It's probably true, but deep down everybody has an irrational fear. The most common fear you'll see shows itself is against insects and various animals, that are not necessarily dangerous and we don't even encounter them so often. Other irrational fears can include such things as public speaking or having to give a PowerPoint presentation.

Then we come to the very deep-seated fears. Those which the director of horror movies are able to target with such accuracy. One of these is the fear of being buried alive. If you think about it though, there are a great many testing processes you will have to pass through to prove you're dead before you're actually buried. So the chances of it happening is practically zero. But nevertheless, going back just a couple of hundred years, people were buried alive, as proof of death could miss subtle signs of life. So the fear is very real. So much so that there are companies who produce so-called “safety” coffins. These come with emergency features such as escape hatches or a means of signalling to the surface that you are not yet dead. 

Today we thought we'd have a look at the ultimate escape room game. That's right, escaping from a closed coffin from under 2 meters of dirt. Now, the average coffin contains around 600 liters of air once you’re inside it. You breathe at a rate of 5 - 8 liters of air per minute. But in blind panic mode, that could go as high as 60 liters per minute. So the escape room buzzer, signalling your timely demise, would sound at around 10 hours. Also keep in mind that 6 feet of earth above you weighs in at 1,676 kilos. So as soon as you managed to break the coffin lid, you’d have the crushing weight of all that dirt on your chest, making breathing impossible. Brain damage would occur after 10 minutes without oxygen. 

Looking back through history, we discovered a number of people who were buried alive and yet were discovered and saved just in time, from certain death.

Saved By Her Late Sister

Around the turn of the century in 1915, the understanding of epilepsy as a neurological disorder was in its infancy. A certain Essie Dunbar was a 30-year old woman living in South Carolina who suffered a sudden epileptic attack. As no sign of life was detected by the doctor who attended, he declared her dead. A simple wooden box served as her coffin and the funeral was scheduled for the following morning. This was to give her sister time to travel and go to the funeral. The following day after a very long ceremony, Dunbar was lowered into the ground. Unfortunately, her sister was late to the occasion. When she finally showed up, she had to plead with the ministers present  to exhume the body so that she could say one last goodbye. Luckily they agreed to do so. You can imagine everyone's surprise when the coffin lid was removed and Essie Dunbar sat upright and smiled. She was completely unaware of her situation.

Well, absolute pandemonium broke out. The other mourners ran for the hills screaming, as they thought they were seeing a ghost. The church ministers who were present accidentally fell into the grave and both suffered severe injuries. As you can imagine, Essie Dunbar never quite lived it down. Funnily enough, many townsfolk still regarded her as a type of zombie.   Nevertheless, she had another 47 years to go, before finally passing away in 1962.

Thieves Bought Her Back To Life

There's a grave in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with a very unusual inscription. It says “Lived Once, Buried Twice.” This is the grave of Marjorie McCall. Going back to the late 17th century, Margery McCall got a fever. Of course, in those days with primitive medication, any fever was going to be a serious matter. Unfortunately for Marjorie, her condition declined rapidly. Soon she stopped being responsive and was declared dead. The funeral was quickly organised by her family and she ended up being buried in the Shankill Graveyard in Belfast.

Coming from a wealthy family, McCall was buried wearing all of her jewellery. This detail didn't escape the attention of thieves who saw her being buried. So in the dead of night on the day after she was buried, the robbers came and dug up her coffin. After removing the lid, they try to prise off a ring from one of her fingers. Unfortunately it wouldn't budge, so being practical men, they decided to simply cut off the finger. As soon as they made the incision, McCall magically woke up and screamed. You can imagine the thieves having serious PTSD after witnessing such a thing. Apparently she climbed out the coffin, dusted herself off and went home. Her poor husband got the fright of his life. Margorie McCall lived another 10 years more and even had another child. She was finally laid to rest in 1705.

A Suspicious Insurance Agent Saves The day

Angelo Hays was a lover of all things motorcycle. Even from a very young age he was a huge fan of anything with two wheels and a big engine. In 1937, when he was just 19 years old he bought himself a bike and rode it constantly.  Unfortunately this story ends with him meeting a brick wall. Apparently he was so badly disfigured by the accident that passersby couldn't recognise him. It was assumed that he was dead on the spot and the doctors even refused to let his parents see the corpse, because of his disfigurement. 

And so, without much ado, he was buried. What's interesting is that for some reason we will never know, his father recently took out a large life insurance policy on his son. Now with the son dying so soon after the policy was signed, it didn't take long for an insurance agent to become suspicious. The insurance company demanded that the body be exhumed. It's at this point they discovered he was alive, just in a very deep coma. Later he went through considerable surgery and made a full recovery. After such an incredible adventure, Hayes became something of a celebrity. He designed a special coffin which contained a music player and other comforts, as well as security features. He took this on tour and for some reason the French developed a huge liking to him. They even had him perform from six feet under on television. His real death occurred in 2008.

A Failed Escape Trick

In 1915, a British man called Anthony Britton, a self-described escapologist, attempted to mimic his idol Harry Houdini. This was an attempt to do something that Houdini had tried to do but had failed. It was to be handcuffed and buried under 6 feet of dirt without any form of breathing apparatus or any other assistance. Houdini attempted the trick in 1915. Then in 1949, another professional escape artist called Alan Alan tried the same trick. He almost died in the process. The BBC decided to broadcast the event and on Saturday, September 5th 2015, Britton stepped forward in front of the UK public and presented his arms to have them handcuffed. He was then lowered six feet into the ground. The thing is, as previously mentioned, six feet of Earth is very heavy. So, though Britton managed to free his hands, he quickly realised that his arm was trapped. It was only the quick actions of his team that saved his life after he lost consciousness. 

After the event there was a huge amount of mockery directed towards Britton, as his so-called trick had turned out to be a damp squib. But as he later told the Guardian Newspaper, he believes that he had a very near death experience. He also claimed that he spoke with his dead grandfather, who he hasn't seen since he was a child.