“Haunted by the Fear of Burial: The Man Who Installed a Grave Window to Escape Death’s Embrace”
Imagine having such a deep-seated fear of being buried alive that your solution involves a window in your grave! Yup, that’s exactly what Timothy Clark Smith—a 19th-century physician—decided to do when faced with the dreadful reality of taphophobia, the fear of being buried while still alive. Back in the day, medical science was a guesswork game, and no one wanted to accidentally end up six feet under just because a doctor was having an off day. With advancements in medicine, thankfully, we’ve largely put such petrifying worries to rest (pun intended!). However, Smith’s creative solution—complete with a bell and a breathing tube—serves as a bizarre peek into the past when fears of premature burial were all too real. For a fascinating journey into this strange corner of history, come along as we explore the quirky life and even quirkier final resting place of this innovative thinker. LEARN MORE.
A man who was so terrified of being buried alive that he had a window built into his grave.
Due to the advances in modern medicine; once a loved one is declared dead, they will remain very much dead and are laid to rest for all of eternity.
Unfortunately – as the headline suggests – this hasn’t always been the case, with the fear of being buried alive, taphophobia, being a real thing for anyone knocking about in the 1800s.
The grave of Timothy Clark Smith, sans bell (YouTube/Planet Weird)
Why were people scared of being buried alive in the 1800s?
Prior to the advancement of modern science declaring that someone was more of a guessing game. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was still a very new medical technique and the defibrillator wouldn’t be invented until 1899 – which meant the only way to definitively tell if your family member had passed on to the next life was to either wait for decay to set in or hack at the body.
Neither of which is a particularly dignified way to treat the recently departed.
Couple this with sensationalised stories of coffins being unearthed to find scratches inside and you had a society which was terrified of being put in the ground prematurely.
This would be a pretty horrifying situation to find yourself in – especially as most of us couldn’t punch our way out of a coffin like The Bride did in that one Kill Bill scene.
With taphophobia reaching a point of hysteria, the idea of a safety coffin didn’t seem too extreme at the time – or at least it didn’t to Timothy Clark Smith.
But don’t be expecting to see anything inside (YouTube/Planet Weird)
Why did Timothy Clark Smith have a window fitted in his grave?
A physician who lived in the US during the 19th century, Smith decided he wasn’t taking any precautions when it came to his death and designed a specialist coffin with a window in it.
The window was placed directly above his head, with the idea that he’d be able to catch the attention of a passing mourner or grave digger.
But surely the window would only work if someone was starting directly into Smith’s (supposedly) dead face? Well, thankfully he’d thought of this as well and also installed a bell, which was attached to his hand.
There was even a breathing tube installed in the grave, allowing for Smith to safely breathe as he waited for rescue.
For anyone looking to satisfy their morbid curiosity and see the grave for themselves, you can still see it to this very day at a cemetery in New Haven, Vermont.
But don’t go expecting to see the skull of Smith staring back at you, as condensation (presumably from the physician’s decomposing body) has completely clouded the view.
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/zackdfilms
