WEBVTT - Season 6 Episode 19: Fire in the Belly

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<v Speaker 1>One morning in January eighteen ninety nine, a tragic but

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<v Speaker 1>curious story appeared in the Halifax Evening Career. The article

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<v Speaker 1>concerned a young family who lived in Sowerby Bridge in

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<v Speaker 1>West Yorkshire in the north of England. Sarah Mitchell and

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<v Speaker 1>her ex husband John Kirby shared two daughters between them.

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<v Speaker 1>Five year old Alice lived with her father and grandmother

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<v Speaker 1>on Wakefield Road, while Alice's four year old sister Amy

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<v Speaker 1>lived with her mother just over a mile away on

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<v Speaker 1>Hargreave's Terrace. At roughly ten thirty am on Thursday, the

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<v Speaker 1>fifth of January, Alice's grandmother left Alice at home, sleeping

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<v Speaker 1>in her bed, to visit her daughter, who lived up

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<v Speaker 1>the road. It was about forty five minutes later when

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<v Speaker 1>a neighbor, missus Ramsden, noticed the flickering of flames coming

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<v Speaker 1>from inside the house. When all of a sudden, the

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<v Speaker 1>front door burst open to reveal the horrifying sight of

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<v Speaker 1>the young Alice, screaming in agony as flames leaped up

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<v Speaker 1>from all over her body. In a panic, Ramsden rushed

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<v Speaker 1>home and grabbed a rug, then threw it over the

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<v Speaker 1>child in an effort to douse the flames. A doctor

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<v Speaker 1>was promptly called and soon after arrived on horse and

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<v Speaker 1>cart to find the girl barely clinging on to life.

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<v Speaker 1>Her entire body was burned from head to toe, so

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<v Speaker 1>badly in parts that it had blackened and charred. After

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<v Speaker 1>Alice was rushed to hospital, a neighbor was sent off

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<v Speaker 1>to inform her mother, Sarah, of the terrible news, But

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<v Speaker 1>just as the neighbor was nearing Sarah's home, they saw

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<v Speaker 1>a traumatized looking Sarah coming towards them from the other direction.

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<v Speaker 1>Assuming Sarah had already heard the news, the neighbor was

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<v Speaker 1>completely bemused when Sarah tried to explain between sobs that

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<v Speaker 1>she was running to her ex husband's home to tell

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<v Speaker 1>him about what had just happened to their daughter Amy.

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<v Speaker 1>Only minutes before, Sarah had gone outside to pull some

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<v Speaker 1>water from the community well when she heard the sound

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<v Speaker 1>of screaming coming from inside her house. Racing back, she

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<v Speaker 1>found four year old Amy standing in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>the kitchen with foot high flames shooting up from her head. Incredibly,

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<v Speaker 1>both Alice and Amy appeared to have caught fire at

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<v Speaker 1>almost exactly the same time, despite living in separate homes

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<v Speaker 1>a mile away from each other Tragically. Alice didn't survive

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<v Speaker 1>the night, while Amy succumbed to her injuries the following morning.

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<v Speaker 1>No explanation for how exactly they caught fire was ever found.

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<v Speaker 1>Some nine years before the mysterious case, in Sowerby Bridge,

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<v Speaker 1>just over three thousand miles away on the outskirts of

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<v Speaker 1>air Massachusetts, in the United States, a doctor picks his

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<v Speaker 1>way through the woods, beckoned forward by a distraught young woman.

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<v Speaker 1>As he moves deeper into the trees, he becomes aware

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<v Speaker 1>of the faint smell of burnt flesh in the air.

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<v Speaker 1>The further he goes, the stronger the smell becomes, until

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<v Speaker 1>he's forced to cup a handkerchief to his nose to

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<v Speaker 1>block it out. There, says the woman, finally pointing towards

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<v Speaker 1>something on fire in a small clearing. The doctor stood

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<v Speaker 1>startled for a moment as he tried to comprehend the

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<v Speaker 1>peculiar and shocking scene. It was a body covered in

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen inch flames, pitched forward on one knee, with its face,

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<v Speaker 1>arms and chest lying flat against the ground while its

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<v Speaker 1>right leg remained rigidly stuck up straight. The body hissed

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<v Speaker 1>and crackled as it burned. Then a pop was heard.

