Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented

by William Tebb; Edward Perry Vollum

“Our St. Leonards correspondent telegraphs:—About a week ago the wife of a well-known tradesman in St. Leonards fell ill, and on Monday night last the doctor gave his opinion that she could not live through the next day. On Tuesday morning at ten o’clock the doctor pronounced his patient dead, the nurse who was in attendance confirming the opinion. The intimation of death naturally created great distress among the friends of the woman, who was laid out in grave-clothes, washed, and prepared for burial, and, being a Roman Catholic, a crucifix was placed in her hand as she lay on her bier. When it was announced that the woman was dying, a priest was sent for; but he could not attend, as he was out of the town at the time.

“About a quarter to ten on Tuesday night the nurse entered the room without a light for the purpose of getting something which she knew where to find. Whilst in the darkened chamber she was startled to hear a slight cry proceeding from the bed where the body lay, and she rushed from the room in a terrible fright. The widower, hearing the scream of fright, rushed into the chamber with a light, and was astounded to find that his wife had raised herself up in the bed on her elbow. She faintly uttered the words, ‘Where am I?’ and again relapsed into a heavy sleep. The opportunity was seized of changing the shroud for proper habiliments, and in about an hour and a half she woke again perfectly conscious. Next morning she was told of what had occurred, but was quite ignorant of everything that had passed, thinking she had only had a long sleep. She is now doing well, and it is hoped she will soon be restored to health and strength. The doctor describes the case as the most remarkable he has ever met with in his experience.”

Dr. Frederick A. Floyer, of Mortimer, Berks, published the following-case in the Tocsin, November 1, 1889, vol. i., p. 84, under the head of “Premature Burial”:—

“A narrow escape of this was recently communicated direct to the writer, and as it has some extremely important bearings on the value of what are usually considered to be evidences of death, we give it as told by the survivor, who is still alive in the form of a cheery and intelligent old lady in the fullest possession of her faculties and memory.

“Herself the wife of a medical officer attached to the—th Regiment, she was stationed at—— Island, where at the age of twenty-eight she was safely confined. Shortly after this she was walking out with an attendant when she was taken suddenly ill with a painful spasm of the heart—what appears to have been an attack of angina pectoris—and was conveyed in-doors and propped up with pillows, suffering great pain, and although medical attendance was summoned, nothing was of avail, and she died—at least in the opinion of those around her, who paid the proper attention to what they regarded as a corpse. It was the custom there to bury at sundown any one who died during the day. We understand that in warm countries it is difficult to close the eyelids properly, and so this lady, lying motionless and rigid, contemplated with perfectly clear perception, but with an utter indifference, the bringing in of the coffin and the necessary preparations for her interment; she remembers her children coming to take a last look at her, and then being taken down stairs.

“She would never have lived to tell the story but for an accident, which happened in this way. Her nurse, who was much attached to her, was stroking her face and the muscles of her jaw, and presently declared she heard a sound of breathing. Medical assistance was summoned, and the mirror test applied, but the surface was undimmed. Then, to make sure, they opened a vein in each arm, but no blood flowed. No limb responded to stimulus, and they declared that the nurse was mistaken, and that the body was dead beyond doubt.

“But the nurse persisted in her belief and in her attentions, and did succeed in establishing a sign of life. Then mustard applications to her feet and to the back of her neck, and burnt feathers applied to her nostrils, which she remembered burning her nose, completed her return to consciousness.”

From the Pall Mall Gazette, May 11, 1891.

“NARROW ESCAPE FROM BEING BURIED ALIVE.

“A Penn Station telegram to Dalziel says:—A singular case of simulation of death from fright occurred here on Saturday. Mrs. Sarseville, the wife of a farmer in this county, was in the cow-house attending to the dairy work when she saw a nest of squirming snakes through a hole in the plank floor. She fell to the ground apparently lifeless with fright. Help was summoned, and she was carried into the house. Before the physician arrived Mrs. Sarseville had begun to turn black, and he pronounced her dead, giving a certificate,CERTIFICATE OF APOPLEXY. in which he assigned apoplexy as the cause. During the night Mrs. Sarseville’s daughter sat beside the coffin of her mother, lamenting her death. Just before daybreak she was startled to see the body move. She was more shocked when her mother opened her eyes and sat bolt upright in her coffin. The supposed corpse was no less startled than the girl to find herself dressed in grave-clothes and lying in a coffin. Help was summoned, and the lady helped out of her narrow bed and into her ordinary clothes. She took breakfast with the family yesterday morning, and seemed none the worse for her ghastly experience.”