Taphophobia, or the fear of being buried alive, seems like a perfectly sensible phobia to me – especially when you consider just how many people have been accidentally – or deliberately – entombed underground throughout history.

Some people are said to be so afraid of being accidentally interred, that they took precautions to avoid such an eventuality. Robert Robinson, a minister from Manchester in the UK who died in 1791, was said to have such a serious case of taphophobia that he had a glass panel inserted in the front of his coffin, and instructed his family members to check on him periodically – to see if he was actually still alive.

Taphophobia is enough of a problem that some people have seen the commercial opportunities in creating coffins specifically designed to assuage the fears of those with a fear of premature burial. So-called safety coffins have been designed throughout the centuries, with early 18^th century models featuring bells that the victim could ring to alert those above ground of the mistake, while later models featured breathing tubes that could keep an individual alive as well as alerting people to the mistake. If there was no smell of decomposition, then gravediggers were supposed to immediately dig up the coffin.

Unfortunately for some people, they have been buried alive. Here are 15 of the most chilling cases.

15. Essie Dunbar Was Still Alive After She Suffered An Epileptic Fit

A story with a happy ending to start off with. In 1915, 30-year-old Essie Dunbar of South Carolina had an epileptic fit and was declared dead by her local doctor. Essie’s sister was late for the funeral and asked for the coffin to be dug back up so that she could see her sister one last time. To everyone’s surprise, when the screws were removed from the coffin lid, Essie actually sat up – perfectly fine. The same cannot be said for the three ministers, who fell backwards into the grave, sustaining broken bones in their desperate attempts to escape. After Essie’s sudden recovery the people from her town looked at her with suspicion and fear – it’s not everyday that someone suddenly comes back from the dead.

14. Natalya Pasternak Almost Killed And Buried Alive By A Bear

Ms Pasternak has the dubious honour of being the only person in this list who wasn’t buried alive by another human. She was buried alive by a bear. Pasternak was attacked by a bear while walking in Serbia with her friend, who escaped and managed to raise the alarm. Natalya meanwhile had suffered serious injuries and the bear, thinking that he had finished off his prey, buried her under a mound of earth and leaves – probably so that he could return at a later date and enjoy a snack. Amazingly Natalya and her friend survived their ordeal, though the bear had to be shot by their rescuers.

13. Jessica Lunsford Was Buried Alive By Her Kidnapper

Not all cases of live burial are accidental, however. Nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford was abducted from her bedroom in 1995 by convicted sex offender John Couey. Couey admitted to raping the young girl twice, before tricking Jessica into climbing into a garbage bag by telling her she was going home. He actually buried her a short distance from his home, where experts stated that she would have died after two or three minutes due to a lack of oxygen. Police found that two of Jessica’s fingers had managed to poke through the garbage bag after she was buried.

12. Shamiso Kanyama Asked To Be Buried Alive. And then died.

Shamiso Kanyama was a pastor and prophet in his home village of Mazonde in rural Zimbabwe. Pastor Kanyama had been called upon to rid a house in the village of evil spirits, and had apparently told his followers that his powers would become much more effective if they buried him alive first, digging him up after a few minutes when he would be “resurrected”. His plan went awry, however, when his followers dug up a body instead of a live and powerful pastor. The five men involved eventually faced charges for their part in Pastor Kanyama’s unfortunate death.

11. Mina El Houari’s Date Panicked And Buried Her In His Garden

Mina El Houari was a Moroccan woman, who died when her date panicked and buried her alive, thinking she had died in his home. Ms El Houari was on a first date with the man, and doctors believe that she may have slipped into a diabetic coma at some point during the night. Her date, finding Mina unresponsive made the rather odd decision to bury her in his back garden, rather than calling an ambulance or notifying the authorities. Her date eventually confessed to his stupidity, and was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

10. Russian Man Voluntarily Allowed Himself To Be Buried Alive

A Russian man died in 2011 when he voluntarily allowed himself to be buried alive. The 35-year-old man, who believed the process would bring him good luck, was buried overnight by a friend in a makeshift coffin, complete with breathing tube, drinking water and even a mobile phone, in case of emergencies. When his friend returned in the morning, however, the intrepid luck-seeker had suffocated. It is thought that an overnight rain shower had caused the earth to move and block his breathing tube, and that he passed out before he was able to call for help.

