Grave Bells and Safety Coffins

It is said that premature burial was so prolific in the medieval and early modern period that bells (attached to the body buried below via a string) were used to alert someone that the recently buried were still alive. Some claim that this is where the terms "saved by the bell" and "dead ringer" came from...but is this true? What other means did we come up with to prevent something as scary as being accidentally buried alive?

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This podcast is produced, researched, and edited by Ivy Boyd. Music is by Dmitry Taras from Pixabay. Art designed in Canva.

Sources used for this episode:

https://worldneurologyonline.com/article/apparent-death-and-coma-in-the-18th-century/ 

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/xp7pmd7s/items?canvas=7 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/people-feared-being-buried-alive-so-much-they-invented-these-special-safety-coffins-180970627/ 

https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/05/origin-phrase-dead-ringer/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/charles-f-mills-grave-bell 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/users-guide-to-definitive-death