The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (42 page)

Lurid stories from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were spread in the popular press about premature burial. Some of these tales were spread by well-meaning doctors; for example, postmortem reports described corpses with their fingers chewed off—a sign, some doctors said, that the corpse awoke and was panicked and hungry enough to chew its own extremities. In reality, most or all of the cases were actually the result of rodent infestation.

However, there was good reason for people to be terrified of being buried alive. Physicians and medical professionals were not all particularly skilled at telling the difference between dead and unconscious, and burials happened so fast (due to the heat in some places and the absence of preserving chemicals) that it was not unheard of for a person to wake up underground.

John Bateson was an inventor with a paranoia about this very situation, and so he came up with the Bateson Revival Device—a small church bell attached to the lid of the coffin and connected to a cord strapped to the deceased's hand. The idea was if you woke up in a coffin, you could ring the bell until somebody rescued
you. Because his fears were shared by hundreds of people, Bateson was made wealthy with the device.

DINING WITH THE DEAD

The New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmandabad, India, sits atop a centuries-old Muslim cemetery. For more than four decades, patrons have been able to dine at tables that are nestled between the graves, which resemble small cement coffins. Waiters maneuver through the cemetery with their trays of steaming food and milky tea, balancing between the tables and the graves. The unusual setting attracts customers from around the world, and the owners believe dining there brings good luck.

TINY TOMBSTONE

According to
Ripley's Believe It or Not
, the world's smallest tombstone is in Bates County, Missouri, and belongs to the gravesite of one Linnie Crouch. It is 4 3/8″ × 3¼″ × 2½″ thick.

RISING FROM THE GRAVE

In his book
Scottish Bodysnatchers: True Accounts
, author Norman Adams paints several gruesome tales of premature burial and inadvertent rescue. Among them is the account of Maggie Dickson, who was hung in 1724 in Inveresk, presumably for a self-induced abortion that she had attempted to conceal. Maggie was hung in the town square, and it is said that the hangman pulled and swung on her legs once the noose was tightened and the ladder was kicked out, just for good measure. She was cut down, apparently dead, and her body was put in a cart by her relatives to be taken home for burial. Along the way, the family and friends of the deceased Maggie stopped for a drink. While the mourners were inside the alehouse, Maggie regained consciousness. Her weak cries attracted help, and she was revived by a local surgeon. Later, she was granted
her freedom and went on to live many years, being widely known as “Half-Hangit” Maggie.

A similar tale is one from Aberdeenshire, where Merjorie Elphinstone was buried alive and rousted from her premature eternal slumber by a grave robber who was trying to steal the rings from her fingers. And there is the story of the minister's wife, Margaret Halcrow. She was saved from an untimely fate when a sexton attempted to rob her grave and found her alive. Her husband was quite shocked to find her knocking on the door one evening.

HAUNTED CEMETERIES
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

There are endless accounts of ghost sightings in the most logical of places: graveyards. Here are but a few of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States:

• THE MYRTLE HILL CEMETERY in Valley City, Ohio. This cemetery is known to be haunted by a witch, whose grave is marked by a heavy sphere.
  
• STULL CEMETERY in Kansas City, Kansas. Some refer to this cemetery, perhaps one of the most fantastical of all haunted cemeteries, as the Gates of Hell, the Cemetery of the Damned, and the Seventh Gate
  to Hell. The devil himself is said to roam amongst the tombs. The devil's child is also said to dwell here, along with a boy who can change himself into a werewolf, and the ghost of a witch.
  
• CAMP CHASE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY in Columbus, Ohio. This cemetery is said to be haunted by a lady in gray.
  
• MASONIC CEMETERY in Central City, Colorado. Reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who lays flowers on the grave of John Edward Cameron. She is said to appear on April 5 and November 1 and has been witnessed by entire groups of people.
  
• FOREST PARK CEMETERY in Brunswick, New York. Many phantoms are said to roam the headstones here, including ones that cause statues to bleed.
  
• ADELAIDA CEMETERY in Paso Robles, California. An evil poltergeist presence has been reported by both visitors and investigators. A ghost of a woman in a long white nightgown has been spotted by more than one visitor, usually between 10
  P.M.
  and midnight on Fridays.
  
• ST. LOUIS CEMETERY in New Orleans, Louisiana. This graveyard is arguably one of the most haunted in all of North America. It is said to be home to multiple ghosts, including the famous Voodoo queen,
  Marie Laveau. Visitors have reported hearing weeping and groaning and seeing mists and various other phenomena.
  
• WHITE CEMETERY in Barrington, Illinois. Witnesses report seeing eerie globes of light floating around the cemetery. Phantom images of a house and a car have also been seen nearby.
  
• MCCONNIO CEMETERY in Evergreen, Alabama. This cemetery is reputed to be haunted by soldiers of the Civil War.
  
• WESTERN BURIAL GROUND of the churchyard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. This cemetery is the eternal resting place of Edgar Allan Poe and Francis Scott Key, among other famous people. Some visitors report sightings of the ghost of Poe himself. Other ghostly figures include those of a crazed lunatic and a drunken ghoul.
  
• LAKE FOREST CEMETERY in Grand Haven, Michigan. Sightings of spooky specters here include a pale bluish male, orbs, mists, black shadows, and the occasional disembodied voice.