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- [00:00]
Wayfair/RO Advertiser
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- [00:29]
Shopify Advertiser
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- [01:09]
Aaron Manke (Lore Host)
He was definitely not a cat person. In a world where the best and easiest way to learn about a person's likes and dislikes is by looking at their actions, he had sent a clear message. Cats, as far as he was concerned, were evil. Now, to be fair, judging between good and evil was sort of his forte. He was, after all, the Pope, Pope Gregory ix, to be precise, who sat on the holy throne from 1227 to 1241. Nearly 800 years ago, in 1233, he issued a decree known as Vox in Rama, which was a condemnation of something known as Luciferianism, a belief system that the Catholic Church had deemed heretical.
- [01:52]
Wayfair/RO Advertiser
And.
- [01:52]
Aaron Manke (Lore Host)
And in the process of explaining why, Gregory described a satanic ritual supposedly performed in some parts of Europe, a ritual, he said, that ended with the appearance of a black cat. The results of this decree were pretty complex, and it's led to a lot of misguided and inaccurate history. Simply put, cats, and black cats in particular, took on a bad reputation. But while it's true that they became one of many symbols of things like witchcraft and the devil, the the Pope's decree did not lead to the mass murder of millions of cats. That, my friend, is just Internet rumor. All that said, looking at the historical record, mass panic has happened before. All too often, actually. But through the lens of Gregory IX and his mention of cats, it's easy to see why. We are by nature insecure beings who long for safety. We deeply desire security and comfort and. And perhaps more than all of that, we want our fears to be left unfulfilled. Which makes sense, because there is a lot to be afraid about in life. And for many people in the 17th and 18th centuries, there was even more to fear in death. I'm Aaron Manke, and this is Lore Legends. I think it's fair to say that quicksand has played a significantly smaller role in our lives than most of us thought it would. Growing up, we were inundated with media that made it seem like quicksand was waiting around every corner. Superheroes were constantly getting trapped in its sticky jaws. Protagonists were always unwittingly sucked into it. To the innocent, untrained eye, it seemed like a real crisis. A But then we all grew up, and I don't know about you, but I have yet to stumble across quicksand even once. That said, fear doesn't just come out of nowhere. The stories we hear, the media we consume, they all lay the groundwork telling us what we should and shouldn't be afraid of. And most of the time, we listen. That isn't to say that the threats we see in fiction aren't actually dangerous in real life. You really shouldn't go into a strange woman's house, whether the walls are made of candy or not. And quicksand trul does exist, even if it's significantly more rare than we were led to believe as kids. And back in the day, people truly were buried alive, often enough that for centuries on end, it was one of the most pervasive fears in Europe. But it didn't happen nearly as often as the literature of the day would lead you to believe. Here's the thing. Today we have tools to tell us when someone has really, truly died. There are machines that monitor a patient's heart rate or keep up with their oxygen intake. Thanks to our mechanic medical arsenal, when death comes to call, we know. That said, before modern medicine came onto the scene, people thought they knew as well. And sometimes they got it wrong. Since the time of Pliny the Elder, there have been accounts of both medical professionals and family members mistakenly declaring people to be dead. Without a pulse, a heartbeat, or signs of breathing, they assumed the patient was gone. Of course, even back then, they knew that there were plenty of conditions that could weaken a pulse or shallow out a breath. But without the proper tools, it was hard to tell when someone was really dead or when they just seemed to be dead. And if you're wondering how the medical field didn't find a way to untangle this mess faster then that's totally fair. But really, it wasn't seen as a widespread problem until the early modern period. Most of the time, not all of the time, but most of the time, doctors were actually pretty okay at identifying who was dead and who wasn't sure. There were always special cases, but most of the time, they had a pretty good track record. Here's the thing, though. Doctors were almost never the ones to make the final call. For most of human history, friends and family were the ones who decided whether or not their loved one had actually passed away. And since they didn't have any kind of a medical degree, they messed up a lot. The situation got even worse in the mid 19th century, when an increase in approved graveyards meant that people were burying their dead significantly sooner, Often without keeping the corpse in their home for a few days the way that they used to. Gradually, everyone's confidence that they could