The actor began screaming in his grave. What to do if you are buried alive. Myths and Reality. Wake up in the morgue

Imagine for a moment a creepy situation in which you wake up in a coffin a couple of meters underground. You are there in complete darkness, where in the silence of the grave, suffocating from fear and lack of air, you scream in horror, but no one will hear the screams. Being buried alive, a phenomenon known as being buried prematurely, seems like the worst thing that can happen to a person.

The fear of being buried alive and waking up in a coffin is called taphophobia. In our time, this is an extremely exceptional case (if there are any), but the society of previous eras turned the prospect of going to the grave alive into a large and popular wave of horror. And people had a reason to be afraid.

Until standard medical procedures were developed, some people were mistakenly declared dead. They were probably in a coma or lethargic sleep, and were buried while still alive. This frightening fact was later discovered for various reasons for exhuming the body.

THE BURIED ALIVE TRIED TO LEAVE THE GRAVE.

Probably the first recorded episode is the Scottish philosopher John Dans Scotus (1266-1308). At some point after his death, the grave was opened, and people shied away in fear when they saw the corpse halfway out of the coffin.

The dead man's hands were bloody from attempts to escape from his place of eternal rest (by the way, such stories gave rise to rumors about). The philosopher did not have enough air to reach the surface and return to the world of the living.

Bloody fingers are a common sign of those buried alive. Often, when coffins were opened after someone's "death", the body was found in a twisted position with scratches all over the coffin, as well as broken nails in a failed attempt to escape the grave.

However, not all those buried alive were the result of an accident. For example, placing living people in graves was a savage method of execution in China and the Khmer Rouge.

One legend says that in the 6th century, the monk now known as Saint Oran was volunteered to be buried alive as a sacrifice to ensure the successful construction of a church on the Scottish coast island of Iona.

The funeral took place, and after a while the coffin was taken out of the grave, freeing the barely alive Oran. The distraught monk delivered sad news for the entire Christian community: there was no hell or heaven in the afterlife.

SPECIAL COFFINS FOR TAPHOPHOBIA.

Fear is a good product, businessmen decided, and taking advantage of the phobia they brought special coffins to the market. The concept of a "safe coffin" was developed to calm the fear of being buried alive. There are many expensive and “statement” coffin designs with bells on the market.

In 1791, a certain minister was buried in a coffin with a glass window, which allowed the cemetery guard to check and see that the minister was not asking to go home. Another design consisted of a coffin with air pipes and keys to the coffin and tomb in case the revived one needed to escape from the grave.

An 18th-century coffin had a string that could be used to ring a bell or raise a flag above the ground if the buried person ended up in the grave by accident.

For example, a patent was submitted for the construction of a coffin with alarms, lighting and medical equipment. The amazing design should keep the person alive in good comfort while the body is dug up. True, there were no reports of those buried using a safe coffin.

The topic of premature burial is not limited to medical or commercial activities. As a result of widespread fear, the story of Edgar Allan Poe appeared in 1844. The author's story was about a man suffering from deep taphophobia as a result of a cataleptic state. He was worried that people would consider him dead during one of his attacks and bury the unfortunate man alive.

The fear of being buried alive had a profound impact on society. There are many films with people waking up in the grave. Some reflected Edgar's ideas on this matter. Even today, reading 100-year-old works, a shiver runs down your spine as you read the detailed descriptions of the unfortunate victims desperately trying to find a way out of the coffins.

CASES OF PEOPLE BURIED ALIVE.

For the next three people, a safe coffin could definitely be extremely useful. These are real stories of people buried alive who woke up in their graves. True, only one of them was lucky to return to people

Angelo Hayes- a famous French inventor and lover of motorcycle racing, spent two days in the grave, being a living dead (in 1937). Angelo was thrown from his motorcycle when he hit a curb and hit his head hard on a brick wall.

At the age of 19, he was pronounced dead from massive head trauma. His face was so disfigured that his parents could not see their son. The doctor pronounced Angelo Hayes dead and thus he was buried.

