24 March 1904: "Corpse" Actually Just a Lady Who Fainted

On this day in 1904, the Athens Banner ran this sensational headline on their front page:

Consumption typically referred to pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease that would cause severe weight loss, fatigue, and pallor on top of the obvious respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and chest pain.  


In 1904, there were no antibiotics or other anti-bacterial medications available to treat the disease, and the illness was understood to be fatal. Obviously, however, the woman had not yet succumbed to the disease, so she was not yet a "corpse."


Fear of being buried alive was given the label taphephobia in 1890. Though incidences of premature burial were rare, it was still a commonly used device in fiction of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, and so remedies were often sought to ease the concern that existed in the culture. 


In 1843, a patent was filed in Baltimore, Maryland for a "life-preserving coffin in case of doubtful death," where the coffin would pop open if any movement occurred inside. However, it only worked above ground. In 1896, the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial was formed in England to stop "premature burial generally, and especially amongst members." They managed to pass laws, such as requiring the corpse be held in a mortuary prior to burial, that are still observed today. 




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Feb. 1904 - Nov. 1905 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson via PINES.
• Buried Alive: The Gothic Awakening of Taphephobia by Andrew Mangham, Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.10-22. (pdf file)
• The Sky Is Falling: Understanding and Coping with Phobias, Panic, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders by Raeann Dumont in the general collection.
• Grave Matters: A Lively History of Death Around the World by Nigel Barley in the general collection.
• Buried by Bad Decisions by Daniel Gilbert, Nature, Vol. 474, No. 7351 via GALILEO. (abstract only)
• Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: The History of Burial by Penny Colman in the general collection.
• The Mourning Dance: What We Do When People Die by Katherine Ashenburg in the general collection.
• Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe in the fiction collection.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens in the fiction collection.
• Collected Short Stories by H. G. Wells in the fiction section.