Nexus - 0225 - New Times Magazine-pages

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partly bummed, leaving the hair or upper face intact. A common overhead beam and it was easily extinguished. characteristic is the strong smell or stench of fat or a sticky-sweet As the smoke cleared, they saw the remains of a foot protruding burnt smell. The same fatty deposits are often found on the walls from some ashes. Most of Mrs Reeser, the chair she was in and of the room. most of the table next to her were burnt to ashes. The apartment The area around the remains is often untouched. For example, ceiling was blackened. The walls and drapes where similarly the chair in which the person last sat may be burnt to ash, but affected. Smoke affected the bathroom as well. Apart from those everything in the room outside a radius of three feet (one metre) furniture items, no other furniture was bumt or marked. The elec- would remain untouched. Newspapers may stay unburnt, and trical equipment was all intact, with the exception of the electric books or other flammable material may be left untouched. Houses _ clock which had stopped at 4.20 am. made of timber or any combustibles are usually not bumt. All that remained of Mrs Reeser's body was a few teeth, a The temperature necessary to consume a human body and turn _ (reportedly) shrunken skull, a charred liver attached to a piece of the bones to ash is estimated to be beyond that of any normal cre- _ bone, a piece of what appeared to be a hip-bone, and her left foot matorium. Funeral directors quoted by Randles and Hough (pp. __ in a black satin slipper from the ankle down. Identification of the 61-62) stated that bodies are bumt at a temperature of between _ remains was made on the slipper! 600 and 950 degrees Centigrade. This process produces ash from The fire officers, suspecting a crime and subsequent arson of the human organs—but the skeletal bone is still intact even after one- apartment, called in the FBI. Nothing was missing. The FBI sus- and-a-half hours. Additional buming only turns the bones blacker —_ pected that only some type of fire accelerant could have been but does not reduce them to ash. In the crematorium process, responsible for the body being almost totally consumed. Nothing bones must then be raked out and crushed by mechanical means. else would explain it. However, they could not find any trace of In all cases of SHC in this article, the oxidising chemicals, petroleum hydrocar- bones are destroyed, leaving only ash. The bons or any other volatile fluids or chemicals temperatures necessary to do this in a very | [nm all cases of SHC in this | which would initiate or accelerate ‘the fire. short space of time are_estimated to be in the ALLS (Randles and Hough, p. 82). order of 2,000 to 3,000 degrees Centigrade. article, the bones are i Temperatures of this order ought to confla- destroyed, leaving only ash.| The "Bert Jones" Case: The name grate an entire room, but again and again adopted here is a pseudonym to protect the we'll see this does not happen. Further, The temperatures necessary family of the man involved. It happened on many cases of SHC have taken place in | tO do this in avery short | 4 winter aftemoon in January 1980 in a small open, well-ventilated areas, in gardens, on space of time are estimated town near Ebbw Valc, Wales, UK. Police boats, on a dance floor, and even while -_-— who were called to the house found a bizarre walking in the street (the opening paragraphs to be in the order of 2,000 and perplexing scene unlike anything they quote such a case). to 3,000°C. had ever encountered. This fiery death was * impossible, yet there it was before their eyes. Temperatures of this order Police found a pile of ash heaped on the ought to conflagrate an | floor in front of an undisturbed fire-grate. entire room, but again and Two human fect wearing undamaged socks . t * were at end of the ash. Further away from again we ll see this does not} the pile was a blackened human skull. The happen. armchair in which the victim had sat when woman who had left her native Pennsylvania he caught fire was singed but unburnt. Less to be near her son, Dr Richard Reeser, in St than a metre away, a loose-covered settee, Petersburg, Florida. It was a hot, muggy July evening in 1981. _ which by rights should have been burt, remained totally unaffect- Mary Reeser had walked home to her apartment near her son's ed. Only the carpet that was immediately in contact with the home after he had not immediately taken her home following remains was burnt, but just centimetres away it was untouched. some babysitting she had done with the youngest child. The fami- Plastic floor tiles under the carpet were also untouched. The TV ly had come home from the beach, and while her son took a show- _ set in the room was slightly affected, but only on its plastic knobs. er she walked home. His wife went after her in the car and arrived When police arrived, the walls were glowing orange, like a fur- at her door as she did. nace cooling off after use. Black soot covered the surfaces of She settled Mrs Reeser in and then left for her home. That was everything in the room. A nearby plastic lampshade had melted. around 5 pm. The son decided around 8 pm to go over to see his _A sticky orange substance found on the light-bulb tured out to be mother as she had been depressed and crying earlier that evening. | human flesh that had vaporised in the incredible heat. What could He found her in her nightie, and having taken two sleeping pills _ raise such incredible temperatures as to totally incinerate the body she was relaxing smoking a cigarette. He left soon after she had _ yet leave adjacent inflammable objects almost unaffected? settled, and, according to others at the apartments, her lights went out at around 9 pm. SOME HISTORICAL INCIDENTS OF SHC At 8 am a telegram boy came by with a telegram for Mrs Historical evidence for strange fires, like the two described Reeser. Pansy Carpenter, the apartment owner, took the telegram above, spans the centuries. These accounts have been drawn from and decided to deliver it personally to Mary. Arriving at the apart- _ the research of Randles and Hough. ment's screen door, she found the knob hot to touch and the door 26 June 1613: Dorset carpenter John Hitchen went to bed in unlocked. She called to the telegram boy and two painters across _ the evening after a normal day. His wife's mother, who slept in the road. They came over and one went inside. He backed out, another room, was awoken by a sound blow to her cheek during finding the apartment full of smoke, and immediately advised call- _an electrical storm in the night. She called out to the family but no ing the fire brigade. The fire officers arrived, went in and opened _ one replied. She found her daughter in bed with one side of her windows to let out the smoke. Only a small fire remained on one —_ body bumt, and Mr Hitchen and child dead, His body, still bum- Mary Hardy Reeser: Among the more famous cases is the one of Mary Reeser. Photographs of her remains have been used in the Time-Life Library of Unusual Facts (1991). She was a 67-year-old, reasonably plump SOME HISTORICAL INCIDENTS OF SHC Historical evidence for strange fires, like the two described above, spans the centuries. These accounts have been drawn from the research of Randles and Hough. 26 June 1613: Dorset carpenter John Hitchen went to bed in the evening after a normal day. His wife's mother, who slept in another room, was awoken by a sound blow to her cheek during an electrical storm in the night. She called out to the family but no one replied. She found her daughter in bed with one side of her body bumt, and Mr Hitchen and child dead. His body, still bum- 56 © NEXUS APRIL - MAY 1995