tell who was dead and who wasn't began to waver. And that opened the door for a brand new kind of horror story. Premature burial. In the 17th century, there was a huge uptick in publications about the still living dead, as they were once known. By the mid 18th century, people believed just about every story they ever heard about premature burial. But therein lies the problem. Stories about premature burial sold like hotcakes. Chalk it up to horrified fascination or just a plain old adrenaline rush. Whatever the reason, these things were crazy popular. And while live interment absolutely happened, it didn't happen often enough for Europe's publishers. And so they started to make up their own stories about it. And eventually people stopped being able to tell fact from fiction. Instead, they took all these stories at face value and the panic began to spread. It was impossible to keep up. At one point, there were so many live burial stories out there that they made up their own literary genre. And like any other genre, and it had its own set of tropes. Romance novels have enemies to lovers. Fantasy has the chosen one. Sci fi has world ending, technological advances. And when it came to the still living dead, well, they had a million ways to keep you up at night. One of the more disturbing tropes to come out of this hyper specific genre was that of the pregnant corpse. The broad strokes were usually the same. A pregnant woman was presumed to be dead and then buried for some reason or another. Her body was later exhumed. And when they opened the coffin, she wasn't alone. There was a baby lying next to her. These stories seem to suggest that she had been alive when she was interred, only to then give birth while trapped six feet under. One story from 1893 told of a woman who had been buried in Austria. A few days after her interment, the neighbors began to whisper that her husband had actually poisoned her. When investigators became concerned enough to dig up her body, they discovered that she had given birth in her coffin. The physician who had declared her to be dead was actually punished with a short stint in prison. There is, however, no indication of her potentially murderous husband receiving a similar sentence. Now, stories like these were often dramatized versions of a real event, if not completely new ones fabricated from scratch. But interestingly enough, the phenomenon of giving birth after death actually can happen. If a pregnant woman passes away, the gases that build up in her abdomen during decomposition can possibly expel the fetus. So if any women truly did have babies in their coffins, then it wasn't because they had been buried prematurely. It was simply because their bodies went through a completely natural process. Another common trope, though, involved an anatomist declaring someone to be dead, only to realize during the autopsy that they were still alive. Usually, though, by that point, it was too late. The doctor's knife had already pierced some vital organ, killing the patient for real. One legend that followed this plotline actually implicated one of the greatest medical practitioners in history, a guy named Vesalius. Allegedly, back in the 16th century, Vesalius had been examining a Spanish man of his acquaintance who had suddenly dropped dead. But no sooner had he opened the corpse's chest than he realized that the heart was still beating. Vesalius did what he could to save his friend, but the scalpel had already done its work. The man on the table died, and the doctor was taken to court for his murder. Of course, none of this actually happened. It was a story at best, libel at worst. Now, another trope was known as the lady with the ring. In these tales, a woman would be buried with some valuable heirloom, a ring, or perhaps a necklace. The jewelry itself wasn't important here. It simply acted as a siren call, drawing grave robbers to the body. In these stories, whenever a thief would try to remove the valuable item from the corpse, she would suddenly wake up alive and well. And these stories were particularly popular because not only did the presumably dead victim go on to lead a long, full life, but the thief was usually punished for their crime by receiving the jump scare of their life. One final trope can be seen in a French tale from 1810. And in typical French fashion, this one was centered around lovers. According to the tale, a well to do French woman was desperately in love with a down on his luck journalist. Tragically, her parents forced her to marry a banker instead. The woman was so miserable as a newlywed that she fell sick and died, presumably of a broken heart. When her lover heard that she had passed away, he went to the churchyard where she had been laid to rest. Overcome with grief, all he wanted to have was a lock of her hair. But after he dug up the body, the woman opened her eyes. The journalist kept her hidden while she recovered her strength, and then they moved to America. Allegedly, they came back to France 20 years later and were taken to court by her wealthy husband. But thankfully, the courts ruled in her favor. After all, the woman had quite literally been