Don’t worry, they stayed buried alive only for a very short time.
That’s the kind of problem that solves itself very easily. After a while, you’ve got a cadaver inside a coffin, and both parties have fulfilled their end of the contract.
“A Wake” existed for a good reason, lol.
The only remedy
At one point they would tie string to the foot of the person, then connect it to a bell above ground. If they woke up their panic would ring the bell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin
I don’t think they were actually used. Or at least never saved anyone.
One of the more interesting books was Our home doctor: Domestic and botanical remedies simplified and explained for family treatment. With a treatise upon suspended animation, the danger of burying alive, and directions for restoration, by Moore Russell Fletcher (1890).
Gotta love those old book titles. Who needs to read the back of the book when the title already contains half of the table of contents and all of the major spoilers? Come to think of it, titles like that are also very good for SEO. Paste the full name into a search engine, and you can’t go wrong.