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<v Speaker 1>Was the right tibia snapped off completely, leaving the foot

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<v Speaker 1>hanging from a string of quickly blackening tendons. Well put

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<v Speaker 1>her out, for God's sake, shouted the doctor. Moments later,

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<v Speaker 1>as others arrived to help, a spading fork was used

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<v Speaker 1>to shovel earth over the corpse until the flames died out,

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<v Speaker 1>and then they all just stood watching the blackened figure,

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<v Speaker 1>its clothes all but burned off, quietly smoking in the woods.

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<v Speaker 1>Shortly before she caught fire. The victim, the mother of

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<v Speaker 1>the woman who'd called for the doctor in the first place,

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<v Speaker 1>had been clearing stumps and roots from an area close

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<v Speaker 1>to her home. Some suggested she must have accidentally set

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<v Speaker 1>fire to herself. However, not only was the body found

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<v Speaker 1>a good ten meters from the fire, but there was

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<v Speaker 1>also no damage to the forest floor around it, with

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<v Speaker 1>only a slight charring of the leaves underneath. Even the

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<v Speaker 1>straw hat the woman was wearing at the time she

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<v Speaker 1>caught fire lay several feet away with only minor scorchings.

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<v Speaker 1>The doctor who attended the scene, a doctor Heartwell, gave

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<v Speaker 1>his account of this peculiar story in the February eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>ninety two edition of the Boston Medical Journal. It is

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<v Speaker 1>thought to be the first officially recorded case of a

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<v Speaker 1>medical professional finding a human body combusting in which the

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<v Speaker 1>material of the body itself was feeding the fire. Heartwell's

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<v Speaker 1>own conclusion was that the woman, despite being well known

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<v Speaker 1>as a diligent and sober individual, had likely been caught

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<v Speaker 1>out by a sudden burst of flame from the fire

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<v Speaker 1>she'd made, which had then latched onto her clothes and

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<v Speaker 1>quickly overcome her. But could it have been something a

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<v Speaker 1>little stranger you're listening to unexplained? And I'm Richard McClane Smith.

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<v Speaker 1>Mary wasn't her usual self ever since she'd moved out

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<v Speaker 1>to Florida. Her son Richard couldn't help but notice how

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<v Speaker 1>unhappy she'd become. It had all seemed like such a

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<v Speaker 1>good idea at first. Only three years before the sixty

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<v Speaker 1>seven year old Mary's beloved husband and Richard's father, Richard Riesa,

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<v Speaker 1>had died. Mary and Richard Sor had lived together in Columbia, Pennsylvania,

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<v Speaker 1>where they enjoyed a lively social life, often hosting their

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<v Speaker 1>many friends that their beautifully turned out home that was

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<v Speaker 1>full of antique furniture and art. When Richard died, however,

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<v Speaker 1>everything changed. The home where her son had also grown

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<v Speaker 1>up so grand and full of wonderful memories, was now

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<v Speaker 1>just a painful daily reminder of her husband's absence. Though

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<v Speaker 1>she tried to carry on like before, it was clear

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<v Speaker 1>to her son that his father's death had taken a

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<v Speaker 1>heavy toll and she needed help. After graduating from Cornell

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<v Speaker 1>Medical School, like his dad, Richard was sent to Florida

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<v Speaker 1>to look after US troops stationed there as part of

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<v Speaker 1>their training to being sent overseas to fight in the

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<v Speaker 1>Second World War. Richard liked it so much that he

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<v Speaker 1>and his wife, Ernestine, along with their three daughters, decided

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<v Speaker 1>to stay there and moved into a large family home

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<v Speaker 1>in Saint Petersburg. The obvious solution, therefore, was to have

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<v Speaker 1>his mother moved down to be closer to them, and

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<v Speaker 1>so in late May of nineteen fifty one she did,

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<v Speaker 1>taking an apartment on Cherry Street in the east of

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<v Speaker 1>the city, just by the coast. By July first, however,

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<v Speaker 1>only five weeks later, Mary was struggling. It was the

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<v Speaker 1>heat and humidity more than anything else, being such a

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<v Speaker 1>marked contrast to what she'd been used to in Columbia, Pennsylvania.

