Premature burial

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“Premature Burial ” redirects here. For Premature Burial, see Premature Burial (Band).
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“Buried Alive” redirects here. For other uses, see Buried Alive (disambiguation).

Animals (including humans) may be buried alive intentionally (as a form of torture, murder or execution), voluntarily (as a stunt, with the intention to escape), accidentally (e.g. under rubble due to a disaster or collapse of a building or cave), or unintentionally (in the mistaken belief that the living person is in fact dead).

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[edit] Physics and biology

If interment (burial) is not reversed within a short period of time, it rapidly leads to death, usually through one or more of the following: asphyxiation, dehydration, starvation, or (in cold climates) exposure. Although human survival may be briefly extended in some environments as body metabolism slows, in the absence of air, loss of consciousness will take place within 2 to 4 minutes and death by asphyxia within 5 to 15 minutes. Permanent brain damage through oxygen starvation is likely after a few minutes, even if the person is rescued before death. If fresh air is accessible in some way, survival is more likely to be on the order of days (in the absence of serious injury).

A person trapped with air to breathe can thus last a considerable time, and burial has been used as a very cruel method of execution, lasting sufficiently long for the victim to comprehend and imagine every stage of what is happening (being trapped in total darkness with very limited or no movement) and to experience great psychological and physical torment including panic and extreme claustrophobia.

The apparent ability of humans to enter such states of suspended animation, which is commonly reported across many tribal and other cultures, has not been scientifically tested. Yet suspended animation in humans is currently undergoing testing, as it has been shown that hibernation induction trigger may have the potential to induce hibernation in humans.[1]

Other meditative techniques of biofeedback (such as yoga) have been shown capable of temporarily slowing heart rate or metabolism significantly.

[edit] Accidental

At least one report of accidental burial goes back to the 13th Century. Hundreds of instances of accidental burials were documented in the 1600s during epidemics of plague, cholera, and smallpox.[citation needed] Revivals have been triggered by dropped coffins, grave robbers, embalming, and attempted dissections. Fearing premature burial, George Washington, on his deathbed, made his servants promise not to bury him until three days after his death.[citation needed] Patients in the 1990s have been documented as accidentally being bagged, trapped in a steel box, or sent to the morgue.[1]

Count Karnice-Karnicki of Belgium patented a rescue device in 1897, which mechanically detected chest movement to trigger a flag, lamp, bell, and fresh air. Along similar lines, in Great Britain various systems were developed to save those buried alive, including breakable glass panels in the coffin lid and pulley systems which would raise flags on the surface (without air supply, as in the Italian model, this naturally would be useless without vigilant guards above ground). In 1995, an Italian coffin manufacturer introduced a model with a beeper and intercom system.[1] These are all examples of Safety coffins.

[edit] As punishment

In ancient Rome a Vestal Virgin convicted of violating her vows of celibacy was buried alive in a tomb containing a small amount of bread and water, ostensibly so that the goddess Vesta could save her should she have been truly innocent.

In medieval Italy, unrepentant murderers were buried alive. This practice is referred to in passing in canto XIX of Dante's Inferno.

In the 17th and early 18th centuries in feudal Russia, the same mode of execution was known as "the pit" and used against women who were condemned for killing their husbands [2]. The last known case of this occurred in 1740.

[edit] Voluntary burial

On rare occasions some people actually voluntarily arranged to be buried alive, reportedly as a demonstration of their controversial ability to survive such an event. In one story taking place around 1840, an Indian fakir is said to have been buried in the presence of an English military officer and under the supervision of the local maharajah, by being placed in a sealed bag in a wooden box in a vault. The vault was then interred, earth was flattened over the site, and crops were sown over the place for a very long time. The whole location was guarded day and night to prevent fraud, and the site was dug up twice in a ten month period to verify the burial, before the fakir was finally dug out and slowly revived in the presence of another officer. The fakir said that his only fear during his "wonderful sleep" was to be eaten by underground worms. This event is highly suspicious as it is not possible for a human to survive for a period of ten months without food, water and air. [3]

Since many who have tried this feat died as a result, being voluntarily buried alive is not legal in India.

In 2003, performer David Blaine underwent a burial within a tank of water, which allowed for above-ground viewing, for a duration of 7 days. [4] Later on Blaine underwent a 44 day isolation, hanging in midair in a 7ft by 7ft by 3ft Perspex box in front of a live random street audience, supposedly without food.[5]

Being Buried Alive (2005, 2007): A performance staged several times by art group monochrom. People in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Toronto had the opportunity to be buried alive in a real coffin for fifteen minutes. As a framework program monochrom members held lectures about the history of the science of determining death and the medical cultural history of "buried alive".

