Premature Burial and How It May Be PreventedTebb, William
Science
Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented
Tebb, William
Burial, Premature
“_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.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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