The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories

by Ventura, Varla

  However, there was good reason for people to be terrified of being buried alive. Physicians and medical professionals were not all particularly skilled at telling the difference between dead and unconscious, and burials happened so fast (due to the heat in some places and the absence of preserving chemicals) that it was not unheard of for a person to wake up underground.

  John Bateson was an inventor with a paranoia about this very situation, and so he came up with the Bateson Revival Device—a small church bell attached to the lid of the coffin and connected to a cord strapped to the deceased's hand. The idea was if you woke up in a coffin, you could ring the bell until somebody rescued you. Because his fears were shared by hundreds of people, Bateson was made wealthy with the device.

  “EVERYBODY LOVES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SIX FOOT IN THE GROUND.” —JOHN LENNON

  DINING WITH THE DEAD

  The New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmandabad, India, sits atop a centuries-old Muslim cemetery. For more than four decades, patrons have been able to dine at tables that are nestled between the graves, which resemble small cement coffins. Waiters maneuver through the cemetery with their trays of steaming food and milky tea, balancing between the tables and the graves. The unusual setting attracts customers from around the world, and the owners believe dining there brings good luck.

  TINY TOMBSTONE

  According to Ripley's Believe It or Not, the world's smallest tombstone is in Bates County, Missouri, and belongs to the gravesite of one Linnie Crouch. It is 4 3/8″ × 3¼″ × 2½″ thick.

  RISING FROM THE GRAVE

  In his book Scottish Bodysnatchers: True Accounts, author Norman Adams paints several gruesome tales of premature burial and inadvertent rescue. Among them is the account of Maggie Dickson, who was hung in 1724 in Inveresk, presumably for a self-induced abortion that she had attempted to conceal. Maggie was hung in the town square, and it is said that the hangman pulled and swung on her legs once the noose was tightened and the ladder was kicked out, just for good measure. She was cut down, apparently dead, and her body was put in a cart by her relatives to be taken home for burial. Along the way, the family and friends of the deceased Maggie stopped for a drink. While the mourners were inside the alehouse, Maggie regained consciousness. Her weak cries attracted help, and she was revived by a local surgeon. Later, she was granted her freedom and went on to live many years, being widely known as “Half-Hangit” Maggie.

  A similar tale is one from Aberdeenshire, where Merjorie Elphinstone was buried alive and rousted from her premature eternal slumber by a grave robber who was trying to steal the rings from her fingers. And there is the story of the minister's wife, Margaret Halcrow. She was saved from an untimely fate when a sexton attempted to rob her grave and found her alive. Her husband was quite shocked to find her knocking on the door one evening.

  HAUNTED CEMETERIES

  ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

  There are endless accounts of ghost sightings in the most logical of places: graveyards. Here are but a few of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States:

  THE MYRTLE HILL CEMETERY in Valley City, Ohio. This cemetery is known to be haunted by a witch, whose grave is marked by a heavy sphere.

  STULL CEMETERY in Kansas City, Kansas. Some refer to this cemetery, perhaps one of the most fantastical of all haunted cemeteries, as the Gates of Hell, the Cemetery of the Damned, and the Seventh Gate to Hell. The devil himself is said to roam amongst the tombs. The devil's child is also said to dwell here, along with a boy who can change himself into a werewolf, and the ghost of a witch.

  CAMP CHASE CONFEDERATE CEMETERY in Columbus, Ohio. This cemetery is said to be haunted by a lady in gray.

  MASONIC CEMETERY in Central City, Colorado. Reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who lays flowers on the grave of John Edward Cameron. She is said to appear on April 5 and November 1 and has been witnessed by entire groups of people.

  FOREST PARK CEMETERY in Brunswick, New York. Many phantoms are said to roam the headstones here, including ones that cause statues to bleed.

  ADELAIDA CEMETERY in Paso Robles, California. An evil poltergeist presence has been reported by both visitors and investigators. A ghost of a woman in a long white nightgown has been spotted by more than one visitor, usually between 10 P.M. and midnight on Fridays.

  ST. LOUIS CEMETERY in New Orleans, Louisiana. This graveyard is arguably one of the most haunted in all of North America. It is said to be home to multiple ghosts, including the famous Voodoo queen, Marie Laveau. Visitors have reported hearing weeping and groaning and seeing mists and various other phenomena.

  WHITE CEMETERY in Barrington, Illinois. Witnesses report seeing eerie globes of light floating around the cemetery. Phantom images of a house and a car have also been seen nearby.

  MCCONNIO CEMETERY in Evergreen, Alabama. This cemetery is reputed to be haunted by soldiers of the Civil War.

  WESTERN BURIAL GROUND of the churchyard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. This cemetery is the eternal resting place of Edgar Allan Poe and Francis Scott Key, among other famous people. Some visitors report sightings of the ghost of Poe himself. Other ghostly figures include those of a crazed lunatic and a drunken ghoul.

  LAKE FOREST CEMETERY in Grand Haven, Michigan. Sightings of spooky specters here include a pale bluish male, orbs, mists, black shadows, and the occasional disembodied voice.

