Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented

by William Tebb; Edward Perry Vollum

“England.—Lady Russell, wife of a colonel in the army, was considered dead, and only through the tender affection of her husband was she saved from living burial. He would not allow her to be taken away until decomposition would absolutely force him to do so. After seven days, however, in the evening, when the bells were ringing, the faithful husband had the triumph to see her eyes open and her return to full consciousness.”

“Halle, Germany.—Medical Professor Junker, in Halle, a very humane man, had a corpse of a suicide—by hanging—delivered for dissection at his college. He was placed on a table in the dissecting room, and covered with a cloth. About midnight, while the professor was sitting at his writing-table in an adjoining room, he heard a great noise in the dissecting room, and fearing that cats were gnawing at the corpses, he went out, and saw the cloth in a disturbed condition, and on lifting it up found the corpse missing. As all the doors and windows were closed, he searched the room, and found the missing one crouching in a corner, trembling with cold, in the terror of death. He besought the professor for mercy, help, and means for escape, as he was a deserter from the army, and he would be severely punished if caught. After consideration the kind professor clothed him, and took him out of town at night as his own servant—passing the guards—pretending to be on a professional visit, and set him free in the country. Years afterwards he met the same man in Hamburg as a prosperous merchant.”

“Leipsic.—The wife of the publisher, Mathäus Hornisch, died, and, according to the custom of the times, the coffin was opened before being put into the ground. The grave-digger noticed golden rings on her fingers, and in the following night went to the grave to steal them—which he found was not easy to do—when suddenly she drew back her arm. The robber ran away frightened, leaving his lantern at the grave. The woman recovered, but could not make out where she was, and cried for help. No one heard her; so she got out of the grave, took the lantern, and went to her home. Knocking at the door, the servant called to know who it was. She replied, “Your mistress. Open the door; I am cold, and freezing to death.” The master was called; and happily she was restored to her home again, where she lived for several years longer.”

“Pavese, Italy, 1787.—A clergyman was buried, and noises were heard in his grave afterwards. Upon opening the grave and the coffin, the man was found alive, and violently trembling with fright.”

“Paris, 1787.—A carpenter was buried, noises were heard proceeding from his grave, and upon opening it he was found to be breathing. He was taken to his home, where he recovered.”

DR. KÖPPEN’S CASES.

“Stadamhof, 1785.—A young, healthy girl, on the way to a wedding, had an apoplectic stroke, as it was thought, and fell as if dead. The following day she was buried. The grave-digger, who was occupied near her grave that night, heard noises in it, and being superstitious ran home in fright. The following morning he returned to finish a grave he was digging, and heard the whining again from the girl’s grave. He called for help, the grave was opened, when they found the girl turned over, her face scratched and bloody, her fingers bitten, and her mouth full of blood. She was dead, with evidences of most dreadful suffering.”

“France.—Madame Lacour died after a long sickness, and was buried in a vault of a church, with all her jewels on. Her maid and the sexton opened the coffin the following night to steal the jewellery, when some hot wax from the candle they were using fell on the woman’s face and woke her up. The robbers fled in fright, and the woman went back to her home. She lived many years afterwards, and had a son who became a priest, who in turn—inheriting his mother’s nature—underwent a fate similar to her own.”

“Lyons, France.—The wife of a merchant died. Two days after her seeming death, and just before the time set for her burial, her husband, who, it seems, had some doubts as to her death, had her taken from the coffin, and had a scarifier used in cupping applied in twenty-five places without bringing any blood, but the twenty-sixth application brought her to consciousness with a scream, and she recovered completely.”

“Cadillac.—A woman had been buried in the morning. In the following morning whining was heard in her grave. It was opened, and the woman was found still alive, but she had mutilated half of her right arm and the whole hand. She was finally restored.”