buried. Surely that counted as till death do us part. No matter what trope was employed, though, hundreds upon hundreds of stories followed the same general guidelines. Someone was declared to be dead, other people were upset about it, and then, hallelujah, the dead person wasn't dead after all. Sometimes they were rescued from their graves, other times they weren't found soon enough. And they died in their coffins, bodies usually displaying some kind of heartbreaking evidence of that they had been buried alive. It was all a bit predictable, but hey, that's what tropes are, right? And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's comfort in knowing how a story is going to play out beat by beat, as you hear it. No, the real problem was that very few people back in the day realized that most of these stories were fictional. They never picked up on the tropes at all. Instead, they simply believed that this terrible fate that could happen to them at any moment, and because of that, they lived in fear. They didn't have a lot of nice things to say about her. Unfortunately for Alice, she has gone down in history as, and I quote, a fat, gross woman who liked to drink brandy. Even more tragically, though, that was far from the worst thing that she has been remembered for. One day In July of 1674, Alice Blunden made a bad call. You see, she had been feeling under the weather, and so she purchased a tincture from an apothecary. Now, back then, she would have called it poppy water. Today we refer to it as laudanum, which, for clarification, was basically just opium mixed with alcohol. For centuries, this concoction was touted as a miracle cure for any ailment you could imagine. In reality, though, the potential mix of morphine, codeine, and ethanol basically just sent its users to another planet. After all, you can't complain of aches and pains if you are out of your mind on drugs. We're not sure what Alice was suffering from or how much laudanum she was given, but she must have felt that the recommended dosage wasn't enough because she downed the entire bottle in one go. And then she passed out. Nobody was able to wake her, so the servants sent for the apothecary. When he arrived and assessed the situation, he announced that considering the amount she had ingested, she would likely never open her eyes again. And that was all it took. With that declaration, everyone decided that Alice must be dead. One maid tried to point out that when she touched Alice's skin, the spot flushed red, meaning that her blood was still circulating. But the maid was ignored. Alice, they said, was gone. Throughout this entire debacle, Alice's husband had been traveling out of town. When he was informed of his wife's tragic demise. He ordered everyone to delay her interment until he had returned from his trip. But Alice's family quickly grew tired of the stench that was emanating from, as they put it, Madam Blunden's huge body. And so, at an almost insulting speed, they prepared her corpse to be buried the very next day. Completely ignoring the husband's wishes, Alice's family afforded her as much dignity in death as they had in life. Rather than having a coffin specially made for her, they bought a standard sized one. And then they used sticks to shove her ample form into it. And when one of the pallbearers claimed that he saw the coffin move, everyone just laughed him off. Within 24 hours of her initial collapse, Alice was buried in the churchyard of the Chapel of the Holy Ghost. The deed was finished and she would now rest in peace. A few days later, a group of boys from the nearby school were playing near her headstone when they heard a blood curdling shriek. Someone was crying, take me out of my grave. Take me out of my grave. Understandably terrified, the boys ran and told the schoolmaster what they had heard. But not only did the man not believe them, he berated them for lying. Later that same day, though, the boys heard the moans and shrieks coming from the grave yet again. This time, the schoolmaster humored them. He asked the church's verger to dig up Alice's coffin. Unfortunately, the man refused to do anything until the church wardens had signed off on it, which didn't happen until later that night. By the time Alice's body was exhumed, she was no longer screaming, or for that matter, moving at all. She looked just as dead as she had when she was buried only now her body was swollen and her skin was covered in purple bruises. She had been awake, and in her panic, she had beaten her body against the lid of the coffin. And you would think that by this point they had all the proof they needed that Alice had been buried alive, that maybe they should take her to a doctor, or at least into the church. But they did neither. Seeing no obvious signs of life, the church wardens just shrugged and put the body back in its grave. To give them credit, they left the coffin lid open and posted guards to watch the body throughout the night. But after the sun went down, it began to rain, so the men standing watch put the coffin lid back on and went to wait out the storm inside. When they came back out in the morning, Alice was covered in bloody wounds. From