More than fifty years ago, in a serene Florida apartment, a peculiar and closely examined death took place.
The case of Mary Hardy Reeser’s enigmatic passing has sparked extensive debate. Her charred remains were discovered in a room that remained largely untouched. Originally hailing from Pennsylvania, Mary relocated to Florida in the 1950s to be closer to her son, Richard, and his family. She resided in a St. Petersburg building with just one other tenant, her landlady, Pansy Carpenter. The contemporary apartment included a living area, a modern kitchen, a bathroom, and a garage.
After spending the day with her family, Mary returned to her apartment one evening. Her landlady remembered seeing her in her usual attire – a nightgown and black satin slippers. Mary mentioned that she had taken sleeping pills and was retiring for the night. Later that night, Pansy heard a thud resembling a closing door. She checked outside but found nothing unusual, except for a faint smell of smoke that didn’t raise immediate alarm.
By 6 a.m., Pansy noticed that Mary’s radio, usually on by then, was silent. Despite these odd occurrences, she wasn’t alarmed. It wasn’t until 8 a.m., when an unanswered telegram arrived for Mary, that Pansy became concerned. She touched the metal screen and doorknob of Mary’s apartment, finding them unusually hot, and promptly sought help from neighbors who contacted the authorities.
Upon entering the smoke-filled apartment, responders encountered a surreal scene – heavy smoke but minimal active fire. In the living room, they discovered Mary’s remains, mostly reduced to ash. Only fragments of her left foot, parts of her backbone, and a significantly shrunken skull remained. Investigators were perplexed as only the chair she was sitting in, a nearby table, and a section of the wall showed signs of burning.
Plastic items near the chair had melted, while newspapers nearby remained intact, along with candles and Mary’s bed. An electric clock in the apartment had stopped at 4:20 a.m. Due to the unusual circumstances, speculations arose, suggesting lightning or a fireball caused the incident, while others pondered the localized fire.
The St. Petersburg Police Chief initiated a comprehensive investigation, involving the FBI, to understand how a human body could be incinerated while leaving the structure almost unscathed. FBI analysis found no evidence of accelerants, only liquefied human fat from Mary’s body.
Ultimately, authorities concluded Mary’s death was accidental, attributing it to the ‘wick effect.’ The theory suggested that Mary may have fallen asleep while smoking, igniting her clothes. Her body fat then acted as fuel, sustaining the fire steadily and intensely, akin to a candle, without spreading to other areas of the apartment.
An FBI document explained, “Once the body starts to burn, there is enough fat and other inflammable substances to permit varying amounts of destruction to take place.” Mary’s daughter-in-law supported this theory, stating, “The cigarette dropped to her lap. Her fat was the fuel that kept her burning. The floor was made of cement, and the chair stood alone. There was nothing around her to burn.”
Despite the FBI’s conclusions, Mary’s death remains a topic of discussion, often referenced as a case of “spontaneous combustion,” where bodies seemingly burn with minimal impact on their surroundings. Mary was laid to rest in Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Pennsylvania, and though officially ruled accidental, her demise is among the most scrutinized fatalities in recent history.
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