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The Irish folktale 'The Lady with the Ring' centers around Margorie McCall, a woman who supposedly revived in her coffin. Legend has it that Margorie passed away from a fever in 1705 and was hastily buried to stop the illness from spreading. On the night of her interment, grave robbers exhumed her body, hoping to steal the valuable ring she wore and profit from her remains.
As one of the robbers tried to remove her swollen finger to take the ring, Margorie suddenly woke up and screamed loudly. According to one version, the stunned grave robbers dropped dead from shock, while another version claims they fled and never disturbed another grave. Margorie made her way back home, only for her husband, John McCall, to die from shock upon seeing her. He was buried in the same grave she had just vacated.
Afterwards, Margorie remarried, had more children, and eventually passed away for good. She was laid to rest in Shankill Cemetery, Ireland, the same place she had been buried the first time. In 1860, stonemason William Graham carved a gravestone with the inscription 'Margorie McCall. Lived Once, Buried Twice' and placed it above her grave, where it remains today. Though some dispute Margorie’s tale, here are ten other well-documented cases of people who woke in their coffins.
10. Essie Dunbar
In 1915, 32-year-old Essie Dunbar was pronounced dead after a severe epileptic seizure. Her body was placed in a coffin and scheduled for burial at 11:00 AM the following day. The delay was to give her sister, who lived in another town, a chance to view the body one last time. Despite the long ceremony, Essie’s sister arrived just after the coffin had been lowered into the grave, but it was quickly exhumed to allow her to pay her respects.
To everyone’s shock, Essie suddenly sat up in her coffin and smiled at her sister. The three ministers overseeing the funeral fell into the grave, and one suffered three broken ribs when the others scrambled over him to escape. The ministers, Essie’s sister, and the rest of the mourners fled the scene. Essie, not helping the chaos, ran after them, creating a disturbance as they rushed into town.
For years, rumors spread that Essie had returned from the dead as a zombie. She passed away in 1955, although some reports suggest 1962. A local newspaper ran a headline that read, 'Second funeral is held for South Carolina woman.'
9. Matthew Wall
Every year on October 2, the village of Braughing, Hertfordshire, observes Old Man's Day. This tradition honors Matthew Wall, who narrowly escaped being buried alive on this very date in 1571, not old men.
Matthew Wall, preparing for his wedding, was presumed dead and placed in a coffin. On the way to the church, a pallbearer slipped on wet leaves and dropped the coffin. The shock revived Wall, and he began banging on the coffin and shouting to be freed. He eventually married, had two sons, and lived for 24 more years, passing away in 1595.
In his will, Wall asked that the church bell be rung for both a funeral and a wedding on the second of October each year. He also requested that Fleece Lane, where the pallbearer had slipped, be kept clear of leaves. This is curious, as it was the leaves that saved him from premature burial. The people of Braughing still honor his wishes, ringing the bell while the priest and local children clear the lane.
8. Mrs. Blunden
Mrs. Blunden, a resident of Hampshire, endured the misfortune of being mistakenly declared dead and waking in her coffin twice. On July 15, 1674, after taking poppy water, she fell into a deep sleep. With no pulse, no breath, and her body cold, she was pronounced dead and buried, despite her husband’s wishes to wait for his return before burial.
After some children playing near the graveyard reported hearing strange noises, Mrs. Blunden’s body was exhumed. She had revived in her coffin, and her body was covered in scratches and wounds from her frantic attempts to escape. However, she was lifeless once more. No signs of life were found, and she was declared dead again and reburied.
When Mrs. Blunden’s body was exhumed again the next day for a coroner’s inspection, it was found that she had sustained more injuries. Her mouth was bloody from biting it, and her clothes were torn. A guard, assigned to watch over the grave, claimed to have missed any signs of her revival, raising speculation that he had abandoned his post.
7. Unnamed Girl
In the 1850s, a young girl vacationing at Edisto Island, South Carolina, was thought to have died from diphtheria. She was declared dead, and a hurried burial was arranged to prevent her illness from spreading. She was laid to rest in a local family’s mausoleum.
The mausoleum remained closed until years later when the family needed to bury a son who had died during the ongoing Civil War. Upon opening the mausoleum, the girl’s skeleton was discovered just behind the door. It was clear that she had awakened in her coffin and had attempted to escape the tomb.
6. Margaret ‘Maggie’ Dickson
On September 2, 1721, Margaret 'Maggie' Dickson was tried and hanged for concealing her pregnancy. Living in Edinburgh, she had been separated from her husband and worked at an inn, where she became involved with the owner's son. This affair led to her pregnancy, which she kept secret to avoid losing her job. Unfortunately, the baby she gave birth to was too weak and passed away after a few days.