However, an insurance policy issue arose, and the insurance company agents, having some suspicions, requested the exhumation of the body two days after the funeral. Once the body was exhumed and freed from grave clothes, Hayes was found warm with a weak heartbeat. After a miraculous “resurrection” and complete recovery, Angelo became a celebrity in France, with people coming from all over the country to talk to him.

Virginia MacDonald - New York (1851 case)
After a long illness, Virginia MacDonald succumbed to illness and died quietly. She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. However, Virginia's mother insisted that her daughter was not dead. Relatives tried to console the mother and urged her to come to terms with the loss, but the woman was firm in her conviction.

Mary Nora - Calcutta (17th century).
Seventeen-year-old Mary Nora Best succumbed to an outbreak of cholera. Due to the heat and the spread of the disease, the family decided to bury the deceased girl quickly. The doctor signed the death certificate, and relatives buried the body in the old French cemetery. She was buried in a pine coffin, leaving her body in the ground for a dozen years, although some had questions about her death.

Ten years later, the family tomb was opened to place the body of the deceased brother in the crypt. At this sad moment, it became clear that the lid of Mary’s coffin was badly damaged—literally torn. The skeleton itself lay half out of the coffin. It was later believed that the doctor who signed the death certificate actually poisoned the girl, also trying to kill her mother.

These are wild deaths, but for every one of them, there are many other people who were found dead in their graves, trying to escape from the coffin. It’s a terrible thing, but there are probably still poor souls who, having woken up in coffins, tried to leave the grave, but were not discovered.

Taphophobia, or the fear of being buried alive, is one of the most common human phobias. And there are quite good reasons for this. Due to the mistakes of doctors or the illiteracy of ordinary people, such cases occurred quite often before the normal development of medicine, and sometimes happen in our time. This article contains 10 incredible but absolutely real stories of people buried alive who still managed to survive.

Janet Philomel.

The story of a 24-year-old French woman named Janet Philomel is most typical of most such cases. In 1867, she fell ill with cholera and died a few days later, as everyone thought. The girl was given the funeral service by the local priest according to all the rules; her body was placed in a coffin and buried in the cemetery. Nothing unusual.

Strange things began when, a few hours later, the cemetery worker was finishing the burial. Suddenly he heard a knock coming from underground. They began to dig up the coffin, simultaneously sending for a doctor. The doctor who arrived actually discovered a weak heartbeat and breathing in the girl, raised from her own grave. And on her hands there were fresh abrasions received from the fact that she was trying to get out. True, this story ended tragically. A few days later, the girl died for real. Most likely due to cholera. But perhaps also because of the nightmare she experienced. This time the doctors and priests tried to carefully make sure that she was really dead.

Unknown from Sao Paulo.

In 2013, a woman living in Sao Paulo, visiting her family gravestone at the cemetery, witnessed a truly horrifying picture. Nearby, she noticed a man who was desperately trying to get out of the grave. He did this with difficulty. The man had already freed one arm and head by the time local workers arrived to him.

After the unfortunate man was completely dug up, he was taken to the hospital, where it turned out that he was an employee of the city hall. It is not known for certain how it happened that the man was buried alive. It is believed that he was the victim of a fight or attack, after which he was considered dead and buried to get rid of evidence. Relatives claimed that after the incident, the man suffered from mental disorders.

Baby from Dongdong province.

In a remote Chinese village in Dongdong province, there lived a pregnant girl named Lu Xiaoyan. The medical situation in the village was very bad: there were no doctors, the nearest hospital was several kilometers away. Naturally, no one monitored the girl’s pregnancy. Around the fourth month, Lu suddenly felt contractions. Everyone expected the baby to be stillborn. And so it happened: the baby that was born showed no signs of life.

After giving birth, the girl’s husband realized that she would most likely need professional medical help, so he called an ambulance. While Lu was being taken to the nearest hospital by car, her mother was burying the child in a field. However, at the hospital it turned out that the girl was not in her fourth, but in her sixth month of pregnancy, and the doctors, assuming that the child could survive, demanded to bring him. Lu's husband returned, dug up the tiny girl and brought her to the hospital. Surprisingly, the girl managed to get out.