what they could tell, she had scratched herself in yet another attempt to escape. She had even beaten her mouth to the point that it was bloody and raw. And so, finally, the church wardens did what they should have done from the very beginning. They called for a doctor. But by the time he arrived, there was nothing he could do. Long after her burial, Alice Blunden had finally died. It's a terrible thing to imagine, waking up in the dark with no freedom to move your limbs more than a few inches, realizing that you are in a box. And that's what Alice's final hours on earth probably looked like. Cramped in a tiny coffin, bleeding and screaming, until the only thing stronger than her terror was the inescapable pull to sleep. At least that's what we assume. In reality, nobody was in that box with Alice. We can't say for sure how she reacted after she finally woke up. We can only guess. And the thing is, everyone might have guessed wrong. Do you remember how the schoolboys heard Alice screaming, let me out of my grave. Well, historians think that those words may have been added to publications about the incident for shock value. In reality, the boys probably just heard some unintelligible shrieks and moans, which would admittedly be pretty scary. But scary or not, they may not have been intentional. Remember when the coffin lid was opened for the first time? She was described as puffed up and her skin spotted with deep purple bruises. The churchwardens assumed that she had broken and bruised her body by throwing herself against the sides of the coffin. But modern historians believe that something else might have taken place instead. Alice Blunden. I just have already been dead. The description of her swollen, puffy, purple body more closely matches that of a decomposing corpse than a woman who has harmed herself. The bloody wounds that they saw the next morning could have come from bugs burrowing into her skin. And the terrible sounds that the boys heard inside her grave, well, they just might have been intestinal gases escaping from her throat. It's more than likely that Alice had died when she overdosed on the laudanum, and then everyone else, so scared of being buried alive, allow their fear to cloud their judgment. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of small spaces, and so it's hard to imagine anything worse than being buried alive. The sheer terror of even imagining that experience is enough to put anyone into an early grave. But if there's one thing that we humans are good at, it's making everything a lot worse. And as one last story will explain, people eventually added a lot more creativity to the problem and a dash of capitalism Stick around through this brief Sponsored Break to hear all about it. This episode was made possible by SimpleLife in the US there's a break in every 26 seconds. That means somewhere right now an intruder is getting closer. The problem is, most security systems only alert you after a break in has already started. And that's too late. Why I choose Simplisafe to secure my home Using the outdoor camera Series 2 and advanced AI alerts, SimpliSafe's US based live agents identify threats on your property and help deter them. Stopping crying before it starts. That's real peace of mind. Simplisafe has been a game changer for me. When I was setting up the grim and mild office space back in 2020, I turned to Simplisafe to make sure that all the audio equipment was safe and secure and despite not being a technical guy, I managed to install it myself. Simplisafe was fast and easy to set up. I was expecting it take all day and it only took about 30 minutes. And it's fully customizable to fit your exact needs with comprehensive sensors and indoor outdoor cameras protecting against intruders, fires and floods. And all of that is backed by SimpliSafe's 247 professional monitoring agents who dispatch emergency help when you need it. That's why over 5 million people value and trust Simplisafe with their home security every day. I want you to experience the same peace of mind I do, which is why I partnered with Simplisafe to offer an exclusive discount to Lore listeners. Right now you you can get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com lore that's half off@simplisafe.com lore there's no safe like SimpliSafe. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. For some, summer is their favorite season, travel picks up, kids are out of school and adventure is the focus for others. Juggling it all can be tough and overwhelming and they end up counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school and many worry they're wasting the days of sunshine. Therapy can help people better understand their needs, feel more confident setting boundaries, and create a version of summer that actually feels good. And that's where BetterHelp comes in. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences and their industry leading match fulfillment rate means they typically get it right the first time. And with over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. And it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com Lore that's betterhelp.com Lore I'm Hannah.