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<v Speaker 1>She missed her friends too, and her apartment was also

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<v Speaker 1>beginning to depress her. With only one bedroom and three

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<v Speaker 1>rooms in total, it was a far cry from the

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<v Speaker 1>much prettier house she'd shared with her husband, and once

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<v Speaker 1>again something had to break. In the end, Mary decided

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<v Speaker 1>to keep the place in Florida, but moved back to

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<v Speaker 1>Columbia in Pennsylvania for the remainder of the summer and

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<v Speaker 1>asked her friends to help her find somewhere to stay. Sadly, however,

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<v Speaker 1>finding a place proved an almost impossible task. Undeterred, Mary

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<v Speaker 1>succeeded in convincing a friend to drive her back to

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<v Speaker 1>Pennsylvania so she could organize something herself, only for her

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<v Speaker 1>friend to then break her leg, and so Mary had

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<v Speaker 1>no choice but to stick it out in Saint Petersburg indefinitely.

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<v Speaker 1>In the early afternoon of July first, clearly withdrawn, Mary

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<v Speaker 1>arrived at her son's house to look after her youngest

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<v Speaker 1>granddaughter while the rest of the family went out to

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<v Speaker 1>the beach. According to Richard's account given to the police

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<v Speaker 1>the following day, while he was at the beach, he

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't stop thinking about how down his mother seemed, and

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<v Speaker 1>decided to head home early. Once back, Mary insisted to

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<v Speaker 1>him that everything was fine and asked to simply be

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<v Speaker 1>driven back to her apartment, which Richard agreed to do

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<v Speaker 1>after he'd taken a shower. By the time he came

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<v Speaker 1>back down, his mother had left, having decided just to

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<v Speaker 1>walk home. Not being fully dressed. Richard asked his wife, Ernestine,

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<v Speaker 1>to chase after her in the hope of picking her

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<v Speaker 1>up on the way, but Mary was nowhere to be seen.

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<v Speaker 1>When Ernestine eventually arrived at Mary's apartment, she wasn't there either.

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<v Speaker 1>Ernestine waited unsuccessfully until five pm before deciding to drive

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<v Speaker 1>back home, having heard nothing from his mother by eight pm.

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<v Speaker 1>Richard then claimed to have driven back to her apartment

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<v Speaker 1>with one of his daughters, where he found the door

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<v Speaker 1>open and his mother sitting silently in her easy chair,

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<v Speaker 1>smoking a cigarette and listening to the radio. Richard later

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<v Speaker 1>said that she seemed oddly relaxed given the circumstances, perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>helped by the two sleeping pills she'd just taken. He

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<v Speaker 1>said that Mary insisted she was fine, again, saying that

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<v Speaker 1>she planned to go to bed as soon as her

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<v Speaker 1>program was finished. Satisfied that his mother was at least

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<v Speaker 1>home safely. Richard said he simply gave her a kiss

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<v Speaker 1>good night, then promised to call in on her in

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<v Speaker 1>the morning before he and his daughter drove back home.

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<v Speaker 1>Alamander Apartments, where Mary was home to a hotel and

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<v Speaker 1>five apartments in total. However, Mary was the only person

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<v Speaker 1>living there at the time, along with her landlady Pansy Carpenter.

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<v Speaker 1>Pansy said she saw Mary a short time before Richard's

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<v Speaker 1>arrival and again after he left. Having noticed her tenant's

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<v Speaker 1>downbeat mood, Pansy had chatted to Mary briefly about her

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<v Speaker 1>disappointment and not being able to get back to Pennsylvania,

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<v Speaker 1>and had then gone off to buy her some ice

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<v Speaker 1>cream to try and cheer her up. When she returned

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<v Speaker 1>to the apartment, however, the lights were off. Assuming that

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<v Speaker 1>Mary had gone to bed, Pansy decided not to disturb

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<v Speaker 1>her and soon after went to sleep herself. It was

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<v Speaker 1>five am the following morning when Pansy was woken by

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<v Speaker 1>the thud of what she assumed was a door slamming