Mike Mainey.

Mike Mainey is a famous Irish bartender who asked to be buried alive to set a kind of world record. In 1968, in London, Mike was placed in a special coffin equipped with a hole through which air entered. With the help of the same hole, food and drink were passed to the man. It's hard to believe, but in total Mike was buried for 61 days. Since then, many have tried to break this record, but no one has succeeded.

Anthony Britton.

Another magician who voluntarily allowed himself to be buried in the ground in order to get out of the grave on his own. However, unlike Mike, he was buried without a coffin, at a standard depth of 2 meters. In addition, his hands were handcuffed. As planned, Anthony was supposed to repeat Houdini's trick, but things didn't go according to plan.

The magician spent almost nine minutes underground. For the rescuers on duty above, this was the extreme threshold for starting active actions. They quickly dug up the poor fellow, who was in a half-dead state. Britton was able to be pumped out. He subsequently said in various interviews that he was unable to complete his stunt because his hands were pinned to the ground. But worst of all, after each exhalation, the earth continued to squeeze his chest more and more, not allowing him to breathe.

Baby from Compton.

Most recently, in November 2015, two women were walking in a park in Compton, a small city in California. Suddenly, while walking, they heard a strange child's cry, coming as if from underground. Frightened, they immediately called the police.

Arriving law enforcement officers dug up a very small child, no more than two days old, under the asphalt of the bicycle path. Fortunately, the police quickly took the little girl to the hospital and her life was saved. Interestingly, the baby was wrapped in a hospital blanket, which allowed detectives to quickly determine when and where she was born, as well as identify the mother. A warrant was immediately issued for her arrest. She is now accused of attempted murder and child endangerment.

Tom Guerin.

The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1849 resulted in a huge number of deaths. Gravediggers in those days had a lot of work, and there wasn’t enough space to bury everyone. They had to bury many people and, naturally, sometimes mistakes happened. Such, for example, as with Tom Guerin, a 13-year-old boy who was mistakenly taken for dead and buried alive.

The boy was declared dead, brought to the cemetery, like many others, and began to be buried, in the process accidentally breaking his legs with shovels. It’s amazing, but the boy not only survived, but also managed to get out of the grave with broken legs. Witnesses claim that Tom Guerin subsequently limped on both legs for the rest of his life.

Child from Tian Dong.

A terrifying story occurred in May 2015 in one of the southern Chinese provinces. A woman who was collecting herbs near the cemetery suddenly heard the barely audible cry of a child. Frightened, she called the police, who discovered a baby buried alive in the cemetery. The baby was quickly taken to the hospital, where he soon recovered.

During the investigation, it turned out that the parents, who did not want to raise a child born with a cleft lip, put the baby in a cardboard box and took it to the cemetery. After several days, the relatives came to the cemetery and, thinking that the child was already dead, buried him at a shallow depth of several centimeters. As a result, the boy spent 8 days underground and survived only because oxygen and water penetrated the layer of mud. According to police, when the boy was dug up, the child was literally coughing up dirty water.

Natalya Pasternak.

A terrible incident occurred in May last year in the city of Tynda. Two local residents, Natalya Pasternak and her friend Valentina Gorodetskaya, traditionally collected birch sap near the city. At this time, a four-year-old bear came out of the forest towards Natalya, who, considering the woman her prey, attacked her.

The bear partially scalped her, left a deep wound in her thigh, and seriously injured her neck. Fortunately, Valentina managed to call rescuers. By the time they arrived, the bear had already buried Natalya, who was in a state of shock, as they usually do with their victims, in order to leave it for later. Rescuers had to shoot the animal. Natalya was dug up and taken to the hospital. Since then, she has undergone many operations, and her recovery is still ongoing.

Essie Dunbar.

30-year-old Essie died in 1915 from a severe attack of epilepsy. At least that's what the doctors said. The girl was declared dead and funeral preparations began. Sister Essie really wanted to be present at the ceremony and categorically forbade the burial to begin until she personally said goodbye to the deceased. The priests delayed the service as much as they could.

