The Mary Reeser Case: Spontaneous Human Combustion?

On the morning of July 2, 1951, landlady Pansy Carpenter discovered the remains of her tenant Mary Reeser in a St. Petersburg, Florida apartment. What she found defied explanation: Mrs. Reeser had been reduced almost entirely to ashes, yet the apartment around her was barely damaged. The case became one of the most famous alleged instances of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) in history.

The Discovery

The Morning

On July 2, 1951:

• Pansy Carpenter went to deliver a telegram
• The doorknob was hot to the touch
• She called for help
• Two painters helped force the door open
• What they found was horrifying

The Scene

Inside the apartment:

• A small circular area of destruction
• Within it, Mrs. Reeser’s remains
• Only her left foot (still in a slipper) survived intact
• Her skull had shrunk to the size of a cup
• Scattered bones and a small portion of her spine
• About 10 pounds of material remained of a 170-pound woman
• A nearby chair was destroyed
• The rest of the room was relatively undamaged

The Anomalies

The scene presented mysteries:

• A pile of newspapers nearby hadn’t burned
• Plastic objects across the room had melted
• There was greasy soot on the walls above four feet
• Below four feet, the room was relatively normal
• The ceiling was coated with oily residue
• The carpet was burned only in the immediate area

The Investigation

Official Response

Authorities were baffled:

• The St. Petersburg Police investigated
• The FBI was consulted
• Fire investigators examined the scene
• Pathologists were brought in
• None could fully explain what happened

FBI Analysis

The FBI concluded:

• The fire was of unknown origin
• No accelerants were found
• The destruction was “unusual and puzzling”
• They could not determine the cause

Chief of Police

St. Petersburg Police Chief J.R. Reichart wrote:

• “The case baffles me”
• “I find it hard to believe that a human body… could be so destroyed”
• “Yet the exposed wood of the floor was barely damaged”

The Victim

Mary Hardy Reeser

Mrs. Reeser was:

• 67 years old
• A widow
• In good health for her age
• She smoked cigarettes
• She had taken sleeping pills that night
• She was last seen at about 9:00 PM on July 1st

Her Final Evening

According to her son:

• He visited her the evening before
• She was sitting in her easy chair
• She was wearing a nightgown and housecoat
• She had taken two sleeping pills (Seconal)
• She planned to go to bed
• He left her sitting and smoking

Spontaneous Human Combustion Theory

The SHC Hypothesis

Some researchers proposed:

• Mary Reeser spontaneously combusted
• Internal fire destroyed her body
• SHC can explain the intense, localized burning
• The phenomenon remains unexplained

Historical SHC Cases

Similar cases include:

• Countess Cornelia di Bandi (1731)
• Various Victorian-era cases
• Dr. John Irving Bentley (1966)
• Multiple other alleged instances

Arguments for SHC

Proponents note:

• The extreme destruction of the body
• The relatively untouched surroundings
• The unusual pattern of burning
• No obvious ignition source
• The conditions seem impossible with ordinary fire

Scientific Explanations

The Wick Effect

The leading scientific explanation:

How It Works

• A small external fire ignites clothing
• Body fat melts and is absorbed by clothing
• The clothing acts as a wick (like a candle)
• The fat provides fuel
• The fire burns slowly at low temperature
• This can consume most of a body

In Reeser’s Case

• Her cigarette may have ignited her clothing
• The sleeping pills incapacitated her
• Her body fat fueled the fire
• The chair added fuel
• Hours of slow burning explains the destruction

Problems with the Theory

Critics note:

• The wick effect usually takes 12+ hours
• Mrs. Reeser was found within about 12 hours (possible)
• The skull shrinkage is unusual
• Normal cremation requires 1400-1800°F for 2-3 hours
• Can a wick effect achieve this?

The Skull Question

The shrunken skull remains controversial:

• Skulls usually explode in fires
• They don’t shrink
• Mary’s skull was reportedly fist-sized
• This has never been adequately explained
• Some suggest the skull story is exaggerated

Other Theories

Electrical Discharge

Some suggest:

• A freak electrical event
• Ball lightning or similar phenomenon
• No evidence supports this

Murder

Could she have been killed?

• No evidence of foul play
• No accelerants found
• No motive identified
• Investigation found no suspects

Divine or Supernatural

Some interpret:

• SHC as divine punishment
• Or supernatural phenomenon
• These interpretations are outside science

The Investigation’s Conclusion

Official Determination

The final ruling:

• Fell asleep while smoking
• Sleeping pills prevented her from waking
• Cigarette ignited her clothing
• Fire consumed her over several hours
• Case closed (though unsatisfactorily for many)

Lingering Doubts

Questions remain:

• How did the body burn so completely?
• Why wasn’t more of the room damaged?
• How did the skull shrink?
• Can the wick effect really explain it?

Legacy

In SHC Research

The Reeser case:

• Is the most famous American SHC case
• Is cited in almost every SHC discussion
• Has been studied for over 70 years
• Remains controversial

In Popular Culture

Mary Reeser has been featured in:

• Numerous books on SHC
• Television documentaries
• Scientific investigations
• Skeptical analyses
• The “Unsolved Mysteries” treatment

Scientific Interest

Researchers continue to:

• Study the wick effect
• Analyze similar cases
• Debate the possibilities
• Seek definitive explanations

The Broader Question

Does SHC Exist?

The scientific consensus:

• No verified case of true spontaneous combustion exists
• The wick effect explains most cases
• External ignition sources are usually present
• Bodies don’t simply ignite on their own
• The term “spontaneous” is misleading

But What About Reeser?

The case challenges easy dismissal:

• The destruction was extreme
• The scene was genuinely unusual
• Complete explanations remain elusive
• Something remarkable happened that night

Conclusion

On a July morning in 1951, Mary Reeser was found reduced to ashes in her apartment. The fire that consumed her was so intense that it destroyed her 170-pound body, yet so contained that newspapers nearby remained unburned. Seventy years later, we still debate what happened.

Was it:

• A cigarette and a slow-burning wick effect fire?
• True spontaneous human combustion?
• Something else we don’t understand?

The wick effect provides a plausible scientific explanation. But doubts persist - the shrunken skull, the contained destruction, the impossibility of it all.

Mary Reeser went to bed on a Florida summer night and became one of history’s great mysteries. Her case doesn’t prove spontaneous human combustion exists. But it doesn’t quite let us rest easy that it doesn’t, either.

Something burned Mary Reeser that night. Something hot enough to reduce her to ashes, yet gentle enough to spare the room around her. What that something was remains, like Mrs. Reeser herself, largely beyond our grasp - a mystery turned to smoke and ash on a summer night in St. Petersburg.