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<v Speaker 1>somewhere on her property. Stepping out into the warm morning darkness,

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<v Speaker 1>her flip flops clacking against the concrete path. Pansy's relief

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<v Speaker 1>at finding the place deserted was soon tempered by the

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<v Speaker 1>whiff of something burning. Thinking it was the water pump overheating,

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<v Speaker 1>she headed into the garage to inspect it. With the

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<v Speaker 1>smell of burning having by then dissipated, she decided to

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<v Speaker 1>air on the side of caution and switched it off

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<v Speaker 1>before returning back to bed. Pansy was up again at

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<v Speaker 1>sixty five and stepped outside to collect the morning paper

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<v Speaker 1>when she noticed Mary's apartment was still dark, which was

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<v Speaker 1>unusual since Mary was such an early riser. Just over

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<v Speaker 1>an hour later, a telegram messenger arrived with a telegram

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<v Speaker 1>for Mary. Since she didn't appear to be up yet,

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<v Speaker 1>agreed to deliver it herself. She felt a sudden pang

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<v Speaker 1>of nerves as she set off toward Mary's apartment, which

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<v Speaker 1>was located beyond a screen door and down a corridor

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<v Speaker 1>to the left. Pansy grabbed the screen door, then pulled

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<v Speaker 1>back her hand in shock. It was searingly hot. It

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<v Speaker 1>was also unlocked, which was never the case. Taking care

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<v Speaker 1>not to burn her hand, Pansy poured the screen door

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<v Speaker 1>open again and stepped through into the corridor. Beyond. A

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<v Speaker 1>disturbing warmth hung in the air. As Pansy made her

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<v Speaker 1>way down to Mary's apartment, where she found the door

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<v Speaker 1>slightly ajar and knew immediately that something was terribly wrong.

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<v Speaker 1>Pansy ran outside and called out to the telegram messenger

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<v Speaker 1>for help, along with two decorators who were busy working

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<v Speaker 1>on a house across the street. The men told Pansy

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<v Speaker 1>to wait outside as one of the decorators, Albert Downet,

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<v Speaker 1>headed inside toward Mary's apartment. A thick plume of black

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<v Speaker 1>smoke escaped as Albert pushed open the door, batting it away.

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<v Speaker 1>He stepped inside, where a thick smell of grease clung

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<v Speaker 1>to the air. Through the smoky darkness, he could just

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<v Speaker 1>make out some flames licking up through the springs of

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<v Speaker 1>an easy chair that had clearly been destroyed by a fire,

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<v Speaker 1>and at the base of what remained at the chair

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<v Speaker 1>was a bizarre, gelatinous, red, smoldering mass. Albert ran straight

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<v Speaker 1>out and yelled for Pansy to call the fire brigade.

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<v Speaker 1>Assistant fire Chief Stephen Griffith was one of the first

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<v Speaker 1>to arrive on the scene. He noticed first that a

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<v Speaker 1>plastic face plate for a switch in the hall had

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<v Speaker 1>morphed completely out of shape, suggesting a significant heat had

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<v Speaker 1>been generated from within the apartment beyond. Then, pushing open

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<v Speaker 1>the door, he entered inside as he called out Mary's name,

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<v Speaker 1>Barely able to see more than a few meters in

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<v Speaker 1>front of him through the smoke, he headed straight for

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<v Speaker 1>a window and opened it up. Turning back, he saw

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<v Speaker 1>then that one of the joists in the living room

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<v Speaker 1>and the remains of the easy chair, was still on fire.

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<v Speaker 1>Using a hand held water pump, Griffith quickly extinguished the flames. Then,

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<v Speaker 1>with the smoke now steadily clearing, he looked down to

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<v Speaker 1>the floor and saw next to the remains of the

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<v Speaker 1>chair a large pile of ash, surrounded by a dark

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<v Speaker 1>globular mass, and sticking out of it was an almost

0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:05.800
<v Speaker 1>perfectly preserved leg, burned off from just below the shin,

0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:11.840
<v Speaker 1>with an unburned black satin slipper on its foot. The

0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:15.840
<v Speaker 1>pile of ash and sticky mass, it seemed, along with

