One in the Oven

During the summer of 1983, in a quiet town near Minneapolis, Minnesota, the charred body of a woman was found inside the kitchen stove of a small farmhouse. A video camera was also found in the kitchen, standing on a tripod and pointing at the oven. No tape was found inside the camera at the time.

Athough police originally labeled the scene as a homicide, an unmarked VHS tape was later discovered at the bottom of the farm's well, which had apparently dried up earlier that year.

Despite its worn condition and the fact that it contained no audio, police were still able to view the contents of the tape. It depicted a woman recording herself in front of a video camera (seemingly the same camera the police found in the kitchen).

After positioning the camera to include both her and the kitchen stove in the image, she turned on the oven, opened the door, crawled inside, and closed the door behind her.

Eight minutes into the video, the oven could be seen shaking violently. After this point, thick black smoke could be seen emanating from it. The camera then continued to point at the oven for another 45 minutes until the battery apparently died.

To avoid disturbing the local community, police never released any information about the tape or even the fact that it was found. Police were not able to determine who put the tape in the well, also.

It was never determined why the physical stature of the woman on the tape did not, in any way, resemble the stature of the woman found in the oven.