“The Premature Burial” – a Narrator’s Journal

18 February, 1844

After a bad spell, I decided that I must attend the doctor and see why these spells are leaving me insensible for hours, even days, at a time. After several examinations, they have decided that I have a form of ‘catalepsy’ (313). This form of catalepsy causes me to sink into a state of semi-consciousness without the will or ability to move or speak. Other times, it comes on quickly and I become quite ill and then nothing: I cannot speak, move or even hear. The latter attacks leave me to regain consciousness quite slowly and leave me feeling bewildered as I awaken, similar to the way I awaken from slumber (314). This is a troublesome situation that seems unlikely to resolve itself.

10 March, 1844

I read an article today. The wife of a Baltimore lawyer had perished after a bizarre illness. To all eyes her death appeared obvious and after three days she was buried.Three years after her burial in the family vault, her husband had cause to open the vault and as he did a skeleton in the remnants of a burial shroud fell into his arms. To his shock, it was the skeleton of his long-dead wife. As it would turn out after a proper investigation, his wife had revived approximately two days after her burial and in struggling to free herself had caused her coffin to fall, shattering on the floor. The lady used the last of her strength to hammer on the door with a piece of the coffin to draw attention from the outside, but to no avail. At some point, she died while standing at the door and remained there, entangled in the doorway until her husband opened the door and she fell into his arms. (309)

I have decided that I must look into these premature burials more. What would happen one day if I was struck down by an episode of my catalepsy and could not be awakened? It would be bad enough to be among friends but to be among strangers, insensible and appearing dead – what would happen to me then? I most likely would be declared dead and buried in some unknown grave only to awaken from my cataleptically-induced state to find myself buried alive!

03 May, 1844

Even though it only increases my fears, I cannot help but collect stories concerning premature burial. My infatuation with these morbid tales grows every day and after every new story, I grow more concerned with my own situation and what I must do to avoid ending up like any of these unfortunate people.

Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade married Monsier Renelle. The match was a terrible choice; she was neglected and ill-treated throughout her marriage to Monsieur Renelle. After several years, she became ill and died. Her previous lover, never getting over her rejection, traveled to the village to visit her grave to acquire a memento. After unearthing her coffin, he realized that she was still alive. After reviving, she recovered her strength and Mademoiselle Lafourcade and her lover fled to America to prevent recognition by her husband (310).

12 June, 1844

I grow increasingly, morbidly obsessed with Death and burial. I find myself speaking and thinking of Death during my waking hours and dreaming about it while asleep (314). A particular dream stays with me. I wake up in total darkness, then a unknown creature with an icy grasp touches my hand and bids me to arise. Upon asking the its name, it says that it is a fiend and then bids me to look around. When I look, I see that I am in a massive graveyard and that I can see into the graves. And in these graves some decayed – but more did not; they were alive and struggling to be free (315). What a horrid dream – I cannot stop thinking of it and the terror that it implies.

23 July, 1844

Another article discussing the premature burial concerning an artillery officer thrown from his horse, striking and fracturing his skull (311), as well as rendering him unconscious. Trepanning was conducted, as well as bleeding, but these and other medical procedures failed to revive him. His coma deepened and after a lengthy period, it appeared that that the soldier had died.

Because of the warm weather, he was buried quickly. Four days after the burial, the cemetery was crowded with visitors and a peasant resting on the soldier’s grave declared that he felt movement underneath. He became very insistent and scared, so the crowd gathered shovels and proceeded to unearth the coffin. Once the earth had been removed, it was discovered that the lid of the coffin had been tilted off by the soldier’s struggles and that the ‘corpse’ was sitting upright, unconscious again. He was quickly taken to a nearby hospital, where he was officially declared living. (311)

After sufficient time to regain his health, he related his experience: at first conscious but unable to act, he fell unconscious as he was interred only to be revived by the sounds of the crowd above him. In hearing the crowd, he struggled to free himself, because he had realized his terrible predicament. Sadly, the patient was on the mend but due to untimely medical experimentation, specifically use of the galvanic battery, he died (312). Not only do survivors of premature burial have to deal with the trauma of burial and long recuperation, but they are not even safe from the doctors intent on ‘healing’ them. How horrible it would be to survive the entire ordeal only to die once free.

14 August, 1844

Here is another tale about a helpless victim buried alive, Mr. Edward Stapleton, a London attorney buried in 1831. Mr. Stapleton had died after a battle with typhus fever. The attending doctors asked the friends of the deceased if they would allow a post-mortem examination but the offer was soundly rejected and the body buried – only to be disinterred from the grave by grave-snatchers paid by the medical professionals. The body was brought to a private hospital and the examination began with a small incision, when the corpse’s lack of deterioration became very obvious and so the galvanic battery was applied but with seemingly no effect. They decided to proceed with the examination after one last experiment and to their surprise the corpse the corpse decided to get off the table, take a few steps and speak incomprehensibly before falling unconscious onto the ground.

Mr. Stapleton was revived and after he recuperated, he returned to his friends much to their surprise. Mr. Stapleton was able to remember much of what transpired during the time period that he was thought dead: he recalled everything from the moment that he was declared dead and up to the moment that he spoke. (312)

These stories that I have collected with increasing fervor were not at as rare as one would think. One can only imagine how many of these premature burials occur that are not discovered and the victims perish in the graves. I can think of nothing so horrible as that!

23 August, 1844

The thought of burial before actual death, as the lungs cramp from lack of air and the body lies in darkness, alone and incapable of escape or even a method of informing loved ones that life still lingers, terrifies me. “[I] know of nothing so agonizing upon Earth – [I] can dream of nothing half so hideous in the realms of the nethermost Hell” (313) as the idea of premature burial. I must ensure that this does not happen to me.

In order to avoid this dreaded fate, I have decided to take some precautions and not rely only on my friends’ assurances that this will not occur. I have ordered the special construction of a custom coffin, comfortably padded, equipped with a spring-loaded lid that will open with the slightest pressure, and with a hole through which the bell attached to the roof of the tomb may be triggered. The vault has been remodeled to provide easy escape as well with a new door, a place for food and beverage to be stored, and easy access to air (315-316). I will no longer travel far from home in any manner for fear that if I should die among strangers, these precautions would be for naught.

5 October, 1844

I awakened slowly, as per custom when wakening from a spell, gradually becoming aware. This takes awhile and after the normal period I recalled my situation and remembered that these spells are normal. However, this time something felt wrong. I froze, unable to move or open my eyes from the terrible idea that my worst nightmare had come true. At some length, as my despair grew, I forced myself to open my eyes and saw what I had expected – utter darkness. An attempt to scream failed me and so at once I threw my arms up and hit a wooden barrier, a mere six inches from my head. As my wits gathered, I remembered all the special precautions that I had taken for my coffin, but they were not there. At this final realization, I again made an effort to scream and this time a loud and crazed cry escaped. My scream was quickly answered – by the crew of the small ship that my friend I had taken shelter in during a frightful storm while near Richmond and where I had promptly fallen asleep (316-317).

While I may not have actually been buried alive, the experience was close enough to the actual that I felt that I had. I underwent a change in temperament after the debacle. No longer would I dwell on the horrid possibilities in the world – I would embrace the things that made life worth living. I have begun the process by burning my medical texts and all stories dwelling on Death. I have decided to travel and exercise, to truly live my life. Since that day in Richmond, I have not had a spell and hope that the catalepsy has vanished forever; I no longer think much about it. Man has the ability to make his own life a Hell, purely by his thoughts, so man must also be able to create his own Heaven in the same manner (318).

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Premature Burial." American Literature before the Civil War. Create edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011.