Mysterious woman burned to ash in the apartment intact

When the police found Mary Reeser, her entire body was almost burned to ash. It is difficult to understand that all the furniture in the apartment is almost intact. This mysterious case for the past 70 years has yet to find a convincing answer.

Victim Mary Reeser and the scene of the body burned to ash, leaving only a portion of the leg left. Photo: ATI On July 2, 1951, Pansy Carpenter, Mary Reeser’s landlord, stopped by the tenant’s apartment to send a telegram. When Pansy knocked on the door, no one answered. She put her hand on the doorknob and felt unusually hot, so she called the police. Police immediately went to the apartment at 1,200 Cherry Street (St. Petersburg town, Florida, USA) when he discovered that Marry Reeser, 67 years old, had died in a mysterious fire. Reports say the victim’s body was burned to ashes by a “white” flame – a color displaying temperatures between 1,300-1,500 degrees Celsius, equivalent to that in a crematorium. The victim’s body was almost completely ashes, leaving only one leg left, with the sandals intact, and no trace of carbon black. A part of Reeser’s spine and skull were also found at the scene. Although the apartment was still very warm and smoky when the police arrived, most of the furniture was still intact. Only plastic objects placed near the chair of Mrs. Reeser were melted and deformed. The carpet had a scorch mark. Most of the chair where the victim was sitting burned, but the wall behind that was not cracked or scorched. The rest of the room seemed unaffected by the fire that burned Mary Reeser. The sheets nearby are also not burnt, damaged, or even dirty. The scene of a mysterious fire in the apartment of Mary Reeser. Photo: ATI It takes about 1,600 degrees Celsius to heat for 3 or 4 hours to cremate a body. Therefore, the incident has made the authorities confused. Due to the mysterious circumstances of the case, it is suspected that Mrs. Reeser was a victim of spontaneous human combustion. It is when a person ignites their own flame from a chemical reaction inside their body, without any apparent ignition from the outside heat source. Although there have been documents about the human body igniting itself as early as 1663, not all scientists are convinced by it. Sheriff Cass Burgess was the detective investigating the Reeser case at the time. “This fire is too strange a thing,” he told reporters. Apartment diagram where the “ashen woman” case took place. The fire location is close to the kitchen, opposite the bed is still intact. Photo: thedeadhistory On 7/7/1951, Burgess and his team sent the evidence box from the victim’s apartment to the FBI laboratory (in Washington DC) for chemical analysis. Some of the evidence included ash, shoes, part of the carpet, mortar from the walls, pieces of fibers suspected from the victim’s nightgown, fragments of bone, and remains of the chair Reeser sat on when she died Fire…. The public is also very attentive to the case. Investigator Ed Silk said at least 15 amateur detectives called him to come up with their theories. The detective team released a statement saying it was a “accidental death from unexplained fire”. That doesn’t mean they are concluding the investigation, but just to help organize the burial of the victim, Burgess explained. Meanwhile, the FBI determined that Mary Reeser’s death was not caused by self-ignition. However, the incident is still a mystery. The FBI believes that Mary Reeser’s own body fat that fueled the fire that burned her could have come from smoking a cigarette and falling asleep. Ms. Reeser was set ablaze and “as soon as the body caught fire, almost complete destruction occurred from the victim’s own adipose tissue”. It is true that human adipose tissue is very flammable, and even easier in fat people. And Reeser is a huge woman, weighing 77kg. Investigators examine the crime scene. Photo: ATI The FBI’s explanation also has some basis, but it provides only partial explanation, as there are still some anomalies. For example, a stack of newspapers lined up next to the victim’s chair is still intact, not even scorched. Dr. Wilton M. Krogman, a professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, an experienced fire researcher, disagrees with the FBI’s conclusions. Mr. Krogman has written about all five deaths he investigated in the past. “I cannot imagine such a complete cremation without burning the apartment at all,” the professor wondered. Some other explanations are given one after another, such as lightning, explosives … However, that night there was no lightning at St. Petersburg. The test sample of the evidence from the scene also showed no signs of any gasoline or flammable substance. After an investigation went nowhere, the police finally concluded the cause was “a forgotten cigarette”. However, the question from here is, will someone die from being unable to wake up even while on fire? If Mrs. Reeser was awake, why couldn’t the housekeeper Pansy hear the screams? Finally, after exactly 70 years, the death of the “ashen woman” remains a mystery that challenges investigators.