0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:21.040
<v Speaker 1>the leg, was all that was left of Mary. Griffith

0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.600
<v Speaker 1>stood bemused by the whole thing, looking about at the

0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.840
<v Speaker 1>rest of the apartment that appeared almost completely undamaged by

0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:33.280
<v Speaker 1>the apparent blaze, Though there were undeniable signs that a

0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.160
<v Speaker 1>fire had taken place, such as the ceiling having been

0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:41.760
<v Speaker 1>blackened by the smoke, an internal screen window clogged with soot,

0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.600
<v Speaker 1>and a degree of burning between the partition separating the

0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.760
<v Speaker 1>kitchen and living areas. Very little of the apartment appeared

0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:54.520
<v Speaker 1>to have actually caught fire, aside from the chair where

0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.600
<v Speaker 1>Mary must have been sitting when it happened, a small

0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.400
<v Speaker 1>table next to it and a wooden lamp on top

0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.440
<v Speaker 1>of that were all that was burned, and even then

0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:09.080
<v Speaker 1>only partially. Not one of her two day beds or

0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.760
<v Speaker 1>the sheets on them, nor the dining table and four chairs,

0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.399
<v Speaker 1>all located close to the apparent source of the fire,

0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:20.760
<v Speaker 1>were affected, while nothing in her dressing room or bathroom

0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:30.879
<v Speaker 1>was damaged either. Once the room was cleared of smoke

0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:36.480
<v Speaker 1>and cool enough to investigate. Alongside Mary's lower leg, forensics

0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.320
<v Speaker 1>also found some teeth, a charred piece of liver attached

0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.359
<v Speaker 1>to some spine, as well as a hip bone and

0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:48.240
<v Speaker 1>a piece of Mary's skull buried within the ashes. Though

0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.320
<v Speaker 1>there was little doubting the identity of the body for

0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.760
<v Speaker 1>sixty seven year old Mary Reesa was ultimately identified by

0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.800
<v Speaker 1>the black slipper on her foot, which her son recognized

0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:05.040
<v Speaker 1>as hers. So unusual was the incident that the Saint

0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:08.280
<v Speaker 1>Petersburg Police were forced to enlist the help of the

0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:14.120
<v Speaker 1>FBI to try and untangle it. Attention soon focused on

0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:19.480
<v Speaker 1>Mary's son, Richard, whom her landlady Pansy Carpenter, reported seeing

0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.920
<v Speaker 1>arriving at the apartment the night before she died. As

0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.160
<v Speaker 1>she explained to the police, although that wasn't unusual, it

0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.000
<v Speaker 1>was strange that she found Mary's door had been left

0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.560
<v Speaker 1>open and the screen door unlocked when she went to

0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:39.320
<v Speaker 1>call on her the following morning. That Mary's bed also

0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.280
<v Speaker 1>appeared to have been slept in, despite the fact that

0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.560
<v Speaker 1>she clearly died while sitting in her easy chair, was

0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:51.240
<v Speaker 1>also a little suspicious. In the end, however, Richard was

0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:57.359
<v Speaker 1>never seriously considered a suspect. Two electricians were tasked with

0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.119
<v Speaker 1>examining all the electrical items in the flower to determine

0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.680
<v Speaker 1>if an electrical fire was the cause, but no faults

0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:10.359
<v Speaker 1>were found. The apartment also had an electric fire, which

0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:15.760
<v Speaker 1>wasn't far from where Mary's remains were found. However, according

0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.919
<v Speaker 1>to those who first arrived at the apartment, this was

0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:23.280
<v Speaker 1>switched off when they got there. For someone so disgruntled

0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:27.040
<v Speaker 1>with the Florida heat, it also seems highly unlikely that

0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:31.520
<v Speaker 1>Mary would have had reason to turn this on. After

0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:36.320
<v Speaker 1>three weeks spent analyzing smoke samples, pieces of rug, and

0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.240
<v Speaker 1>segments of the easy chair, among other things, the FBI

0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:48.240
<v Speaker 1>concluded that no oxidizing chemicals, petroleum hydrocarbons or other volatile fluids,

0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.840
<v Speaker 1>or any other chemical substances used to initiate or accelerate

