LIFE-LIKE AFTER DEATH.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18536, 5 April 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

LIFE-LIKE AFTER DEATH.

Strange Case Of Priest. INTEREST IN EXHUMATION. (United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright.) VIENNA, April 3. An experiment unique in the history of exhumations is about to be made in the crypt of the famous Viennese Church Am Hof in connection with the jubilee to honour the Austrian Empress Maria Teresa. The coffin containing the remains of her favourite priest, Anton Knabes, whose body remained as though asleep for weeks after his death on an open bier for the populace to admire, will be opened after a lapse of 150 years, to discover whether there are any symptoms of decomposition. The amazing story is verified in detail by documents of state in the library. One morning the beadle found Knabes sitting up in bed, dead. After three days the colour of the face was still lifelike and smiling, and the limbs flexible. Doctors endeavoured to restore life. Arteries were cut, from which blood ran a fortnight later. He was unchanged after several weeks and was then buried. The coffin was opened two months later, and he was still unchanged. It was finally sealed up, where it has remained till this day.