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