Risen from the Grave?

In 1661 the morbid tale of a Northgate Market, London butcher named Lawrence Cawthorn was the subject of a pamphlet with the catchy title The Most Lamentable and Deplorable Accident. Mr. Cawthron had become ill and, when the medical authorities (such as they were back in the 1600's) no longer could detect a heartbeat, was hastily declared dead and buried. The mourners at the chapel heard the sound of muffled cries and clawing coming from the entombed coffin and an excavation quickly began. Unfortunately, the diggers reached the pine box too late and what they found was a lifeless body, wrapped in a torn shroud, its eyes swollen and head bloodied from battering against the coffin lid. The story ended with the observation, "Amid all the torments that mankind is capable of, the most dreadful of them is to be buried alive."

 In a time when few saw a doctor and those who did were relying on technology and practices that owed as much to superstition as science, a declaration of death was more a matter of opinion than certainty. Many doctors in the late 1700's subscribed to the belief that death could only be declared once the body began to rot. In Germany Leichenhauser, Hospitals for the Dead grew in popularity, remaining in use until the 1950's. These were climate controlled mortuaries that held corpses until obvious signs of rot began to show. So, if you think your job is bad, imagine being the night watchman who had to keep an eye on a few hundred rotting corpses.

In the 1790's the idea of the "security coffin" gained popularity. These were designed to let a person who woke up in the grave signal for help or even escape. Some were fitted with sniffer tubes that let those on the surface check for the smell of decay, others had alarm bells, firecrackers, sirens, and even rockets. Makes me want to write a Victorian zombie apocalypse novel, I can envision the graveyard lighting up with flares as the dead claw their way out of the sod.

"Ah, the dark ages," you might think. "Surely modern medicine has eliminated the possibility of being buried alive, right?" Well, medicine has come a long way since the time of leaches and herbalists, but consider these three incidents taken from the London Mail before climbing up on the horse of modern superiority.

In 1937, in the French village of St. Quentin de Chalais, 19 year old Angelo Hays was thrown from his motorcycle and hit a brick wall head first. Angelo Hays was declared dead and buried three days after the accident.

Suspicion arose when an insurance firm in nearby Bordeaux found Hay's father had recently insured his son's life for 200,000 francs. An inspector was called to investigate and the body was exhumed two days after burial so that the cause of death could be confirmed.

When the doctor in charge of the autopsy removed the shroud he found that Hays body was warm to the touch. He was taken to the hospital  and, after several operations and a long period of rehabilitation, recovered completely.

In 1995, 61-year-old Cambridgeshire farmer's wife Daphne Banks was certified dead by her family doctor after overdosing on drugs on New Year's Eve. Three hours later, the undertaker loading her into a refrigerated drawer saw a vein twitch and heard her snore. Mrs. Banks survived.

In 2010 a Polish bookkeeper  named Josef Guzy was certified dead after a heart attack, and narrowly escaped being buried alive when an undertaker noticed that the dead man had a faint pulse before sealing his coffin. Weeks later, Guzy was well and back at his hobby of beekeeping.

So, it still can happen. Anyone in the market for a coffin equipped with wifi and email, just in case?

The Full Hunter's Moon

The Hunter’s Moon, October’s full moon, as the name suggests was the time of year given to hunting game and slaughtering livestock. By thinning their herds, farmers could better feed and care for the animals they overwintered and the meat they cured and stored during this time would help see their families through the harsh months ahead.

When we think of October and full moons, we often are drawn to the creepy images of Gothic horror and thoughts of Halloween trick-or-treating. I can remember huddling in front of the television in my parents’ living room, watching the Curse of the Werewolf  and Dracula on Sammy Terry and getting so scared I didn’t want to traverse the dark hallway that led to my bedroom. For years whenever I saw a cloud drift across the face of the full moon I silently imagined that somewhere, someone just fell prey to the supernatural.

Now that I’m more than a little older, I’ve put the fear of Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney behind me and come to appreciate the true meaning of Halloween. The ancient Celts saw the year as having two “hinges”: Beltaine (which fell on the first of May) and Samhain (which fell on the first of November and marked the beginning of the new year). Both of these days were considered the most magical and perhaps frightening of the calendar, they marked times when the border between natural and supernatural was at its most permeable.

At Samhain (what we now call Halloween) time itself became meaningless and the past, present, and future freely mixed as the dead and denizens of the Other World walked among the living. Ghosts emerged from the Underworld on Samhain night and the people lit bonfires to keep evil spirits at bay.

One Samhain tradition in Irish and Scottish households was the Dumb Supper. On Samhain Eve the evening meal was served in silence with a special place set at the head of the table for the ancestors. This extra place was served food and drink and no one dared to look directly at their spiritual guest for fear of bringing misfortune in the coming year. After the meal the untouched plate was carried outside “for the pookas” and left in the woods.

Now, of course, we hand out Bazooka bubblegum and Skittles to the neighborhood pookas in hopes we’ll avoid getting our windows soaped, but even this modern tradition stems from ancient Samhain practices. Samhain is a time for prophesies, disguising oneself to avert evil, and performing rites of protection against the dead and Otherworldly spirits. So, the next time you bob for apples or take the kids on their Halloween night trooping, just remember you’re holding up ancient rituals and just might be protecting yourself from the ghost of great-granddad.