OLD MAN BURIED ALIVE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3767, 4 June 1907, Page 3

OLD MAN BURIED ALIVE.

Remarkable Scene in a French Cemetery. An old farmer named Chaudru was buried alive on April Bth at the village of Sadat, in the Landes (France). He fell ill a fornight before, and afterwards lapsed into a state of coma which was mistaken for death. When the coffin was lowered into the grave the bystanders heard raps and moans coming from within. They ran to tell the Mayor, and when he arrived half an hour later the lid of the coffin was wrenched open. The man was dead, but the changed and agonised expression on his face showed that he had regained consciousness after he was placed in the coffin.

A similar incident occurred the same night at Loex, in Savoy. Jean Godard, a man of seventy-six, fell into a swoon, and remained unconscious so long that he was believed to be dead. His neighbours wrapped him in a shroud, and placed lighted candles at the foot and head of the bed, while the women recited prayers for his soul.

Suddenly the man sat up and looked in astonishment. The women screamed, and fled from the cottage, thinking they had seen a ghost. Ultimately some peasants were found bold enough to venture into the cottage, where they soon assured themselves that the old man was really living.