My Funky Funeral

Antoine Wiertz’s painting of a man who was buried alive.

Ever heard the so-called urban legend where scratch marks and other signs of desperate escape have been found on the lids of coffins? Well lower that skeptical eyebrow because incidents of ‘premature burials’ have been alarmingly high in the past.

Back in the day people were so paranoid about being buried a little earlier than necessary that ‘Safety Coffins’ were invented. These coffins allowed the poor soul to ring a bell or wave a flag from 6 feet under, to let people know that they were not yet ready for that dirt nap.

George Washington who was terrified of premature burial, had the right idea, he made his staff promise not to bury him until he’d been dead for 3 days or more.

Obviously 21st century medical technology has moved on from these terrifying incidences, but refrain from being lulled into too much of a false sense of security. Only last month it was reported that a Venezuelan man woke up in excruciating pain as examiners began cutting into his face during his own autopsy.

Happy Halloween Folks!

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Funeral Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.