This is reassuring

A cemetery in Santiago, Chile is offering its clients coffins with a sensor that detects any movement inside them after they have been buried.

Hmmmmmm a panic button in case they bury you alive.
Don't they embalm their deceased?
I couldn't even imagine the horrors of being in this situation.
Wonders just how many people are buried alive each year??

www.ananova.com...

[Edited on 09/08/2002 by MountainStar]

They must not know the joys of a well-embalmed body in Chile these days, because embalmed bodies tend to just lay there all stiff-like.

Possibly some sort of a theft-deterence thing, in the event someone was buried with valuables, the body would move when the coffin was pulled from the ground and alert someone that something is going on.

That makes sense kaoszero

You know...... I can't understand why someone would want to be buried with valuables anyway?

Why not leave it to the poor, if you don't have relatives. Seems like self-absorption to me

Think about it...who is the last person to see the deceased, before the casket is secured shut and taken to the cemetery? The undertaker. It seems like the undertaker would have quite the collection of jewelry. etc.

forgot about wakes?....even if the person isnt embalmed...wouldnt a family member notice some chest movement (breathing)?//

I know that in Colombia South America, they normally do not embalm people. They also bury them in walls, wait till their body is decomposed into bones and move them to a small mausoleum .



As for the wake, I attented 2 of my fellow classmates who died...both times the lid was closed.

It really wouldn't do much good anyways. There was a recent Mythbusters that covered this. As I recall you've only got about an hours worth of air before you'd die for the second time. They wouldn't even get you planted before that time ran out.

Strange. I fail to see the usefulness, but that's just me.
i recall seeing a television program on people being buried alive, or had awoken in the fridge in the morgue. It was quite interesting, to say the least!

Originally posted by parrhesia
Strange. I fail to see the usefulness, but that's just me.
i recall seeing a television program on people being buried alive, or had awoken in the fridge in the morgue. It was quite interesting, to say the least!

I saw that one.

I've heard too many stories about this and it sends shivers up my spine, it's seriously one of my worst fears as I am extremely claustrophobic (*don't ever watch The Vanishing).
I think I remember reading that there was strong evidence that alot of the soldiers buried in France after WWII were actually buried alive. It's a horrible thought.

Personally, I just want to be thrown in the woods in an unpopulated area. No burying, no burning, just let nature take its course. I have no idea if this is allowed though, it better had be.

[Edited on 3-5-2004 by John Nada]

I've seen The Vanishing, good film. It is indeed a horrible thought, one which I don't like to entertain very long, or very often.
It would be a horrible way to go. Just like drowning, I guess, but not so quick.

So how does this work? I assume form the new article that the coffins have external locks? This is only until they actually hit the ground, right? There is no way that anyone can regain consciousness and still be brought back in time if they have to dig them up again.

Please note that Ananova isn't a credible source for all kind of information.

While it is common knowledge that "wake-ups" seem to happen, this panic button story is a bit out of hand

Prof. Bout Time has the floor......

The term "Saved by the Bell" come from the time of the Black Death, where they were in such a hurry to get them buried, people often were alive. They started the practice of putting a length of rope in the hole that was attached to a bell.......you get the picture.

Originally posted by jsobecky
Think about it...who is the last person to see the deceased, before the casket is secured shut and taken to the cemetery? The undertaker. It seems like the undertaker would have quite the collection of jewelry. etc.

the funeral director, at least one with any conscience, respects the deceased, and runs the risk of tarnishing their name and losing their license to embalm/funeral direct.

I've worked in that industry for several years, and NEVER have I come across someone who has taken anything off the body.

besides, most of the time, there is a family member present when the body is lowered in the casket, and then the casket is hermetically sealed, and then it becomes damn near impossible to open it up again.

I'm appalled that anyone thinks this way about funeral directors.

and besides, if a body is embalmed- and if anyone wants to know the procedure, i'd be happy to give you the details- there is NO CHANCE it would still be alive.

Originally posted by Bobbo

Originally posted by jsobecky
It seems like the undertaker would have quite the collection of jewelry. etc.

the funeral director, at least one with any conscience, respects the deceased, and runs the risk of tarnishing their name and losing their license to embalm/funeral direct.

I've worked in that industry for several years, and NEVER have I come across someone who has taken anything off the body.

I'm appalled that anyone thinks this way about funeral directors.

bobbo, I'm sorry you're appalled that anyone thinks about funeral directors this way. Amused, but sorry. But if you're appalled about that, chew on this: there are people here that think men are actually capable of, and guilty of, much worse than stealing jewelry...like planning to have 4 commercial airliners go down in the country they are president of.

Now that type of (non)thinking should appall you. And amuse you.



[Edited on 3-5-2004 by jsobecky]

Oh come on, we all know it's being used to prevent more zombie attacks. Dawn of the dead really freaked people out

Sorry, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw this

Originally posted by junglejake
Oh come on, we all know it's being used to prevent more zombie attacks.

Don't forget the vampires too. (Too many Hammer Horrors when I was kid )

I think there will be quite a few 'false alarms' anyway. The corpse will eventually begin to decompose and swell up. It will then 'burst'. It is quite possible that the sensor will pick that up and register a false alarm. Of course if happens after a week or so, you have a general idea of what will be found when that happens.