  “A COFFIN NAIL” IS SLANG FOR A CIGARETTE.

  STAR LIFE

  On April 21, 1997, a rocket containing the cremated remains of twenty-four people was launched into space. Among the remains were those of Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek series creator. The rocket was launched by Celestis, a company that formed in 1996 for the purpose of launching ashes into space.

  “I AM TOLD HE MAKES A VERY HANDSOME CORPSE, AND BECOMES HIS COFFIN PRODIGIOUSLY.” —OLIVER GOLDSMITH

  A TISKET, A TASKET

  The words “coffin” and “casket” are commonly substituted for one another, but they do technically mean different things. A coffin is defined as a box or chest for burying a corpse and is generally wedge-shaped and simple. A casket is almost always rectangular and fancier than a coffin. In the fifteenth century, a casket was used to store jewels.

  GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

  Ready to move on after a painful divorce? Then you should probably purchase a Wedding Ring Coffin. Described on the creators' Web site as “the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one for bringing closure after a divorce,” the coffin allows you to “bury the past and move on to a new tomorrow.”

  Prices starting around $30 for beautiful miniature mahogany coffins inscribed with sayings such as, “Gone and forgotten,” “Six feet isn't deep enough,” and “I do NOT!”

  Visit the company's Web site: www.weddingringcofffin.com.

  Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic is home to an ossuary, a depository for bones of the dead. The Kutna Hora ossuary includes a chandelier that is reputed to contain every bone in the human body.

  CEMETERY ICONOGRAPHY

  In his book Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography, author and photographer Douglas Keister has compiled a reference guide for cemetery-goers that is equivalent to an Audubon field guide for ornithologists. Covering everything from Freemasonry symbols to the meanings of flowers, Stories in Stone is a must-have for any graveyard groupie. Keister teaches the reader that morning glories symbolize the resurrection, a draped urn may signify the veil between the earth and heavens, and a feather can represent ascent into heaven.

  Some other common cemetery symbolism:

  An anchor is both a symbol of hope and the mark of a seafarer.

  Flowers represent love, beauty, and a brief life. Chrysanthemums are symbolic of longevity and immortality, calla lilies mean beauty and marriage, daisies often mark children's graves, and violets mean humility.

  A weeping willow expresses the sorrow of the deceased's surviving friends and family.

  A shaft of wheat generally me
ans a long and abundant life.

  An acorn represents prosperity.

  DEATHLY TRADITIONS

  DIA DE LOS MUERTOS OR NOCHE DE MUERTOS

  In Mexico, candles—one for each deceased relative—are lit by families on the night following November 1, Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. November 1 is the day to honor dead children and wayward spirits, and November 2 is the day to honor deceased family members and friends. Families begin preparations sometimes weeks in advance. Arriving at the cemetery, they clean the graves and lay fresh soil to create the mounds of earth on which flowers, flower petals, and candles will be arranged in artful designs. Offerings are placed on the graves, including pan de muerto (bread for the dead), flowers, sugar skulls or sugar animals, and favorite items of the deceased. Each region has its own specific variations on the holiday. Some have lively processions with dancing, and people paint their faces to look like skeletons. Other areas' celebrations are more somber and include traditional songs and candlelit processions beginning at 12:01 A.M. on November 2.

  CHING MING OR GRAVE SWEEPING DAY

  Observed on April 5, this traditional day to honor the dead is celebrated by Chinese populations throughout the world. This annual celebration begins by weeding gravesites and cleaning headstones. Fresh flowers are brought to the graves, and incense and paper money are burned there. Some families bring also paper clothing or other items to burn as offerings.

  Feasts are laid out on each of the graves as offerings to the ancestral spirits. Three sets of chopsticks and three Chinese wine cups are laid out next to each headstone. The head of the household bows three times with each wine cup, pouring its contents into the grave. Some families eat the feast on the graves as a kind of picnic, and others set off firecrackers to scare off evil spirits and let the dead know the living are there.

  Especially in China, people carry willow branches with them and hang the branches on the front door of their houses to ward off any wayward or evil spirits that wander during the Ching Ming celebration.

  NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

  “Near-death experience” was a term first coined by Raymond Moody, an American psychologist, in the 1970s. According to Moody, the following are characteristic phases of a near-death experience (NDE):

  First, people floated out of their bodies, leaving pain or injury behind. They were able to see things they could not have seen from the vantage point of their body. Many also reported being joined by guardian spirits and meeting dead relatives and friends.

  The next phase was a transitory one; people often compared it to floating along a passageway such as a tunnel or bridge.

  The NDE climaxed with a sensation of unconditional love or the feeling of coming home.

  A life review completed the experience.

  HAUNTING LADIES

  In the sixteenth century, Lady Glamis, convicted of witchcraft and trying to murder the king of Scotland, was burned at the stake. Her ghost now haunts Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland. Many visitors have seen her floating above the clock tower. Meanwhile, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Jane Seymour are all said to haunt Hampton Court Palace, just outside of London.

