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MARY REESER:
A Case Study in
Spontaneous Human Combustion
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The 1951 death of Mrs. Mary Reeser of St. Petersburg, FL, who was found reduced
to ashes in a practically undamaged apartment, was a landmark case of
spontaneous human combustion because it was the first instance where every
possible tool of modern scientific investigation was used to determine the
cause of this mysterious phenomenon. Yet despite the efforts of the FBI, fire
officials, arson experts, and pathologists, a year after the incident Detective
Cass Burgess of the St. Petersburg police commented as follows:
Our investigation has turned up nothing that could
be singled out as proving, beyond a doubt, what
actually happened. The case is still open. We are
still as far from establishing any logical cause
for the death as we were when we first entered
Mrs. Reeser's apartment.
And Dr. Wilton M. Krogman, a physical anthropologist at the University of
Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and a world-renowned expert on the effects of
fire on the human body, finally gave up trying to figure out what happened. Dr.
Krogman said:
I regard it as the most amazing thing I have ever
seen. As I review it, the short hairs on my neck
bristle with vague fear. Were I living in the Middle
Ages, I'd mutter something about Black Magic.
Here are the details of the case:
Mrs. Mary Hardy Reeser, an agreeable, motherly widow of 67, was living in St.
Petersburg, Florida, to be near her son, Dr. Richard Reeser. On the evening of
July 1, 1951, she had remained in her son's home with one of her grandchildren
while the rest of the family went to the beach. When they returned, they found
that Mrs. Reeser had already left for her own apartment. The younger Mrs.
Reeser drove to her mother-in-law's to see if everything was all right.
According to her testimony, there was nothing in Mrs. Reeser's appearance or
demeanor to cause any alarm. Dr. Reeser visited his mother later that evening.
She was mildly depressed over the fact that she had not heard from two friends
who were supposed to rent an apartment for her in anticipation of a return trip
to Columbia, PA, formerly her hometown. His mother told him that she wished to
retire early and would take two sleeping pills to ensure a good night's rest.
Dr. Reeser left at about 8:30 PM and returned to his home.
The last person to see Mrs. Reeser alive was her landlady, Mrs. Pansy M.
Carpenter, who lived in another apartment in the four-unit building (the two
units between them were unoccupied). Mrs. Carpenter saw Mrs. Reeser briefly at
about 9 PM. She was wearing her nightgown, a housecoat, and black satin
slippers and was lounging in a comfortable chair smoking a cigarette. The bed
covers had been turned back. Mrs. Reeser's last night was a typical summer
night in Florida: the sky was overcast with occasional flashes of heat
lightning in the distance.
When Mrs. Carpenter woke up Monday morning at 5AM, she noticed a slight odor of
smoke but was not alarmed, since she attributed the smell to a water pump in
the garage that had been overheating lately. She got up, turned off the pump,
and settled back into bed. When she got up an hour later to collect her
newspaper outside, she no longer smelled any smoke.
[CONTINUED IN SHC2.TXT]