Spontaneous Combustion Or Murder? The Strange Death Of Mary Reeser.

On July 1st, 1951, 68-year-old widow, Mary Hardy Reeser, was sitting in her easy chair in her apartment in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was about 9 p.m. when her son, Dr. Richard Reeser, and her landlady, Mrs. Pansy M. Carpenter, both said goodnight and left. Before her son left, Mary told Richard that she had taken two seconal tablets, which were mild sedatives, and was planning on taking two more before bed.

The next morning, at 5:00 a.m. Pansy was awakened by the smell of smoke and she assumed it was a water pump in the garage that had been overheating. She turned the pump off and went back to sleep. 

At about 8:00 a.m., Pansy was awakened by a telegraph boy at her door, who had a telegraph for Mary. Pansy walked to Mary's room with the telegraph and some coffee in hand. She noticed the smell of smoke again and noticed soot in the hallway that led to Mary's room. Pansy knocked on the door but there was no answer. When she checked the doorknob and it was hot to the touch, Pansy became alarmed and ran outside to find some help. After enlisting the help of some carpenters working nearby, they managed to force open the door Mary's apartment only to be met by a terrible blast of heat and a ghastly sight.

The only portion of the apartment that was burned was the small corner in which sat the cremated remains of Mary and her easy chair. Only coiled chard springs were still there, the rest of the chair was but ash. Mary's skull had shrunk to the size of a tea cup. Parts of her spine remained, as well as her liver and her unburned left foot wearing her black, satin slipper.

For Mary's body to be cremated, the body would have to burn at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 or more hours. Oddly, however, the rest of the apartment showed minor damage that doesn't make sense with a fire that hot burning for so long. Skulls usually don't shrink either, they usually become swollen or explode.

From about the four foot level on up, the walls were covered with a greasy soot, a mirror had cracked, plastic switches and a plastic tumbler in the bathroom had melted, as had two candles on a dresser which left behind their unburned wicks and a pink pool of wax. Below the four foot level, the only damage was the small circular burn area encompassing the remains of Mary and her chair, and a plastic electric wall outlet that had melted, stopping her clock at 4:20 a.m. The paint on the walls were unscorched and there was a stack of news papers close to Mary that were  undamaged. Neighbors never noticed the fire at the time it was burning  in Mary's apartment. When firefighters arrived, the heat was so intense that they were quoted as saying that they couldn't stand it.

What caused the fire? 

The electrical outlet melted only after the fire had begun, so an electrical fire was ruled out. 

An FBI pathologist tested samples of the carpet, chair, smoke and debris in for analysis. No traces of accelerates were found. The only thing that was found was melted fat in the carpet. A local mattress company said that the material that Mary's chair was made out of would not burn like that. They claimed it would have just smoldered for a long period of time. And since no sign of accelerates were found either, i don't think it could be murder.

Months later, the Chief of Police and the Chief of Detectives signed a statement attributing Mary Reeser's death to falling asleep with a cigarette in her hand. Mary was allegedly seen sitting in her chair with a cigarette in her hand the evening before she burst into flames. However, a cigarette could not create a fire hot enough to cremate her, not by itself.

A letter addressed to the chief of detectives said, "A ball of fire came in through the open window and hit her. I seen it happen." 

If that story is true, where'd the fire ball come from? It couldn't have been lightening. Lighting had been considered, but there had been none in St. Petersburg that night. 

So, could Mary have been a victim of Spontaneous human combustion?

There is no doubt that bodies can burn; crematoriums routinely reduce the human body to ashes in the course of a few hours. But can bodies start themselves on fire?

If the person is asleep, intoxicated, unconscious, or otherwise unable to move or put the flames out, the victim's clothes can act as a wick. The flames draw on the body's fat and internal gases to fuel the fire. Remember the fat found in Mary's carpet?

There is also a rare medical condition called Stevens-Johnson syndrome that, in extreme cases, may be mistaken for a case of an aborted spontaneous combustion. The skin disease, which can be triggered by a toxic reaction to medications, including antibiotics and prescription painkillers, causes the appearance of severe burns and blisters, and can be fatal.

Cases of theorized spontaneous human combustion usually entail the surroundings of the site of the fire are not drastically damaged, there is no visible source of the fire and parts of the body are left intact. All of which were found present in Mary's case.

What do you think happened to Mary?