How To Avoid Vivisepulture (Being Buried Alive)

Being buried alive was a real threat, once upon a time. It was largely remedied with the invention of the stethoscope, but before that, there was a lot of guesswork involved in diagnosing a case of the deadsies.

People took it upon themselves to make sure they weren't buried alive, and lots of people went to some bizarre, painful, and downright creepy lengths to avoid it.

These generally fall into three categories: "see if I'm alive," "make sure I'm dead," and "let me out!"