A man, fearing being buried alive, had a window and a breathing tube installed in his grave for safety and possible rescue.
In the 19th century, a man fearful of being buried alive took extreme measures to ensure his posthumous safety.
With advancements in modern medicine, the fear of being buried alive is no longer a widespread concern.
It is now rare for anyone to be mistakenly declared dead.
However, this was not always the case, particularly in the 1800s when the fear of premature burial, known as taphophobia, was prevalent.
The fear of being buried alive in the 1800s
In the 1800s, medical science was developing, and determining death was often a matter of guesswork.
Techniques like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation were just beginning to emerge, and the defibrillator wouldn’t be invented until 1899.
Without these advancements, the only way to determine death was either by waiting for decomposition to set in or by disturbing the body.
Both methods were far from dignified.
This uncertainty, combined with sensationalized stories of coffins being unearthed to find signs of life, fueled widespread anxiety.
Man builds a window in his own grave over fear of being buried alive
The terrifying possibility of being buried alive became a genuine concern.
The idea of a safety coffin, designed to prevent this horror, gained traction, and one man, Timothy Clark Smith, took matters into his own hands.
Timothy Clark Smith, a 19th-century physician from the United States, was deeply disturbed by the idea of being buried alive.
In response, he designed a special coffin with a window above his head.
The window allowed Smith to signal for help if someone mistakenly buried him alive.
But Smith didn’t stop there—he also had a bell installed inside the coffin, attached to his hand, so he could ring it in case of emergency.
Additionally, he incorporated a breathing tube into the grave to ensure he could breathe while waiting for rescue.
He meant these provisions to ensure that, in case of a mistake, he wouldn’t suffer in silence.
The legacy of Smith’s grave
Smith’s grave, complete with the window and safety features, still exists today in New Haven, Vermont.
However, visitors should not expect to see Smith’s face peering out of the window.
Over time, condensation from the decaying body has obscured the view, making it impossible to see inside.
Taphophobia may seem like an outdated fear in the modern world.
However, the lengths people went to avoid it show how deeply it impacted society in the 1800s.
Smith’s grave shows the era’s medical limitations and the extreme measures some took for peace of mind, even in death.