People Who Feared.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 November 1924, Page 8

People Who Feared.

TO BE BURIED ALIVE. SOME QUEER PACTS MADE BY FAMOUS PEOPLE. Fears of premature burial have resulted in the formation of a society to effect reforms iii the law of death certification. There is, however, nothing new in these fears. The Egyptians kept the bodies of the dead under careful supervision by the priests previous to embalming, and until satisfied that life was extinct. The Greeks were aware of the dangers of a premature burial and often cut off the fingers of a person believed to be dead before cremation. In modern times the fear of being buried alive has haunted many. Wilkie Collins had this fear, and always left overnight on his dressing-table a note solemnly enjoining that, should he he found dead, his supposed death was to he very carefully tested by a doctor. Hans Anderson always carried a note in his pocket td the same effect. Harriet Martineau left her doctor ten pounds to see that her head was amputated before burial. Edmund Yates left twenty guineas with the provision that his jugular vein was to be severed. Lady Burton (the widow of the famous traveller Sir Richard Burton), who was subject to fits of trance, desired that her heart be pierced with a needle. Premature burial is of the rarest occurrence. and it is doubtful if many authenticated cases could be brought forward.