0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:58.679
<v Speaker 1>combustion were found at the scene. As investigators struggled to

0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.919
<v Speaker 1>explain it all, a raft of amateur detectives contacted the

0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:07.800
<v Speaker 1>local fire department to offer their own theories. Everything from

0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:12.640
<v Speaker 1>lightning to an accident with napalm was suggested, with one

0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.199
<v Speaker 1>individual even claiming that they'd watched a ball of fire

0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:27.200
<v Speaker 1>come through the open window and hit Mary. With all

0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.480
<v Speaker 1>the various theories about what had happened floating around, Mary's

0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:36.120
<v Speaker 1>daughter in law, Ernestine, had one of her own. Speaking

0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.679
<v Speaker 1>to the Saint Petersburg Times in nineteen ninety one, she

0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:43.199
<v Speaker 1>said that Mary was a heavy smoker who most likely

0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:46.760
<v Speaker 1>fell asleep in her chair while smoking and set herself

0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:51.720
<v Speaker 1>on fire. With Mary having taken sleeping pills that night

0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.879
<v Speaker 1>while wearing a night dress made of rayon acetate, a

0:21:56.000 --> 0:22:00.200
<v Speaker 1>highly flammable material. It is certainly plausible that this is

0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:04.080
<v Speaker 1>what happened. It was also true that the floor under

0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:07.600
<v Speaker 1>the carpet was concrete, which may have helped to contain

0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:13.080
<v Speaker 1>the spread of any resultant fire. And yet such deaths

0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.880
<v Speaker 1>are by no means unheard of, but rarely, if ever,

0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.639
<v Speaker 1>do they result in the complete cremation of the victim,

0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.760
<v Speaker 1>something that would likely require well over a thousand degrees

0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:30.040
<v Speaker 1>celsius to occur. By comparison, the heat generated from a

0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:34.240
<v Speaker 1>burning chair would be more akin to six hundred degrees celsius.

0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:38.959
<v Speaker 1>One theory put forward was that the reason the apartment

0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:43.159
<v Speaker 1>hadn't burned down was because Mary hadn't been set on fire,

0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:47.560
<v Speaker 1>but had instead burned from the inside, with her body

0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:53.040
<v Speaker 1>fat sustaining the burn like a candle while simultaneously keeping

0:22:53.080 --> 0:23:00.119
<v Speaker 1>the resultant fire localized around her body. Famed anthropologist de

0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:04.840
<v Speaker 1>Wilton Krogeman of the University of Pennsylvania was also brought

0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.960
<v Speaker 1>in to consult on the mystery. Considered an expert on

0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.760
<v Speaker 1>the effects of fire on the human body, Krogeman made

0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.280
<v Speaker 1>the intriguing point that had the fire been a common one,

0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:20.919
<v Speaker 1>Mary's skull should have exploded rather than shrunk, as it

0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:25.680
<v Speaker 1>was found to have done. Krogeman, who regarded the case

0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:29.120
<v Speaker 1>as the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, and who

0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:31.760
<v Speaker 1>felt the hairs bristle on the back of his neck

0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:35.960
<v Speaker 1>whenever he thought about it, stated that he couldn't conceive

0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:40.240
<v Speaker 1>of such a complete cremation without more material having been

0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:44.720
<v Speaker 1>burned in the apartment where I living in the Middle Ages,

0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:50.800
<v Speaker 1>he said, I'd mutter something about black magic. To this day,

0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:59.320
<v Speaker 1>the bizarre death of Mary Esa remains unexplained. A few

0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:04.720
<v Speaker 1>days to Mary's remains were discovered, Pansy Carpenter, her landlady,

0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:09.880
<v Speaker 1>remembered that she still had Mary's undelivered telegram in her office,

0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:14.400
<v Speaker 1>handing it over to Mary's son, Richard. He read it

0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:21.720
<v Speaker 1>and wept. It was a message from Mary's friends in Columbia, Pennsylvania.

0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:25.359
<v Speaker 1>They'd managed to find her an apartment after all, and

0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:34.000
<v Speaker 1>couldn't wait to see her again. If you enjoy Unexplained

0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:36.120
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