In the summer of 1951, Mary Reeser — a widowed grandmother who lived near her son’s family in St. Petersburg, Florida — burned to death in her small apartment. No one knew until the next morning when her landlady tried to deliver a telegram and found Mary’s doorknob hot to the touch. It was as if only her body and the chair had caught fire. Nearby newspapers sat unburnt; smoke stains gathered only at the ceiling. Investigators saw no reason why a fire would have started — and it seemed to many that Mary Reeser was a victim of spontaneous human combustion. We explore the theories surrounding her death, and the history of SHC.
In Something Southern, Zoey once again quizzes Robin on real or fake southern towns, and it Doesn’t Go Well!
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Reeser
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wick_effect
- “No New Clues in Reeser Death; Debris Sent to Lab” by Jerry Blizin, St. Petersburg Times; Jul. 5, 1951.
- “Spontaneous Combustion in St. Petersburg? The Curious Case of Mary Reeser” by Gabrielle Calise, Tampa Bay Times, pub. Oct. 17, 2019, upated Oct. 27, 2019.
- https://www.britannica.com/story/is-spontaneous-human-combustion-real
- Ford, Brian. (2012). Solving the mystery of spontaneous human combustion. The Microscope. 60. 63-72.
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