Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive. Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally or intentionally. Intentional burial may occur as a form of torture, murder, or execution; it may also occur with consent of the victim as a part of a stunt (with the intention to escape) or as a form of suicide. The victim may also be buried by others in the mistaken assumption that they are dead. Live burial is said to be one of the most widespread of human fears.
Read more about Premature Burial: Biology, Unintentional, Execution, Voluntary Burial, Myths and Legends
Famous quotes containing the words premature and/or burial:
“God screens us evermore from premature ideas. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened; then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is like a dream.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I heard the bell tolled on thy burial day,
I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,
And, turning from my nursery window, drew
A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)