9. Catherine Boger’s Grave Was Reopened By Her Husband

In 1892, a year after marrying, Catherine Boger died and was buried. So far, so normal. In the following months, however, Mr Boger became more and more convinced that his wife had in fact been alive when she was buried, as she had suffered from “hysteria” which had manifested itself as severe fainting fits. When he finally persuaded the authorities to reopen the grave, he found to his horror that his theory was correct. Mrs Boger was now lying face down, while her robes had been torn to shreds, and the glass in the coffin lid had been smashed.

8. Stephen Small Was Kept In A Makeshift Coffin By Kidnappers

Stephen Small was a successful Illinois businessman, who was kidnapped in 1987 and held for ransom. When the police tracked his kidnappers to their nearby home, a search of the yard uncovered the body of Small, who had been kept in a makeshift plywood coffin underground – with water, a flashlight, a few candy bars and a home-made breathing tube that was far too small to effectively remove the carbon dioxide and introduce the fresh oxygen he needed to survive. The cause of death was given as asphyxiation. Both his kidnappers are currently serving life sentences for his murder.

7. Angelo Hays buried Alive For Two Days Straight

18-year-old Angelo Hays became something of a celebrity in his native France, after he survived being buried alive for two days following a motorcycle accident. After the accident, Hays was declared dead and buried. He was actually in a coma, and it was this which allowed him to survive being buried for two whole days, as he didn’t require as much oxygen as normal. Hays would still be buried today if it wasn’t for the suspicions of an insurance agent who demanded the body be exhumed. When they found that Angelo was still warm, he was rushed to hospital where he made a full recovery.

6. Mr. Cornish Suffocated In His Coffin

Mr Cornish died in Bath, England in the 18^th century from a fever and was buried immediately, as was customary at that time, in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading further. During the funeral service, however, the mourners began to hear moans coming from inside the coffin, and set about trying to dig up Mr Cornish as quickly as possible – only it was too late, and he had suffocated. The horrific incident affected his sister very badly, and she went on to stipulate that after her death, she should be beheaded before her burial, just in case.

5. Neysi Perez Was Pregnant When She Was Buried Alive

Teenager Neysi Perez was pregnant when she died in Honduras shortly after her wedding- a terribly sad loss for all concerned, but nothing compared to what the family was about to go through. Relatives reported hearing screaming from inside the tomb, and tried for hours to hammer out the concrete surrounding her coffin. When they eventually removed Neysi, they found that the glass panel in her coffin had been broken, and that there was bruising on her fingertips. Sadly, the young woman couldn’t be revived at the local hospital, and the family had to go through the trauma of a second funeral.

4. 7 Year Old Girl’s Family Tried to Murder And Bury Her In India

A 7-year-old girl was reported to have survived being buried alive in the Uttar Pradesh area of India in 2014, after members of her own family attempted to kill her and bury the “body”. The youngster had been living with her mother, aunt and uncle, who were allegedly responsible for the crime, which was thought to have been committed because of the financial burden of raising girls in poor communities. The relatives thought they had killed the youngster, but a passer-by heard her cries and went to the girl’s rescue, allowing her to make a full recovery.

3. Lawrence Cawthorn Hastily Buried By Greedy Landlady

In the 17^th century, it was all too easy to declare someone dead, since there were none of the modern checks available in today’s hospitals, and if there was an unscrupulous relative looking to inherit your fortune, then you could easily be packed off to the cemetery before your time. This was what happened to Lawrence Cawthorn in 1661, who was declared dead and buried in unseemly haste by his landlady, who stood to inherit his possessions. It was only when passers-by heard his screams that they realized what had happened. Alas, the rescue came too late for Lawrence who had succumbed in the meantime to suffocation.

2. Octavia Smith Hatcher Slipped Into A Coma

Octavia Smith Hatcher was declared dead in 1891 after apparently slipping into a coma following the death of her only son, Jacob. Due to the unseasonably hot weather, she was buried quickly, and Mr Hatcher went about getting over his loss. Until, that is, other people in the village started exhibiting the same symptoms as Octavia, now thought to be a sleeping sickness brought on by the bite of the tsetse fly. Octavia was exhumed, and it soon became clear that she had been buried alive from her broken fingernails and the damage to the inside of the coffin.

1. Philomele Jonetre Was Sufferinf From Cholera

24-year-old Philomele Jonetre died in 1867 after contracting cholera. During that time, the only way her local doctor could check whether patients were living or dead was to hold a candle near their face to see if they were still breathing! Because she was a cholera patient, she was buried quickly. Only a few hours later, workers in the churchyard heard a faint knocking from her freshly-dug grave and set about exhuming her coffin. Although Jonetre had a faint heartbeat when she was brought to the surface, she didn’t survive very long, and was eventually buried again – this time for good.