The Haunting of Alexander Hostler
Wilmington, North Carolina's Best-Known Buried Alive Legend
Location: St. James Churchyard Cemetery, Wilmington, NC 28401
Every city, town, and village has at least one ghost story about someone being buried alive. This is the story every ghost-loving, taphephobia-having local in Wilmington, North Carolina, knows by heart - the untimely death of Samuel Jocelyn and his subsequent haunting of his best friend, Alexander Hostler.
Preface
Now, before we get into the lore, I want to give y'all a glimpse of the rabbit hole my mind has been going down with this piece and why it will be slightly different than my usual pieces. I often use Pinterest as a way to locate my Pocket Lore articles, find new locations to research, or see a word perfect for my Lily's Lore Lingo. In this case, it was "taphophila," or (per Pinterest) passion and enjoyment of cemeteries, which I could not locate on Merriam-Webster (I like solid sources, even for lingo), but I could find "taphephobia," which is the fear of being buried alive. So we had our lingo to share with the class, but I didn't stop there, because I was also looking for some Pocket Lore goodness, which I found this piece about a premature burial signal, and while rabbit holing like no other, I started reading a few cases of being buried alive, which reminded me that we have our very own local ghost story, so to fill out more of my taphephobia fun, and, as Edgar Allan wrote his own piece entitled The Premature Burial, it all links to another upcoming Poe-post, we are here, discussing a one-off ghost story that will sound all to familiar to many other local ghostly legends.
I just severely upset my grammar app with that massive sentence, and probably a few readers, but you get what you get with my rambles and rabbit holes. On to the lore!
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The Lore
As this is a local legend of a one-time haunting, I am not going to be pulling lore from a bunch of sources, instead, I am limiting it to a book in my personal collection, Haunted Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast, and the local tellings I have heard my entire life and read in other local ghost books. This is paraphrasing.
As with all local legends like this, this story involves two lifelong friends who grew up to be closer than close, and were suddenly torn apart through the tragic death of one of them. Then, one night, the living friend is visited by the ghost of their bestie. After being told their friend was buried alive, the living friend races to the grave, digs up their bestie, only to discover the body moved and scratches from their nails and fingers carved into the coffin lid. But let's get more into this story, let's deep-dive it...as much as I can with one six-page, medium print story and old story memories.
Now, to begin with, my book does not say Samuel and Alexander were a couple, and it was never said as such in the tours and other tellings I've heard, but per my book, they never had a scandal, had a fine reputation, and were closer than twins, so I ship them, and that is how we are going to move forward with this story. I'm in Pirate Country, let me Our Flag Means Death this all I want, and I will hear no hate on it.
Samuel Jocelyn was the son of a prominent attorney and companion to Alexander Hostler. The boys grew up together, attended church and Sunday school together, attended classes together, even played along the riverbanks, pretending to be pirates together (my OFMD reference stands). They attended every Cotillion together, attracting the prettiest ladies present, and were polite Southern gentlemen with not a single scandal or cross word between them.
In the summer of 1810, as young men, Sam and Alex were having a discussion with friends about the afterlife and if it would be possible to contact each other after one passed. As these conversations tend to go, some believed yes, some no, but Alex and Sam firmly believed it could be done and made a pact with each other then and there that if one of them died, they would try to contact the remaining, living one from beyond the grave.
A few months later, Sam was out riding his horse, the only time the men were not together. Sam was riding along the low-lying sandy roads of the river when he was thrown from his horse. Two men in a horse-drawn cart happened across the accident, and recognizing Sam, rushed his body home. The family doctor tried to revive Sam, but could not, and he was pronounced dead, much to Alex's disbelief. And two days later, Sam was laid to rest in St. James Churchyard Cemetery at the corner of 4th Street and Market Street in what is now downtown Wilmington.
