A man who was so terrified of being buried alive that he had a window built in his grave.

Due to the advances of modernity medicine; Once a loved one is declared dead, they will remain very dead and will be buried for all eternity.

Unfortunately – as the headline suggests – this has not always been the case, since the fear of being buried alive, taphophobia, is a real thing for anyone walking on the street. 1800.

Timothy Clark Smith’s grave, without bell (YouTube/Planet Weird)

Why were people afraid of being buried alive in the 19th century?

Before the advance of modernity science declaring someone was more of a guessing game. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was still a very new medical technique and the defibrillator would not be invented until 1899, which meant that the only way to definitively know if a family member had passed on to the next life was to wait for them to decompose. stab or cut the body.

Neither is a particularly dignified way to treat the recently deceased.

Add to this sensational stories of coffins being dug up to find scratches on the inside, and you have a society that was terrified of being buried prematurely.

It would be a pretty horrible situation to find yourself in, especially since 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 the point of hysteria, the idea of ​​a safe coffin didn’t seem too extreme at the time, or at least it didn’t seem that way to Timothy Clark Smith.

But don’t expect to see anything inside (YouTube/Planet Weird)

Why did Timothy Clark Smith have a window placed in his tomb?

A doctor who lived in US During the 19th century, Smith decided he was not taking any precautions when it came to dying and designed a specialized coffin with a window.

The window was placed directly above his head, with the idea that it might catch the attention of a passing mourner or gravedigger.

But surely the window would only work if someone was pointing it directly at Smith’s (supposedly) dead face? Well, fortunately he had also thought of this and also installed a bell, which was attached to his hand.

A breathing tube was even installed in the grave, allowing Smith to breathe safely while awaiting rescue.

For anyone looking to satisfy their morbid curiosity and see the grave for themselves, you can still see it to this day in a cemetery in New Haven, Vermont.

But don’t expect to see Smith’s skull staring back at you, as condensation (presumably from the doctor’s decomposing body) has completely clouded the view.