Buried Alive

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 552, 3 January 1929, Page 13

Buried Alive

Geologist Tells Vivid Story of Ho rror SAND RASPED HIS LUNGS The horror of being buried alive was vividly described by Mr. M. K. Morchead, a Chicago geologist, who underwent an ordeal, lasting some hours, caused by a fall of earth while testing earth formation in Ohio (United States).

“So great was the weight pressing on me that for some time the mark of my watch and chain was imprinted on my body,” he said.

“When I felt the ground open beneath my feet, and I sank into a chasm which immediately filled with loose earth, I nearly lost consciousness, and could realise nothing more than a tearing pain in my chest, as though my lungs were being crushed. “I could not stir a limb, and, as I felt the earth packing more firmly upon me, I realised that my situation was hopeless.

•The weight was frightful—so heavy that it hurt my closed eyes. My limbs and body felt as though they were being seared with red-hot irons. “My straw hat cut into my head like a steel helmet,. boon I lost all feeling, and only an astounding clarity of thought remained to me. ‘T was not frightened—l felt almost as though this imprisonment was part of my normal life. My thoughts still ran on my geological discoveries of the previous few hours, but over and above everything was the need for air. Mechanically I breathed through half-closed nostrils, making calculations to see how long I could hope to live with so little air.

When Terror Came “Then terror came, as I felt sand and earth creeping into my nostrils, my throat and my lungs. “My breathing grew more and more deep, and with each breath I felt sand rasping my throat and coating my lungs.

“A fit of coughing seized me, and with the strain X almost lost consciousness. My pulse pounded more loudly and more quickly, until it was like the beating of a huge sledgehammer. Then all became dark, feeling that someone was beating me “1 recovered consciousness with the about the head. In my pain, I realised that it was my salvation. A spade had struck me, and soon my head was free. “The breath I took was the sweetest in my life, and the sound of a bird singing was the most musical I have ever heard. “When I wa.s completely freed, my body was like a corpse. Several hours of massage were needed before the delicious pain of ‘pins and needles’ ran through my limbs, and I was in full possession of all my senses again. “Both shin-bones W'ere broken, and it was several months before my health was restored; but the impression it made on me, I fear, will remain to the end of my life.”