So people, how often do you lie awake at night thinking about what it’s like to get buried alive? These 10 people didn’t have to imagine it, though, they actually lived it, being buried alive.
There’s also a term for this abnormal fear called ‘taphophobia’, an irrational fear of being buried alive. Here are 10 people who woke up after being buried alive!
10. The Shoemaker
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Perhaps one of the luckiest on this list, this 40-year-old shoemaker from Germany woke up while he was being buried. It was 1822, and his family had declared his passing after several attempts to wake him.
There were doubts from the beginning, as his body didn’t decompose nor go rigid, but the funeral must go on! The gravedigger was finishing up the last bit of dirt when he heard knocking.
He didn’t think twice before undoing his freshly-finished grave and found the shoemaker in perfect condition, moving around. Unfortunately, it seems the gravedigger was still too late and the physicians’ attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
9. The Sleeping Beauty
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Octavia Hatcher, who died in 1891, was from Kentucky and suffered from an unknown epidemic. Her son had passed away and she fell into a deep depression, later falling into a coma. Doctors pronounced her dead and she was quickly buried to avoid spreading of disease.
Since many in the state suffered from the disease, others in town started falling into comas and awakening, leading Octavia’s husband to doubt whether she’d really died.
They exhumed her body to find she had woken up and torn her coffin, and her nails, to pieces trying to escape before suffocating to death. He eventually built a monument over her grave, but I can’t imagine he ever forgave himself.
8. Six-Year-Old Girl Survives
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Sometimes, you should follow those hunches that tell you something isn’t right. That’s what villagers did in India in 2014, and it resulted in a saved life.
Unknown to them at the time of her rescue, 6-year-old Uttar Pradesh had been tricked by her neighbors, a couple who took her, promising her a trip to a fair.
Instead, they took her to a sugar cane field, tried to strangle and bury her, and walked away. The field wasn’t deserted, however, and they were spotted coming in with the girl, and out alone.
The villagers went inside the sugar cane field and saw loose soil in a particular place. They dug into it and found the girl buried inside.
The girl was unconscious and they rushed her to get care. When she woke up, she identified her attempted killers, but they were never caught.
7. Brazilian Man Survives
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So, you’re at the cemetery with your family visiting a family tomb. Everything feels very ceremonious and normal until, from the corner of your eye, you see something strange.
It seems like something is moving in the grass. It’s not weeds, nor even a gravedigger. A man is trying to escape his own grave! This is what happened to a man in 2013 in Sao Paulo.
Rescue workers came to help and they rushed him to the hospital where doctors suspected this was all the result of a bad fight. After being beaten nearly to death, his attackers buried him.
6. The Smiling Corpse
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In 1915, a South Carolina woman named Essie Dunbar had an epileptic attack that left her as good as dead. At least, that’s what doctors thought.
They would have buried her right away were it not for her sister’s request to wait for her. Still arriving too late, the pastors moved forward with the service, burying the coffin entirely.
This is when Essie’s sister arrives and insists she had to say goodbye to her sister properly, demanding they exhume her. They opened the coffin and Essie sat up to smile at her.
It wasn’t exactly a moment of embrace as everyone assumed she was a ghost, but after chasing them into town, Essie was able to convince them she was totally real. She lived almost 50 years longer after the incident, probably telling this story more than a few times.
5. Matthew Wall
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Imagine that you were almost buried alive and the town was so happy to have you back that they actually made a holiday for you about it.
That’s what happened to Matthew Wall, who on October 2nd, 1571, was almost buried alive. He was preparing to get married when they declared him dead.
Instead of heading to the church for a wedding, he was taken in a coffin, carried by pallbearers. One of the pallbearers was particularly clumsy that day and fell after stepping on wet leaves.
The sound of the coffin hitting the ground shocked everyone, including Matthew, who woke up and started knocking on the inside of the coffin, screaming for help. He ended up getting married in the end.
4. Boy Shocks Grandma
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Burying a child is never easy, and we have to assume it certainly wasn’t for Mrs. J. Burney in 1913, who was saying goodbye to her 3-year-old son.
It seems the boy had other plans, though. He sat up and looked directly at his grandmother, who was so shocked she died immediately.
Then, the boy slipped back into unconsciousness and fell back into the coffin, actually dead this time. Strangely, it’s not the first time this has happened.
A two-year-old boy in Brazil sat up and asked his father for water, just to lie back down dead once more. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it is for parents, but perhaps they’re grateful to just have one more moment with them.
3. Insurance Company Saves the Day
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In 1937, Angelo Hays was the poster boy for “Don’t drive motorcycles”. He was 19 when he wrecked his motorcycle and was thrown headfirst into a brick wall.
The damage was so severe that his family wasn’t allowed to see the body. All funeral arrangements were made as usual, but the local insurance company opened an investigation that then required the body to be exhumed.
To their surprise, the young man’s body was still warm. The coma he was in lowered his body’s need for oxygen so he was able to survive underground. He had surgeries and rehab and made a full recovery.
2. The Birth
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In 1901, a pregnant woman contracted yellow fever in Western Africa and returned to die at home. She was buried, though a nurse later commented that the body wasn’t cold and the abdomen showed muscle movements.
She worried that the woman, named Madame Bobin, was buried too soon. Her father heard of this and had her exhumed, just to find that it was true.
Not only had Madame Bobin still been alive in the coffin, but she’d also given birth to a baby in it. In the end, the yellow fever diagnosis was wrong and her father sued the hospital.
1. Lived Once, Buried Twice
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Much less violent than a few on this, this is a story of a Northern Irish woman named Margorie McCall, who was pronounced dead after a strange illness.
Margorie McCall was hastily buried to prevent the spread of the disease, wearing a valuable ring, which her husband had been unable to remove due to swelling.
The same night she was buried, a group of grave robbers showed up and exhumed her body to steal what was buried with her, especially the ring.
Unable to remove the ring from her finger, the robbers decided to cut it off. The moment blood was drawn, Margorie woke up, sat straight, and screamed.
Whether the men dropped dead on the spot or fled away to never return to their chosen profession, their fate remains unknown.
Poor Husband
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Margorie climbed out of her coffin, walked herself home, and knocked on the door. The husband opened the door to find his wife standing there, dressed in her burial clothes.
He dropped dead to the floor and was later confirmed dead. The plot Margorie had vacated, was his final resting place. Soon, Margorie remarried and had several children.
She returned to Shankill Cemetery in Lurgan, Ireland, when she finally died. Her gravestone still stands bearing the inscription “Lived Once, Buried Twice.”
So which incident of people being buried alive disturbed you the most? For me, these cases remind me of Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Premature Burial. Very frightening!
Nowadays, it may be a good idea to bury a cell phone with a loved one so they can call for help. Just make sure the battery is fully charged. Do you people have a fear of being buried alive?