The coffin had already been lowered into the grave when Sister Essie finally arrived. She insisted that the coffin be lifted and opened so she could say goodbye to her sister. However, as soon as the coffin lid opened, Essie stood up and smiled at her sister. Those present at the funeral rushed out of there in panic, believing that the girl's spirit had risen from the dead. Even many years later, some townspeople believed that she was a walking corpse. Essie lived until 1962.

Today, burying your friend up to his neck in sand on the beach is just a harmless prank. And once upon a time it was a terrible torture or even execution. In both cases, the victim experienced incomparable torment.

Buried alive

Burying a convicted person alive was practiced in many countries. This is how pagan priestesses who violated their vow of virginity were executed in ancient Rome. The priestesses were buried in the ground, having previously provided them with food and water in such quantities that they would last for exactly one day. In Ukraine, a person convicted of murder was buried alive in the same coffin as his victim. And in the Middle Ages in Italy, criminals who did not repent of the murders they committed were buried.

At the dawn of Christianity, many Christian saints were executed in the same way by pagans, who later received the title of martyrs.

Up to your neck in the ground

In addition to burial alive, there was another, more painful type of execution. This is burying the criminal up to his neck in the ground. This was the case with some convicts in the 17th – 18th centuries in Russia. Such punishment was provided mainly for women who took the lives of their own husbands. This was even stated in the code of laws “Council Code”, dating back to 1649: “... a wife commits murder to her husband or feeds him poison, for which she will be executed - buried alive in the ground until she dies.”

Immediately before the execution, in a public place, fenced with a low fence so that onlookers could observe the torment of the victim, they dug a deep and narrow hole. The condemned woman's hands were tied behind her back and then lowered into the ground. The gaps between the body and the walls of the pit were filled with soil, which was immediately compacted carefully using wooden hammers or stakes.

A guard was on duty around the clock around the clock until her death. He did not allow compassionate citizens who tried to secretly give the victim food or water to the convict. All that was allowed to be left near the head sticking out of the ground was candles and small money for the coffin.

How did the convict die?

Usually the victim of this kind of execution died long and painfully: from several hours to several days. On average, women lasted no more than 4-6 days. However, historians became aware of one case when a certain Euphrosyne, sentenced to death in 1731, lived in the ground for exactly a month. However, scientists are inclined to think that someone fed Euphrosyne, or at least gave her something to drink.

The most common cause of death in women was dehydration. However, the convicts suffered not only from thirst. The fact is that the compacted soil compressed the chest, and it was almost impossible to take a normal breath. In addition, the guards monitored the condition of the pit and trampled the earth more and more densely every day. That is why the second cause of death of the condemned woman was asphyxia, that is, suffocation.

In addition, the cool earth often caused hypothermia, which caused additional suffering to the victim.

Not golden sand

A friend called Alexei Ulikin’s mother in the evening. She said that her son was in trouble: Lesha was buried by his own boss. No details - everything is over, my son will come home soon. He’s healthy, well, thank God, thought Lyubov Alexandrovna, imagining a favorite children’s pastime on summer sandy beaches: some tanned volunteer is buried in the hot sand, leaving only his head outside.

Even in a nightmare, the mother could not imagine what kind of monstrous torture Alyosha was actually subjected to. Having learned the next day all the terrible details of the incident from investigators of the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Chelyabinsk, I was horrified. After hearing what she heard, she lay in bed for five days: the woman’s temperature rose, her spine became stiff, and she started bleeding.

7 years ago, the father of the Ulikins family died. Two sons remained in the mother's care. But since you can’t live on your mother’s salary alone, both of them, in addition to studying, tried to earn extra money. Alexey got a job as a storekeeper for private entrepreneur Ivan Rogatov.

It was difficult financially,” says Lyubov Alexandrovna. - And Rogatov’s trade expanded, and he offered, through friends, the position of storekeeper. Alyosha grew up without a father, so I wanted to place him with a decent man, and Rogatov seemed to be suitable for this role. Alexey worked for him for 2.5 months. But this is how this material well-being worked out...

