Man, 65, believed to have died from spontaneous combustion after a pile of charred remains is found and no trace of fire source or other damage



Police believe a man may have died from spontaneous combustion after they found his burned body in his home but no other fire damage or evidence of accelerant use.



Sequoyah County authorities are determining the circumstances surrounding the death of 65-year-old Danny Vanzandt after his charred remains were found at his Tulsa home on Monday.

After neighbors saw smoke coming from the house they called the fire service and attempted to put out what they thought was a pile of burning trash.

They soon realized it was in fact a body.

Nothing to see here: Danny Vanzandt died in this Tulsa house early this year. Initially, some believed he spontaneously combusted when he was found burned with his home unharmed

Wrong: Sheriff Lockhart said the way his body was burned was inconsistent with an accidental fire - such as from a cigarette dropping

Interior: The floor below the 65-year-old was not damaged and there was no sign that any accelerant was used

Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart said: 'This is very bizarre. You’re thinking someone poured something on him, but there was no fire source.

'The body was burned and it was incinerated. I think there is only about 200 cases (of spontaneous combustion) worldwide. I'm not saying this is what it is, but I haven't ruled it out.'



Sheriff Lockhart spent about 20 years as an arson investigator for the Fort Smith, Arkansas Police Department, and said he had never seen anything like it.

The floor below the 65-year-old was not damaged and there was no sign that any accelerant was used.

Authorities said the man had a history of heavy drinking and smoking, according to Tulsa World.

But Lockhart said the way his body was burned was inconsistent with an accidental fire - such as from a cigarette dropping.



Family members said they noticed the back window of the man’s pickup truck was busted out.

An autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of death.

Hawaii: Young Sik Kim was found enveloped in blue flames in December 1956. By the time firemen arrived on the scene, Kim and his easy chair were ashes. Strangely enough, nearby curtains and clothing were untouched by fire

The remains of Mrs Mary H Reeser, left, which were largely ashes, were found among the remains of a chair in which she had been sitting, right, and only part of her left footand her backbone remained, below

Limbs: The remains of Mrs Mary H. Reeser remains after she allegedly spontaneously decombusted

A baffled coroner ruled last year that a man who burned to death in his home died as a result of spontaneous human combustion.



Dr Ciaran McLoughlin, the coroner for West Galway in Ireland, said that although Michael Faherty, 76, had been found lying on his back close to a fire in an open fireplace, that blaze had NOT caused his death.



He said a detailed investigation into all other possibilities had offered no other explanation, so he was delivering such a verdict for the first time in his 25 years as a coroner.

In December 1956, Virginia Caget of Honolulu, Hawaii, walked into the room of Young Sik Kim to find him enveloped in blue flames.



By the time firemen arrived on the scene, Kim and his easy chair were ashes but nearby curtains and clothing were untouched by fire, in spite of the fierce heat that would have been necessary to consume a human being.

On July 2, 1951, Mrs Mary Reeser's remains, which were largely ashes, were found among the remains of a chair in which she had been sitting. Only part of her left foot and her backbone remained.



Plastic household objects at a distance from the seat of the fire were softened and had lost their shapes.



The FBI eventually declared that Reeser had been incinerated by the 'wick effec't. As she was a known user of sleeping pills, they hypothesized that she had fallen unconscious while smoking and set fire to her nightclothes.



The theory of the wicker effect is that the human body can become an 'inside out' candle.



The person’s clothes are the wick, while their body fat is the wax or flammable substance, that keeps the blaze going.



Limbs may be left intact because of the temperature gradient, with the bottom half of the body being cooler than the top.

