Mrs.Mary Reeser's fiery death in 1951 confounded both her family and professional investigators.The 67 year old was found burned to a pile of ashes containing a charred liver, a piece of a spine, an impossibly shrunken skull, and one foot still in a black satin slipper.Yet, other than greasy black soot on the walls, the room showed none of the damage expected from the 3000 degree required to turn human body to ashes.Over 200 cases reported during the past four centuries testify to bodies inexplicably immolating, the victims perishing in moments while objects and people around them are unaffected.Such as the cup of freshly brewed tea on an undamaged tablecloth, inches above the cinders of a London widow smoldering inside her unburned clothing!People from early times belived spontanous combustion was caused by divine retribution.A few scientests suggest that digestive gases may explode and burn.Other theorize that dry skin can build up thousands of volts of static electricity,which discharge near flammable gas,results in disaster. Despite many attempts at invetigation and explanation, no more plausible theories have been fourthcoming for spontaneous human combustion.