Florida 'Spontaneous Combustion' Death Featured on Travel Channel

It’s been 63 years since St. Petersburg police found nothing left of Mary Reeser except a pile of bones and ash. Her death sparked plenty of theories, but experts were never able to agree on what could have caused the 67-year-old woman to go up in flames while causing little damage to the rest of her home.

While experts at the time proposed ideas that ranged from death-by-cigarette fire to spontaneous combustion, there’s never been consensus.

The unusual circumstances of Reeser’s death recently caught the attention of the folks behind the Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum” show. An episode featuring Reeser’s story aired on Friday with present-day Maj. Michael Kovacsev recounting details of the unusual case.

The Reeser case unfolded July 2, 1951, when her landlady attempted to check on her and noticed the door handle to her apartment was hot to the touch. The landlady enlisted some help getting into the apartment and discovered a room full of smoke. There was nothing left of Reeser, but a pile of bones, ashes, and one intact foot and shoe.

While the FBI and local authorities attributed the death to a fire caused by a lit cigarette, a forensic anthropologist at the time disagreed, the episode pointed out. The fire was contained to a single spot in the home and while there was smoke damage on walls and the ceiling, nothing else was damaged.

Investigators also noticed Reeser’s skull was “abnormally small.”

The Reeser case dossier is housed at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

Kovacsev says the death “continues to be a mystery today.”

“Mysteries at the Museum” airs on Fridays at 9 p.m. on the Travel Channel. For more information about the case, check out the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

What do you think could have caused Mary Reeser’s unusual death? Tell us by commenting below!

Photo Credit: Screenshot from the episode.