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Pocket Lore - Premature Burial Signal


Pocket Lore - Premature Burial Signal

This piece of pocket lore came across my desktop from Pinterest, which I was able to backlink to this site. And while the article itself does not appear to have a full, exact source beyond Lee St. John's site, it does seem to have had a similar publishing in at least one newspaper. (The images don't quite line up and while I don't have a newspapers.com subscription, looking at the blurred text, the headline bits don't line up, even blurry. Also, score one for being a blind nerd in thick glasses who is blurry certified.) I dropped all my rabbit hole research at the bottom of the page, because I got a bit into it with the whole premature burial thing.

And for those of you with taphephobia (fear of being buried alive), read the rest with caution. As well as my upcoming lore piece on a local haunting.

Until next time, Lore Lovers, stay spooky💖

~Lily

 
Article Text:

PREMATURE BURIAL SIGNAL.

Device to Prevent the Possibility of Being Buried Alive.

The horror of being buried alive is a cause of worriment to many people long before death, and the stories frequently seen in the paper of cases of this kind cause one to shudder and wonder if it is not possible to prevent this. This thought has, no doubt, led Walter J. McKnight of Buffalo, N. Y., to devise the electrically operated apparatus here illustrated. There have been times when the doctors have pronounced the person dead and life has returned later, sometimes after the burial had taken place. This is where the utility of the apparatus would prove itself, as it forms a means of direct communication with the surface of the ground, and gives a warning signal the instant a movement of the body occurs, which would admit of the coffin being exhumed oftentimes before the victim fairly realized the horror of the situation. The mode of operation is simple: a pair of contact points being attached to the underside of the coffin lid, in close proximity to the hands and chest, so that the slightest movement will cause the points to touch and complete an electric circuit to start a bell ringing on the surface. The wires run through a tube in passing from the circuit closer to the bell, and this tube allows a circulation of air and also provides a means of communication with the buried person.


Rabbit Hole Reading Links

http://www.leestjohnauthor.com/2017/10/22/vivesepulture/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/474970

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/01/06/im-not-dead-yet/

https://www.weirdhistorian.com/proper-care-for-the-not-quite-dead-yet-the-london-association-for-the-prevention-of-premature-burial/

https://www.weirdhistorian.com/buried-alive/

https://blogs.bl.uk/business/2024/10/happy-halloween19th-century-patents-to-avoid-being-buried-alive.html

https://blog.newspapers.com/how-not-to-be-buried-alive/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-karnice-karnickis-safety-cof/86986974/

https://www.newspapers.com/paper/the-record/43268/?tab=browse&browseUrl=%2Funited-states%2Fcalifornia%2Fstockton%2Fthe-record_43268%2F1901%2F04%2F26

https://nmfh.org/buried-alive-boetticher/

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