March 10, 1996: Spontaneous Human Combustion - Larry Arnold & Linda Moulton Howe

Larry Arnold, author of Ablaze: The Mysterious Fires of Spontaneous Human Combustion, presents two decades of research into cases where human bodies incinerate under conditions that defy conventional fire science. Arnold details the 1966 death of Dr. John Irving Bentley, a 92-year-old Pennsylvania physician whose body was reduced to a pile of ash and a single leg, while his bathroom remained virtually undamaged. He explains that cremation-level temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit would be required, yet no accelerants were ever found at such scenes.

Arnold describes eyewitness cases including Peter Jones, whose body spontaneously produced billowing smoke on two occasions without causing tissue damage. He explores theories involving aberrant electrical discharges within the body, subatomic physics, and psychological factors such as depression and explosive temperament that may predispose individuals to the phenomenon. Arnold challenges the human candlewick theory, noting that overweight bodies are actually the most difficult to cremate.

Linda Moulton Howe opens the program with an update on the Chupacabras mystery in Puerto Rico, reporting on police documentation of 30 fighting roosters found dead with clean puncture wounds and no blood. She reveals similar attacks occurring in the Mexican state of Veracruz dating back to 1994.