A Fate More Terrifying Than the History Books Admit

It’s the ultimate nightmare that kept our ancestors up at night, and for good reason. Before the invention of modern medical monitors and stethoscopes, doctors often relied on a simple lack of breath or a quiet heart to declare someone gone. This led to a surprising number of people being tucked into the dirt while they were actually just taking a very deep, comatose nap.

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1. Alice Blunden

This tea-loving woman from the 1600s was declared deceased after drinking a large amount of poppy water, but she was actually just in a deep chemical slumber. After family intervened and she fell into a chemically induced coma, she was buried in her deep slumber. After children heard her screaming from the gravesite the next day, she was exhumed.

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2. John Duns Scotus

This noted medieval philosopher woke up to find himself outside of his coffin sometime after his burial. Witnesses noted that he had tried to climb out with his bare hands. Scotus suffered from a condition that can cause death-like symptoms, and his devotees buried him without realizing their mistake.

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3. Anne Hill Carter Lee

Robert E. Lee’s mother was entombed in the family vault after a narcoleptic episode went terribly wrong. Three days later, a sexton heard her cries for help while delivering flowers to the cemetery. Thanks to her premature burial, Mrs. Lee lived many years after her miraculous rescue and gave birth to her famous son.

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4. Lawrence Cawthorn

The night before he was to be buried, Lawrence fell ill in his London boarding house. Too quick to collect payment, his landlady had him buried. Hours later, a neighbor heard loud thumping inside the churchyard and rescued Cawthorn from his own coffin.

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5. Nicephorus I

The Byzantine Emperor was left on a battlefield after a brutal defeat, and his enemies assumed he was a goner. It turns out he was just unconscious, and by the time he came to, he was already being processed for a permanent rest. History suggests he didn't have much time to complain before the situation became truly final.

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6. Eleanor Markham

Just as her casket was being raised onto the hearse in 1894, Mrs. Markham woke up. Screams and thrashing from inside the coffin caused more than a few headaches for the pallbearers that day. According to interviews with Eleanor, she had felt absolutely nothing until the jostling started during the carriage ride to the cemetery.

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7. Matthew Wall

Every year, a village in England celebrates "Old Matt’s Day" because this lucky man escaped a premature burial in the 1500s. As his pallbearers were carrying him to the grave, one of them slipped on some wet leaves and dropped the casket. The sudden impact woke Matthew up, and he lived for several more decades after that accidental save.

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8. Margorie McCall

In a bizarre twist of events, Margorie McCall was actually buried twice by accident. After being laid to rest with a valuable ring still on her finger, her grave was robbed that same night. The thieves were unable to remove the ring. Terrified after McCall screamed awake, the burglars fled.

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9. Thomas Thynn

Politician Thomas Thynn is another documented case of someone who was buried alive in England. While Thynn’s passing is well documented, legends claim that heavy footsteps were heard arising from his tomb several hours after his burial. Bodies in Thynn’s condition are said to rip their own shrouds off due to rigor mortis.

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10. Julia Legare

A young girl in South Carolina was sealed inside a marble mausoleum after she succumbed to a mysterious fever. Years later, when the tomb was reopened to bury another family member, her remains were found huddled against the door. The family eventually left the door to the mausoleum permanently open because they couldn't stand the thought of it happening again.

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11. Angelo Hays

Motorcyclist Angelo Hays fell into a coma-like state after an accident in the 1930s. An insurance investigator exhumed his body due to suspicions of foul play. Upon discovery, Hays was still warm after spending two full days in the ground.

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12. Madame Bobin

This pregnant woman was buried during a yellow fever outbreak because people were terrified of the disease spreading. When a nurse later claimed she saw Bobin’s body move before the burial, she was dug up and found in a truly heartbreaking scene. She had actually given birth inside the coffin, though neither she nor the infant survived the lack of air.

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13. Samuel Pepys' Mother

The famous diarist Samuel Pepys recorded a story about his mother nearly being sent to the graveyard before she was ready. She had fallen into a state that looked exactly like death, but a family member noticed a slight twitch just before the lid was nailed shut. It makes one wonder how many other people in his diaries weren't actually as passed-on as he thought.

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14. The Abbess of Auxerre

High-ranking church official, the Abbess of Auxerre, was entombed in stone during her funeral in medieval Europe. Witnesses later claimed that she beat heavily on her coffin lid during the burial. She was pulled out and lived to pray for many more years after her brief stint underground.

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15. Octavia Hatcher

After losing her infant son, Octavia fell into a deep depression and eventual coma that doctors mistook for her passing. Her husband buried her quickly in the heat of a Kentucky summer, but he soon noticed other locals waking up from a similar "sleeping sickness." He dug her up in a panic, but sadly he was just a few hours too late to save her.

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16. Sir Robert Naunton

English statesman Sir Robert Naunton was effectively ended by his own funeral workers. Minutes after being laid in the ground, Naunton awakened and began asking for a glass of water. As might be imagined, his assistants checked quite a few bodies after that point.

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17. Mary Norreys

A woman of Tudor England, Mary Norreys had the lid on her coffin bolted instead of nailed. When the priest in charge of her funeral noticed movement in her eyes, he shouted for the coffin to be raised. It’s a good thing that particular clergyman had such a keen eye for detail during the ceremony.

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18. Count Karnice-Karnicki

While he wasn't buried alive himself, the count became obsessed with the idea after witnessing a young girl nearly suffer that fate. He invented a "safety coffin" with a bell and a breathing tube so people could signal for help if they woke up in the dark. His invention was a hit with the paranoid public, even if it didn't always work as advertised.

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19. Philomele Jonetre

A French girl in the 1860s was declared deceased from cholera and buried only six hours after her supposed passing. The gravedigger heard a tapping sound while finishing the mound and quickly worked to get her out. She was alive when they reached her, but the trauma of the experience was so great that she passed the very next day.

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20. The Unnamed Monk of Prague

In a famous historical anecdote, a monk was placed in the monastery's crypt only to be found in a different position weeks later. The brothers realized he had regained consciousness and tried to claw his way out of the stone chamber. This event led the monastery to change its burial customs to ensure nobody else ever suffered such a lonely end.

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