Three days before the tragic incident, Alexey and a merchandiser went to Yekaterinburg. Rogatov's company supplied plumbing fixtures. We purchased goods in Yekaterinburg every week, so this time we went to the neighboring city in a cargo-passenger gazelle. The commodity expert had the money to purchase the goods - 100 thousand rubles. Alexey went with the company to see the city. Why not go: such trips with substantial cash were made regularly and always without any security.

Already in Yekaterinburg, the companions’ car began to drive strangely. We got out: it turned out that both rear wheels were punctured. At that moment, a “four” suddenly braked from behind. Three pumped-up guys were forcibly ordered to get out of the body and, as always happens in this standard criminal combination, they began to act out of fear: “You hit and dented the car on the highway!” While they were figuring out what was what, the money from the Gazelle’s interior disappeared without a trace. Chelyabinsk residents immediately reported the incident to the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Yekaterinburg.

Shish kebab as a reward

Alexey Ulikin is one of those reliable, respectable guys for whom many girls sigh. Slim, tall, never drank or smoked. He studies at the College of Trade and Economics with only A's and B's, but he is not alien to modern trends. The walls in the room are painted a la graffiti, in the corner there is an electronic guitar with a synthesizer. Alexey has a lofty dream - to create his own rock band. An open and sincere guy, he doesn’t hold back, he immediately eagerly makes contact, and so he talks about the terrible events of recent days without hesitation, with all the details, describing his experiences and sensations to the smallest detail.

They worked as one team and did not refuse any of his requests,” says Alexey. - We went to barbecues together twice. True, the invitation to a picnic was strange: when it was time for us to go home, Rogatov brought pickled meat and asked us to do some more work. It turns out that the kebab needs to be worked on and there’s no escape. In general, he always carefully thought through his work, how best to deliver the goods, how to sell them more profitably. He won’t do anything at random. Calculating.

The verdict on the recorder

The calculation was accurate this time too. Rogatov received the news of the missing money calmly, without emotion, and the youngest of the boys, 17-year-old Alexey, became the target of reprisals - the weak link. Apparently, Rogatov believed that it would be easier to split the young man. "I do not believe you!" - this was the only phrase uttered by the entrepreneur when the robbed guys returned from Yekaterinburg. Two days passed after the terse exchange of remarks. On Saturday evening a new conversation took place with Rogatov. Alexey described in detail everything that happened in Yekaterinburg, in response - everything seemed to be fine, no complaints. Rogatov offered to go to work on Sunday to help his friend move and transport things. Just the day before, Alexey received his first full salary at the office, and with it he completely updated his clothes. “How I dressed all new for the funeral,” Alexey jokes gloomily, describing further events.

We already worked seven days a week, but okay, we left in the morning,” Alexey recalls. - Near the village of Sukhomesovo, as soon as the car turned from the asphalt onto the dirt road, two more people joined us. We drove about 50 meters deep into the forest. Rogatov suddenly commanded: “Come on, tie him up!” They taped my hands behind my back. They wrapped my legs at the knees, sealed my mouth and dragged me away. The hole, two meters deep, was already ready and covered with branches. They threw me into a hole, I tried to get to my feet, but Rogatov jumped down and “helped” me lie down. I don’t remember whether I screamed or not, and it’s useless to scream when your mouth is taped shut.

Rogatov commanded: “Bury!”, and the assistants began to throw soggy clay soil over their victim. In a semi-lying position, with his head thrown back, Alexei was first buried up to his chin. Rogatov jumped into the pit again and began demanding money and asking who was involved in this.

I don't need this! - answered Alexey. “As a student, I wouldn’t be able to find a normal job later, so why would I ruin my future.”

Since you don’t want to make contact, bury them,” Rogatov ordered. - You’re not telling me, now we’ll also bury your brother, the merchandiser. Three graves are not a problem. So you will remain lying here. Now we will insert a tube into your mouth, and if you die, you won’t die until we bring the others, your problems.

