Can you imagine being put in a casket while still alive? No, me neither — but supposedly this happened to a woman over 100 years ago.
In 1915, Essie Dunbar was pronounced dead by a doctor after suffering a seizure at the age of 30.
Like many families do when a loved one has died, they proceeded to plan a funeral for Essie and had her laid to rest in a casket a day after her apparent passing.
Essie body was then buried but when her sister arrived late to the funeral, she demanded that her beloved sibling be dug up so she could see her once more.
Advert
While Essie's sister thought that she'd be greeted with a dead body once the casket was reopened, that was far from what happened next.
Reportedly when it was opened, Essie sat up looking more alive than ever and smiled at her sister.
Understandably her family were totally floored and some even ran away believing that they were in the presence of a ghost.
Allegedly the ministers were so shocked that they ended up falling into the hole that had been dug for Essie's coffin, one of which suffered broken bones in all the drama.
YouTuber Zack D. Films has recently made a video simulating what would have happened on the day in question.
Check it out:
Essie's story gained traction once more in 2001 upon the publishing of a book titled Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear.
Part of the book reads, as per Snopes: "In the summer of 1915, Dr. D. K. Briggs of Blackville, South Carolina, was called to attend the thirty-year-old black woman Essie Dunbar, who had suffered an attack of epilepsy. He found no signs of life and declared her dead.
READ MORE:
WOMAN, 76, DECLARED DEAD WAKES UP AND KNOCKS FROM INSIDE HER COFFIN
"The corpse was put in a wooden coffin and the funeral arranged for eleven in the following morning, to give Essie's sister, who lived in a neighboring town, the chance to participate.
"Although the ceremony was a lengthy one, with three preachers taking turns to perform, the sister had still not arrived when Essie's coffin was lowered into its six-foot-deep grave."
The book goes on: "She appeared a few minutes later, however, and the ministers agreed to dig up the coffin so that she might see Essie one last time. But when the screws were removed and the coffin lid opened, Essie sat up in her coffin and smiled at her sister."
It goes also claims that there were a lot of suspicions about Essie after she seemingly came back from the dead and some people in her neighborhood thought that she was a zombie.
Essie went on to live until 1955 when she died for a second and final time.
Niamh Shackleton