Alex was overcome with grief and guilt, blaming himself for not being with Sam. His family left him alone to grieve. The first night, Alex was lost in grief when he heard his name being called. Looking up, he sees Sam's ghost, asking him, "Alexander, why did you let them bury me when I was not yet dead?" Alex, distraught, tells Sam that he was dead! The next night, Sam appears again, this time a bit worse for wear, asking, demanding, yet again, "Alexander! Why did you let them bury me when I was not yet dead?"
Alex insists yet again that he was dead! He was! "The doctor said you were, and I saw you for myself!"
Sam tells Alex to look in his coffin for proof. Alex, for the second night in a row, blames his grief on the vision. But then, on the third night, he again sees Sam's ghost, even more decomposed than the night before. This third visit and Sam's continued begging were enough to send Alex straight to the cemetery with Louis Toomer, a good friend and a prominent and credible member of the community, to see if it was true. Sam's family allowed the body to be exhumed only in secret, so under the cover of night, Alex and Louis began digging. Before long, they had hit Sam's coffin. Using lantern light, they noticed, in horror, that the side of the coffin was loosened. Alex opened the coffin, and to his horror, saw that the white inner lining of the coffin was shredded and blood-stained. Sam's clothes were torn. But worst of all was Sam himself, face down, cause of death—suffocation.
Alex never fully recovered from that night, but he also never again saw the ghost of Sam.
The Facts
The facts of this one are pretty simple. Samuel did exist and was buried alive after being thrown from his horse. Why was he riding alone? Apparently, he was married and had a tiff with the wife, stormed out, and the rest is history. (I stick by my ship. Sam could have been bi or closeted. Also, he fought with the missus, but not Alex? Just saying...) He was dug up after his best friend (*cough* lover *cough cough*) Alexander insisted on being visited by his spirit, and it was discovered that he had been buried alive by accident.
Now, my book has the accident taking place after the summer of 1810, but the Samuel Russell Jocelyn Jr. who is buried in St. James Churchyard, was pronounced dead on March 29, 1810. You can still visit his grave today, just please follow the visitation rules of the church and cemetery.
Being buried alive was a very real issue in the 18th and 19th centuries, and is the reason we have terms like "graveyard shift," "dead ringer," and more. It was so much of an issue that in 1868, a German inventor, Franz Vester of Newark, New Jersey, patented a coffin that would allow the prematurely buried person to alert the grave watcher to their presence or simply pull themselves out of the grave if they had the strength. Now this isn't counting the coffins that had strings and bells attached for people to ring, but it was a crafty and creative way to stay alive in the face of both taphephobia and claustrophobia.
I do have plenty of links to get you started on your own rabbit hole of premature burial information on my pocket lore post. While the article in question does not appear to be real, the links I found do link to very real publications.
The Lily Thoughts
Truth be told, I don't have many thoughts here. This is just a simple cut and dry case of a local legend, based somewhat in fact. I will stand on my queer shipping hill, though. Those men were more than besties.
Anyways, does your town have a local buried alive legend?
Until next time, Lore Lovers, stay spooky💖
Sources
Hartzman, Marc. “A Clever Escape for the Buried Alive - Weird Historian.” Weird Historian, 29 Aug. 2021, www.weirdhistorian.com/buried-alive. Accessed 18 July 2025.
Jarvis, Robin. “The Gruesome 1809 Story of the Horseman Who Was Accidentally Buried Alive in North Carolina.” OnlyInYourState®, 31 Oct. 2021, www.onlyinyourstate.com/experiences/north-carolina/1809-buried-alive-nc. Accessed 18 July 2025.
Preik, Brooks Newton. “A Voice from the Grave.” Haunted Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast, Wilmington, NC, United States of America, Banks Channel Books, 1995, pp. 7–12.
Saint James Churchyard Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina - Find a Grave Cemetery. www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1909284/saint-james-churchyard-cemetery. Accessed 18 July 2025.
Samuel Russell Jocelyn Jr. (Unknown-1810) - Find A... www.findagrave.com/memorial/95838766/samuel_russell-jocelyn. Accessed 18 July 2025.
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