Welcome to Erin Mankie's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

It's a common fear, one so pervasive that it changed the funeral industry hundreds of

years ago.

It's called Tafophobia, otherwise known as the fear of being buried alive.

Back in the 14th century, accidentally burying someone who was still living happened more

often than you think.

John Dunst-Skotis, a philosopher, was once believed to have been interred prematurely in 1308.

When the vault his body was residing and was open, he was found laying dead on the floor

beside his sarcophagus with his hands all cut up.

He had tried to fight his way out.

It was this fear that eventually led to the invention of the safety coffin, which involved

some kind of mechanism to alert the living up above that the person below them had been

prematurely buried.

They often used a bell tied to a string that ran underground to the coffin where it could

be pulled.

Essie Dunbar didn't have a bell or a string, but she certainly let everyone know what

had happened to her.

...