited by a Bunsen flame, the fat catching fire after about a minute. Although the Bunsen was removed at this point, combustion of the fat proceeded slowly along the length of the roll, with a smoky yellow flame and much production of
soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolysed ...
, the entire roll being consumed after about one hour."

This gives some indication of the slow speed with which the wick effect will proceed.

1991 Oregon murder

In February 1991, in woodland near Medford,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

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, two hikers came across the burning body of a female adult, lying face down in fallen leaves. They alerted the officials and a local deputy

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

soon arrived. She had been stabbed several times in the upper regions of the chest and back. Both arms were spread outwards from the torso. The lower legs and surface of the neck showed signs of fire damage. The soft tissues of the right arm, torso and upper legs were consumed. The majority of bones of these parts retained their

integrity Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Inte ...

, although

friability Friability ( ), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid substance to break into smaller pieces under duress or contact, especially by rubbing. The opposite of friable is indurate. Substances that are designated hazardous, ...

was increased. Between the victim's mid-chest and knees the fleshy parts of the body were mostly destroyed. Crime scene personnel reported that the pelvis and spine were "not recoverable", having been reduced to a grey powder. Her killer had soaked the clothes and corpse in nearly a

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barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

starter fluid and set her on fire. In the well-

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

ated outdoor environment, this combination of circumstances—an immobile and clothed body with a high fat-to-muscle ratio, accelerant (lighter fluid), and artificial ignition—made it prime for the wick effect to occur. The murderer was arrested and made a full confession. He claimed to have set the body alight some thirteen hours before it was discovered.

1998 experiment

A larger scale experiment conducted for the

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television programme ''

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'' involved a dead pig's body being wrapped in a blanket and placed in a furnished room. The blanket was lit with the aid of a small amount of petrol. The body took some time to ignite and burned at a very high temperature with low flames. The heat collected at the top of the room and melted a television. However, the flames caused very little damage to the surroundings, and the body burned for a number of hours before it was extinguished and examined. On examination it was observed that the flesh and bones in the burnt portion had been destroyed.

2006 Geneva case

In October 2006, the body of a man was discovered at home in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, almost completely incinerated between the mid-chest and the knees, most probably due to

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

while

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

, followed by the wick effect. The chair containing the body was mostly consumed, but other objects in the room were almost undamaged, albeit covered with a brown oily or greasy coating. The source of the fire was most likely a cigarette or cigar. The man's dog also died in another room of the man's apartment; this was attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

2010 Galway case

In December 2010, the cremated body of a 76-year-old man was found alongside an open fireplace in his home in Clareview Park at Ballybane in the Irish city of

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. The fire investigators concluded that no accelerants were used and that the open fireplace was not the cause of the fire. The coroner in the case could not identify the cause of the death due to extensive internal organ damage and concluded that "this

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fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation". The body of the man, Michael Faherty, was found in the living room of his home on 22 December 2010. The scene was searched by forensic experts from the Gardaí and the fire service, and a post-mortem was carried out by

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

Grace Callagy. Callagy noted that Faherty had suffered from

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and

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

, but had not died from heart failure. Callagy concluded that the "extensive nature of the burns sustained precludes determining the precise cause of death". In September 2011, the west Galway

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

informed an inquiry into the death that he had searched medical literature, and referred to Professor Bernard Knight's book on forensic pathology, which states that a high number of alleged incidents of

spontaneous human combustion Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the pseudoscientific concept of the combustion of a living (or recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition. In addition to reported cases, descriptions of the alleged phen ...

had taken place near an open fireplace or chimney.

Benjamin Radford Benjamin Radford (born October 2, 1970) is an American writer, investigator, and skeptic. He has authored, coauthored or contributed to over twenty books and written over a thousand articles and columns on a wide variety of topics including urba ...

, deputy editor of the science magazine ''

Skeptical Inquirer ''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''. Mission statement and goals Daniel Loxton, writing in ...

'', questioned why the coroner had "conclusively ruled out" other possible explanations.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite journal , author = Gee DJ , title = A case of 'spontaneous combustion' , journal = Medicine, Science and the Law , volume = 5 , pages = 37–8 , year = 1965 , doi = 10.1177/002580246500500108 , pmid = 14269669 , s2cid = 25482377 {{cite journal , author = DeHaan JD , title = A case of not-so-spontaneous human combustion , journal = Fire & Arson Investigator , volume = 47 , issue = 4 , pages = 14–6 , year = 1997 , oclc=610152071 {{cite news , title = New light on human torch mystery , url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/158853.stm , date = 31 August 1998 , work =

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

{{cite journal , vauthors=Palmiere C, Staub C, La Harpe R, Mangin P , title = Ignition of a human body by a modest external source: a case report , journal = Forensic Science International , volume = 188 , issue = 1–3 , pages = e17–9 , year = 2009 , pmid = 19410396 , doi = 10.1016/j.forsciint.2009.03.027 {{cite news , title = Coroner rules Irish man died of spontaneous combustion , url = http://uk.news.yahoo.com/coroner-rules-irish-man-died-of-spontaneous-combustion.html;_ylt=Atr_sLcZT8NAIX9mEgTVHGIUfcl_;_ylu=X3oDMTQ3aTJzY204BG1pdANGZWF0dXJlZFBuViBGUARwa2cDNmJhZWNkZTktNTVhYS0zYzA5LTlmYzgtNGM3MDM4MTk5YzQxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNNZWRpYUNhcm91c2VsUmVzb3VyY2VzQ0EEdmVyAzE3MjFhOTZjLWU1ZmQtMTFlMC1hYmIxLTFjYzFkZTAyMGY2YQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTM1OTFvdThkBGludGwDZ2IEbGFuZwNlbi1nYgRwc3RhaWQDNGU0MmIxMmUtZDBhYi0zNGRiLThjODgtNTc5NGNjMjliMmQzBHBzdGNhdANvZGRseS1lbm91Z2gEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3 , date = 23 September 2011 , work =

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Fire Spontaneous human combustion pt:Efeito pavio