Spontaneous Combustion Baby: Parents Claim 3-Month-Old Burst Into Flames Four Times [Video]
Is a three-month-old baby really a case of spontaneous human combustion? Parents Rajeshwari and Nadu Karnan, who come from a small farming village in India, claim that their baby Rahul has burst into flame not once but four times.
If you hit the button and watch the video, you can see Rahul Karnan. But be prepared. It is not pleasant looking at a young baby who has suffered multiple burns all over his body on four known occasions starting when he was nine days old.
New York Times readers may have been startled to read Tuesday in their India blog that the baby’s case could be spontaneous human combustion. Investigators performed multiple blood and skin tests to figure out if the baby had the rare — some say nonexistent — disease.
After the fourth time the child supposedly burst into flames, the family was forced out of the village for fear that he could start a fire that would destroy the town.
Now the child is being treated at Kilpauk Medical Hospital in Chennai.
The Times of India had a more skeptical read on the case. Their report said multiple tests of Rahul Karnan showed absolutely no evidence that the baby could spontaneously combust.
The head of the burns department at Kilpuak told TOI: “[T]here is no such thing as spontaneous human combustion. The possibility of child abuse exists and needs to be explored.”
But child welfare said that they hadn’t investigated because neither the parents nor the doctor had filed a complaint with the welfare committee.
Really? So there’s a chance that somebody has set a baby on fire four times. And these folks are waiting on the paperwork?
The Hindu noted that the baby’s mother comes from a village called Nedumozhiyanur. In 2004 locals claimed that their houses and even some of their animals were victims of spontaneous combustion.
But it wasn’t quite true. I’m almost afraid to describe the trick but since The Hindu already has, I guess it’s no great secret.
Phosphorus (the chemical found in match-heads) was stuffed in wet cow dung and rubbed on the huts or the victim’s livestock. As the mix dried out and left behind the phosphorus powder, the house or animal was vulnerable to bursting into flame at very low temperatures. The sudden burst of fire could look like spontaneous combustion.
But it was arson.
Given this information, it’s almost impossible to believe that this three-month-old baby combusted spontaneously. His burns could be a very premeditated crime.