- [23:14]
Wayfair/RO Advertiser
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- [23:44]
Aaron Manke (Lore Host)
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big Wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
- [24:06]
Wayfair/RO Advertiser
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- [24:24]
Aaron Manke (Lore Host)
I know the big question on your mind right now. What should you do if you are buried alive? Well, if you have cash to burn, you might prepare yourself by investing in a safety coffin. For years, the most famous coffins on the market came from France. And the inventor, a man named Angelo Hays, sure seemed to know what he was doing when he made this thing, as he should have. After all, the man had nearly been buried alive himself. In September of 1937, 18 year old Angelo was thrown from his motorcycle and sent sailing through the air before crashing headfirst into a brick wall. Now, Angelo lived in a small village, and the local physician who treated him didn't have the experience or the tools to accurately diagnose injuries like that. So when he couldn't detect a heartbeat or a pulse, he declared that Angelo had been killed on impact. At this point in the story, accounts vary a little. Some versions claim that an insurance agent started poking around after realizing that Angelo's father had insured his son's life for an unthinkably large sum of 200,000 francs. And as part of their investigation, they exhumed the body two days later, only to discover the boy was alive. Another version, though, ignores the insurance bit entirely. Instead, it says that Angelo's uncle was so distraught by his nephew's death that he begged to see the body one last time before burial. But when he touched the corpse's hand, he realized that it was still warm, that his nephew was still alive. Either way, the point of the story was that Angelo was miraculously saved from a horrible, indescribable fate. And while a lot of people might process that relief by writing a book or giving a bunch of interviews, Angelo took a more creative path. He invented a safety coffin. Now, just to be clear, his wasn't the first on the market, but it did seem to have a lot more bells and whistles than the others. This coffin was equipped with comfy pillows, a library full of books, and a supply of dehydrated food. There were ventilation, fans, a toilet and a radio, you know, so the occupant could call for help after they finished reading all those books on the toilet. The basic model cost €4,500, which at the time was the same price as a brand new car. But if you desired more than the base model could provide, fear not, because there were upgrades. For just a bit more money, you could also have a refrigerator installed, an oven, and even a cassette player. And for those of you who are trying to picture this thing, no, I don't know what the exact measurements were, but it certainly sounds a lot more like a mansion than a coffin. But Angelo knew that he was driving a hard bargain. So instead of waiting for his customers to come to him, he went to them. In the 1970s, he took his invention on the road with all the charm one might expect from a traveling salesman. He wooed his clientele with his coffin's features. And then, when he really wanted to draw a crowd, he would demonstrate it. Day after day, Angelo was buried inside his safety coffin. Within a matter of months, he became one of France's most recognizable stars. Hectoring one sales pitch in Bordeaux, he attracted over 25,000 people, all of whom had shown up to see him be buried alive. In another town, a television crew sent a camera down into the grave with him. And while he was in the grave, he sang a few of his favorite songs for the camera. I don't know if the audience liked it or not, but at least he got to prove his coffin had plenty of oxygen. In 2008, after a long and happy life, Angelo passed away. By the time he died, it's safe to assume that he had been buried alive more than anyone else in history. But he didn't seem to want a repeat performance, because when it was time for him to choose his final resting place, Angelo decided to be cremated. This episode of Lore Legends was produced by me, Erin Manke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Sam Alberty. Just a reminder, I have a brand new history book coming out on August 4th called Exhumed, which explores the roots of the New England vampire panic and the story of Mercy Brown through the lens of centuries of folklore, medical advancements and pseudoscience. And yes, Premature Burial makes an appearance. It's available for pre order right now and if you pre ordered the hardcover, my publishers have a webpage available where you can submit your receipts and get a free gorgeous tote bag. Head over to aaron manke.com exhumed to lock in your copy today. Don't like hearing ads on Lore? Well, there's a paid version available on Apple Podcasts and patreon that is 100% AD free. Paid subscribers also get weekly mini bonus episodes called Lore Bytes and Patreon members specifically get discounts on Lore Merch and access to my inbox. Learn more over@lorepodcast.com support and you can follow the show on blue sky threads, YouTube and Instagram. Just search for lore podcast all one word and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.