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Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Grave of Mary Reeser's Leg

Mary Reeser is perhaps the world's best-known victim of (possible) spontaneous human combustion. All that remained of her was a foot and lower leg, part of her spine, and a badly shrunken skull, so they must be what's buried here.

Chestnut Hill Cemetery

Address:
327 W. Winding Hill Rd, Mechanicsburg, PA
Directions:
Chestnut Hill Cemetery. Drive south out of town on PA-114/S. Market St. for 1.5 miles. Turn right at the stoplight onto Winding Hill Rd. Drive a half mile. At the stop sign, jog right and then left to continue on Winding Hill Rd. Drive a quarter-mile to the cemetery entrance, on the left. Drive up the hill, then bear left. You'll loop around the back of the cemetery. When the road bends sharply right, so that there are graves on both sides, drive another 100 feet. Mary's small gravestone, flush with the ground, will be on the right. Look for the Reeser headstone.
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Mary Reeser's Gravesite

This grave is of a woman suspected to have died of spontaneously combusting in her home in 1951. Her grave faces the road and is in front of a standing "Reeser" headstone.

[GRAMS, 04/27/2022]

Grave of Mary Reeser's Legs.

Grave of Mary Reeser's Leg

The grave marker located is right where the directions indicate. Just stay on the main road; there is a right turn onto a side road before getting to the grave but that isn't the turn mentioned in the instructions.

[Jody High, 04/26/2021]

The FBI said that Mary fell asleep in a chair while smoking, although that doesn't explain the intensity and weirdness of the fire, or why more sleepy smokers didn't end up cremated like Mary.


Nearby Offbeat Places

Boiling SpringsBoiling Springs, Boiling Springs, PA - 7 mi.
War Weapons, Trenches, Obstacle CourseWar Weapons, Trenches, Obstacle Course, Carlisle, PA - 8 mi.
PA National Fire MuseumPA National Fire Museum, Harrisburg, PA - 8 mi.
In the region:
Lincoln Stump Chainsaw Bust, Lancaster, PA - 35 mi.

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