The murderer recorded all negotiations with his victim on a dictaphone, apparently in order to intimidate the merchandiser with the recording. But later the tape became the main evidence of the torture committed. The second time they buried Alexei with his head.

“I didn’t see anything anymore,” Alexey recalls. - The whole face was underground. I breathed only thanks to the free space that remained under my nose. I was underground for a minute, then Rogatov cleaned his face of the earthen slurry with his hand. And again, let’s ask: “Tell me where the money is, while I’m here, I don’t particularly feel like talking to you!” So they dug me up and buried me three or four times. The ground was already heavy, clayey, wet from the rain, and Rogatov was jumping on me and ramming it down. I started to choke, I thought it was all over. In general, I remembered God...

Experts on the Constitution

The mass grave was supposed to appear in a forest plantation near the village of Sukhomesovo. Luckily for Alexei, it is in this place that villagers graze their cattle. So on Sunday, despite the rainy weather, the Sukhomesovo shepherd led cows and sheep to pasture. The trio digging in the ground surprised him and aroused suspicion: in response to the shepherd’s questions, the gravediggers offered to make a kebab from the lamb, or even from the owner himself. The frightened man ran to the village and called his neighbors for help. The woman was the first to run to the burial site. Seeing a tube sticking out from under the ground, from which muffled sobs were heard, she began to rake the ground and came across a living human face. With a heart-rending scream, the woman rushed into the village. “Oh, we’ve had a lot of fear!” - local residents later told reporters.

Alexander Nekrasov, an employee of the private security department of the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs, accidentally turned out to be the neighbor of the frightened shepherd. Having run into the forest with a group of Sukhmesov men, he did not even suspect the horror of the grave. But when the three unknown people ran in all directions, the policeman’s head automatically triggered: “If they are running, it means something is wrong.” The leader of the gang of diggers, entrepreneur Rogatov, was caught up and detained. Here the local residents helped: without figuring out what was what, they thoroughly dented the sides of both Rogatov himself and his “twelfth” VAZ model: at first they thought that the attackers had coveted someone else’s cattle. The businessman was sent to the police station, and a little later the second murderer was detained. Both criminals turned out to be legally savvy and, citing Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, flatly refused to testify against themselves.

The rescue

Meanwhile, local residents came running to the forest burial, and an immediate response group from the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Chelyabinsk arrived. Some with shovels, some with their hands, began to rake the earth out of the deep hole. They freed the prisoner to the level of his knees; it was impossible to dig any further: firstly, the soaked earth was strongly compressed, and secondly, during the excavation it was necessary to literally stand on the feet of the martyr. The emergency personnel who arrived at the scene came to the rescue: with the help of a rope loop, the unfortunate Alexei was pulled out into the light of day.

I’m just incredibly lucky,” says Alexey. “If these three had gone to pick up the merchandiser and people had not passed by at that moment, I simply would not have survived.” I was out of breath. Then, although underground, I began to pound. And when they dug it up, I was shaking all over from the cold and the shock I had experienced.

First of all, the tortured guy was taken to a nearby hospital. There they washed off the dirt and diagnosed hypothermia and shock. “I’ve been working for fifteen years, and this is the first time in my memory,” said the emergency doctor. “It’s so wild that it’s hard to even wrap my head around it. Not everyone can bury a living dog, but this is a person. Apparently, greed and love for money crushed everything human in him,” Lyubov Alexandrovna cries.

Competently

I’ve been working in the police since 1975, but I don’t remember such sophisticated reprisals,” says Natalya Yusupova, head of the investigation department of the Leninsky district police department. “We have never had such audacity and savagery.” And although the case was initiated under Article 163, Part 2 “Extortion” (punishable by imprisonment from 3 to 7 years), not everything is clear with the qualifications. Article 117, part 2 will most likely have greater force: this is torture, infliction of physical and mental suffering through violent acts, if this entails consequences associated with harm to health, with the use of torture. This is also from 3 to 7 years in prison. But perhaps it will be an attempted murder, then the prosecutor’s office will take over the case.