Unable to bury the child due to the secrecy surrounding her pregnancy, Margaret discarded the infant’s body into the river. Sadly, the body was discovered along the riverbank and traced back to her. Maggie was hanged at the gallows, and her body was placed in a coffin. On the way to the graveyard, 10 kilometers (6 miles) away, she miraculously awoke.
Margaret’s revival was viewed as a divine act, interpreted as God granting her a second chance at life and forgiveness for her crime. She reunited with her husband and went on to have more children. She became known as 'Half-hangit Maggie.'
5. Unnamed French Gendarme
On March 17, 1889, the Press Democrat reported a strange incident involving a French gendarme (police officer) from near Grenoble, France, who was nearly buried alive. The unnamed officer had consumed too much potato brandy and entered a trance-like sleep, lasting a full day. His friends eventually noticed his body becoming stiff, which led them to believe he was dead.
The unfortunate gendarme was declared deceased, only to revive as he was being lowered into his grave. He began banging on the coffin, demanding to be freed. The undertakers immediately halted the burial and opened the casket, but tragically, the gendarme had struck his head against the coffin, resulting in his death once more.
4. Eleanor Markham
In 1894, Eleanor Markham of Sprakers, New York, was declared dead after suffering from heart problems for weeks. Dr. Howard had been attending to her, and on the morning of July 8, he declared her dead. A death certificate was issued, and two days later, her body was placed in a coffin in preparation for burial.
Eleanor suddenly woke up and made a sound just as her coffin was being loaded into the vehicle that was supposed to take her to the cemetery. Upon opening the coffin, Eleanor shocked everyone by exclaiming that she was about to be buried alive. Dr. Howard, who was present, reassured her, promising that the mistake would be corrected. Eleanor later revealed that she had been conscious the entire time, hearing everything being said, even the quietest whispers.
3. Madame Bobin
On November 16, 1901, The Hereford Times reported the strange case of Madame Bobin, who had succumbed to yellow fever after arriving in Pauillacin, France, from Senegal. Her body had stiffened, and her complexion had turned pale and ashen. She was buried without delay. A nurse who had seen her before the burial remarked that Madame Bobin was not as cold as one might expect and noticed slight movements in her abdomen, raising concerns that she may not have been dead.
Madame Bobin’s father insisted on having her body exhumed, only to discover that she had given birth inside the coffin. An autopsy confirmed that she had not died from yellow fever but had still been alive when buried. Tragically, she had suffocated within the grave. The family filed a lawsuit and was awarded 8,000 francs for the ordeal.
2. Octavia Hatcher
In January 1891, James and Octavia Hatcher experienced the heartbreaking loss of their only son, Jacob. Devastated by the loss, Octavia fell into deep depression and refused to leave her bed. Soon, she grew ill, slipped into a coma, and was declared dead on May 2, 1891. Her body was immediately prepared for burial. A few days later, members of her husband's family noticed that several others in town, who had also fallen into comas, were beginning to awaken. Local legend claimed that both Octavia and the others had been victims of sleeping sickness, a condition caused by the bite of the tsetse fly.
James and his family, fearing that they had buried a living woman, hurried to the cemetery and exhumed the body. Tragically, they arrived too late. Octavia had regained consciousness in the coffin and had attempted to escape but was unable to. The inside of the coffin was torn, and her hands were bloodied. James reburied her and erected a monument in her memory, depicting her holding baby Jacob, placed over her grave.
Locals near the Pikeville, Kentucky, cemetery report hearing a mysterious crying sound, sometimes resembling that of a woman or a kitten, coming from Octavia’s grave. It’s even said that her statue turns to face the opposite direction on the anniversary of her burial. Some vandals once desecrated the cemetery and damaged the statue's arm that was holding the baby, and it remains at the foot of the monument to this day.
Fearing the possibility of being buried alive himself, James had a special coffin made well before his death. The coffin was designed with an internal mechanism that would allow him to escape if he were ever mistakenly buried while still alive.
1. Unnamed Three-Year-Old Boy
On April 25, 1913, a three-year-old boy, the son of Mrs. J. Burney, sat up in his coffin just as he was about to be buried in Butte, California. He stared directly at his grandmother, 81-year-old Mrs. L. Smith, causing her to collapse and die from the shock. Moments later, the boy lost consciousness and fell back into the coffin. A doctor later confirmed his death.
The story of the boy mirrors that of Kelvin Santos, a two-year-old from Brazil who narrowly escaped being buried alive in 2012. Santos sat up in his coffin just before his burial and even asked his father for water before collapsing back into the coffin. Unfortunately, he could not be revived and was declared dead once again.
