Sheriff Blames Spontaneous Combustion For Man’s Death [Video]

An Oklahoma sheriff has blamed spontaneous combustion for a man’s death. Authorities discovered the burned body of Danny Vanzandt inside the kitchen in his home on Monday.

Sequoyah County, Oklahoma Sheriff Ron Lockhart came up with the theory after investigating the scene. The 65-year-old’s body was completely incinerated, but the surrounding room including the furniture remained intact.

As reported by kltv.com, Lockhart cannot find any other explanation for the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death:

“This is a case that I’ve never seen before. The body was burned and it was incinerated. I think there’s only about 200 cases worldwide and I’m not saying that this has happened, I’m just saying that we haven’t ruled it out. If you read about spontaneous human combustion that’s what we have here.”

Vanzandt’s family noticed that although the house was intact, the back window was broken out of his truck. An autopsy has ruled out homicide and reveals that the man from Muldrow, Oklahoma “may have burned for 10 hours.” The preliminary autopsy concluded that Vanzandt died from heat and smoke inhalation, sustaining burns to his trachea, as reported by 5newsonline.com.

As discussed on history.com, British biologist Brian J. Ford has conducted research into the mysterious phenomena. Ford’s study, published in 2012, concluded that spontaneous human combustion is indeed possible:

“According to Ford, a buildup of acetone in the body (which can result from alcoholism, diabetes or a specific kind of diet) can lead to spontaneous combustion.”

Sheriff Lockhart stated that Vanzandt was an alcoholic. Although the sheriff has offered his opinion that the man’s death was caused by spontaneous combustion, authorities have released the body to the medical examiner in Tulsa, Oklahoma for further analysis.