[edit] Myths and legends

An urban legend circulated by e-mail, The Bad Old Days claims that the English idiom "saved by the bell" originated in medieval rope systems to alert surface dwellers in the case of accidental burial. In fact, the phrase originated in the sport of boxing, and there is no evidence of a widespread fear of live burial in the Middle Ages. Likewise, the term "dead ringer" has its origin in horse racing, and the unrelated phrase "graveyard shift" arose in the 20th Century.[2]

[edit] In popular culture

  • In the film Sling Blade the character Karl tells the story of his newborn brother's premature burial.
  • Shown in the film The Serpent and the Rainbow
  • Quentin Tarantino made reference to this in his film Kill Bill Vol. 2
  • Featured in multiple episodes of the television show CSI
  • In the film The Crow, Eric Draven is resurrected and he has to dig in order to leave his coffin
  • In the popular TV show Smallville, Chloe Sullivan is buried alive in the field, but is found by Clark Kent before suffocating to death.
  • Mercyful Fate, a black metal band has made a song with the name Buried Alive
  • Both Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King wrote short stories featuring premature burial.
  • Criss Angel is buried alive in a magic stunt.
  • In the sixth season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's friends attempt to resurrect her. Believing they have failed, they leave her grave and the newly-revived Buffy must dig her way out of her own coffin
  • In one of the episodes in the fourth season of "Alias", Sydney Bristow is buried alive due to her mission of working with a double agent being compromised. She eventually loses consciousness due to lack of air, but is fortunately rescued when Marshall Flinkman shows up at the cemetery and digs her up in time
  • In a second-season episode of "Bones", Bones and Hodgins are buried alive by a serial kidnapper and are able to extend their survival time through scientific tricks and quick thinking
  • In the film Casino, Nicky Santoro and his brother Dominick are severely beaten and buried alive in a cornfield in Indiana
  • The movie Oxygen is based upon a rich businessman's wife being buried alive by a man who demands a ransom in exchange for telling the location of the burial to the husband
  • In the daytime soap opera All My Children Greg Madden is buried alive in a coffin in a public park with an air tube & an ample supply of bottled water and energy bars for food, as he was meant simply to be tortured until revealing a secret. He does not die of asphyxiation, dehydration, starvation, or exposure (despite the fact that the coffin began to fill with water after a heavy rain) but rather is killed when an earthquake causes his coffin to cave in and crush him to death
  • On Law & Order April Troost buries her deformed baby alive
  • In one episode of Monk (TV Series) Mr Monk was buried alive in a coffin, but he's found before he actually suffocates
  • There is a Yu-Gi-Oh card called "Premature Burial". The artwork depicts a man with a panicked expression on his face trying to claw his way out of his grave. It allows the user to revive a monster from their own grave.
  • The Hungarian movie Simon Mágus features a duel between Simon and a French magician, consisting of both being buried alive for three days
  • In professional wrestling, there is a match called "Buried Alive Match" in which a foe who is buried alive (sometimes with dirt alone or placed into coffin) is declared the loser
  • It features as a key plot point in the Dutch film Spoorloos (The Vanishing)
  • In the video game Mother (Earthbound Zero), Pippi was put in a coffin and buried underground, next to three Zombies in the Podunk Cemetery, and it was your character's mission to find her and bring her back to the Mayor in order to contiune the game
  • In a Tales from the Crypt comic, the narrator is buried alive, despite the fact that twice before he had arisen during previous funerals. He has a phone installed, but it is to no avail since all lines are cut during World War II
  • The 1990 film '83 Hours 'Til Dawn' is based on the 1968 true crime in which Barbara Jane Mackle was kidnapped and buried alive.
  • A two hour episode of the television series Las Vegas featured Delinda Deline being buried alive to convince her father Ed to rob his own casino.
  • In the Israeli show HaShir Shelanu (Our Song), the last episode of season 2 has Zohar buried alive by his murderers; they think they have killed him and attempt to dispose of the body but he wakes up after they leave.
  • In the Black Sabbath song "Buried Alive".
  • The Three 6 Mafia song entitled, "Is Anyone Out There". Performed by Lord Infamous.
  • In the video game Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn your party can find a man buried alive in the Graveyard District. Rescuing him initiates an optional subquest where you try to find those responsible.
  • In one episode of Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman attempted to determine whether it is possible to stay alive while buried.
  • At one point in Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is almost buried alive.
  • Otep's song Buried Alive is on the House of Secrets album
  • In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Khan traps Admiral Kirk in an underground base with no means of escape, saying he'll leave Kirk there, buried alive.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • At the end of the 1988 film The Vanishing, the male protagonist Rex Hofman is buried alive; however, in the 1993 remake, he escapes.
  • In the Lost episode "Exposé", the characters Nikki and Paulo are buried alive.
  • In the Justice League episode called Only A Dream, Hawkgirl had a nightmare of being buried alive.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Just Dying to Get Out", snopes.com, 9 June 1999
  2. ^ http://historymedren.about.com/od/dailylifesociety/a/bod_dead.htm
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