  MORBID STUDENT BODIES

  The students at the University of Colorado at Boulder are known for their morbid fascination with the local story of Alferd Packer and his cannibal monstrosities of the 1870s. Fifty years after Packer's conviction, the university students voted to rename the school cafeteria as the Alferd Packer Memorial Grill. It serves the usual standards, although some have unusual names. One of the most popular dishes is the “El Canibal” burrito.

  THE BURTON AGNES SKULL

  In 1598, the Griffin family decided to build a new home on their lands in Yorkshire. The three Griffin daughters were quite interested in the project, Anne in particular. Anne paid great attention to the construction of the Burton Agnes Hall from start to finish, and she was quite attached to the old house by the end.

  One night, Anne was walking home on a road and was suddenly attacked by a gang of thieves. They struck her on the head, and if she had not been rescued by the villagers who had heard her screams, she most likely would have died immediately. She was quickly brought home to her family, but things did not look good. Before dying, Anne begged her sisters to keep a part of her in the Burton Agnes Hall forever. She decided, upon her final goodbye, that they should bury her skull within the walls of the house that she helped to build.

  Anne died five days after she had been attacked, and her sisters ignored her request. Instead, they buried her, in one piece, in the church graveyard. Soon after the burial, the Griffin family heard bloodcurdling screams ringing out in Burton Agnes Hall, and no one could discover their source. Chilled to the bone, the sisters feared that the screams were a call from Anne to fulfill her dying wish. With no other solution in mind, the Griffin family decided that they must obey Anne's wishes and dig up her body immediately. When the coffin was opened, they received another terrible shock—the body had not decayed, but the head had fallen off and lost every bit of hair and tissue, leaving only a bare skull. The Griffins took Anne's skull home, and the screams subsided.

  Everything was fine for many years after that, until the house was sold to another family who banished the skull from the Burton Agnes Hall. The screams promptly returned, and the horrified new inhabitants returned the skull to its place. The screams stopped yet again.

  Later, a new owner moved in, hid the skull away within a wall, and never told anyone where it was. No one has found the skull since, and yet the screams have not returned. Some people claim to have seen Anne floating around the house in October, the month in which she was killed, perhaps searching for her own skull. They can recognize the ghost as Anne because it matches her portrait, which still hangs in the house to this very day.

  JUNG AND HIS PATIENT

  One night, after returning home from a lecture he had given, Carl Jung lay awake in bed for a long time. At about two o'clock, he had just fallen asleep, when he awoke with a start and had the feeling that someone had come into the room. He even thought that the door had been hastily opened. He turned on the light, but there was no one there. The room was still and quiet. He even leapt from his bed to check the corridor, which was also eerily quiet. He tried to recall exactly what had happened and why he had the urgent feeling that someone had come into the room. It suddenly occurred to him that he had been awakened by a feeling of dull pain, as though something had struck him in the forehead and then the back of skull.

  The following day, Jung received a telegram telling him that one of his patients had committed suicide. The man had shot himself in the head; the bullet had gone through his forehead and come to rest in the back wall of his skull.

  In January 2008, the Dukinfield Crematorium in Manchester, England, asked local residents and clergymen to support its plan for heating and powering its chapel and boiler using the heat created by burning bodies.

  MESSY MESSAGE

  Are you prone to slovenly ways when dining? Food always falling off your fork and dropping onto your clothes? This may be a message from beyond. Judika Illes, known psychic and witch, tells us that this action can be a result of your ancestors trying to get your attention. She recommends setting up communication with them and then seeing if your table manners improve!

  Ancient Mesopotamians buried their deceased infants in large kitchen jars.

  In the ancient city of Jericho, the dead were buried under the houses they had lived in. But first their heads were severed, covered with plaster and clay, and decorated for their families to worship.

  EVERLASTING GREEN

  The Ecopod is a 100 percent biodegradable coffin, made from paper, untreated plywood, and fair-trade bamboo or handwoven willow. The Natural Burial Comany makes these eco-conscious vessels for the afterlife in a variety of colors, linings, and styles.

  WAKE UP

  In January of 2008, an eighty-one-year-old Chilean man woke up at his own funeral. His family dressed him in hi
s finest suit and laid him out for a proper wake, only to witness him opening his eyes mid-mourning. Upon waking he simply asked for a glass of water. The family was overjoyed.

  CORPSES ON CAMPUS

  In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, medical schools in the United States used to routinely get their cadavers for dissection by grave robbing; faculty members and students themselves made midnight raids on local graveyards. It became the custom among grieving survivors in university towns to place iron bars on new graves and hire armed guards for two weeks until the body had time to putrefy enough to make it unusable for research. Between 1752 and 1852, there were at least thirteen riots by citizens against grave-robbing medical schools, including one in 1788 in New York City that killed eight people and injured scores of others.

  HAUNTED CAMPUSES ACROSS THE U.S.A.

  University of Washington, Seattle: The College Inn Pub is haunted by a centuries-old murder victim.

  Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut: Woolsey Hall has hosted more than a dozen phantom concerts near its old organ.