A burial artist is a person who intentionally endures premature burial by being voluntarily buried for extended periods as a form of human endurance contests, endurance art, escapology, or magic (illusion).
People have willingly arranged to be buried alive, reportedly demonstrating their disputed ability to survive such an event for many centuries. The fear of being buried alive peaked during the cholera epidemics of the 19th century, but accounts of unintentional live burial have been recorded even earlier. Reports of doctors and accounts in literature heightened these fears. The subject is detailed in "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Premature Burial", which was published in 1844. It contained accounts of supposedly genuine cases of premature burial and detailing the narrator's (perceived) interment while still alive.
In 1822, German Dr. Adolf Gutsmuth was buried alive several times to demonstrate a safety coffin of his design, staying underground for several hours and eating a meal of soup, bratwurst, marzipan, sauerkraut, spätzle, beer, and for dessert, prinzregententorte, delivered to him through the coffin's feeding tube.
In 1840, Sadhu Haridas, an Indian yogi, is said to have been buried for ten months. The yogi said that his only fear during his "wonderful sleep" was being eaten by underground worms. However, according to current medical science, a human can't survive for ten months without food, water, and air.[1] According to other sources the entire burial was 40 days long. The Indian government has since made voluntary premature burial illegal because of the unintended deaths of individuals attempting to recreate this feat.
In 1898, Russian Count Michel de Karnice-Karnicki invented a safety coffin called "Le Karnice". A long tube measuring 8.89 cm (3.5 in) in diameter was connected with an aperture in the coffin, with the other end emerging above ground (rather like the periscope of a submarine). Italian Faroppo Lorenzo consented to be buried in "Le Karnice". On 17 December 1898, he was buried and emerged on 26 December. Signor Lorenzo's only comment, when dug up after this dismal underground Christmas vacation, was that it had been "damned smelly down there".[2]
Endurance contests gained popularity during the Great Depression in large part because of the cash prizes the contests promised.[3] Lois Shirk was paid to be entombed under the Lincoln Lawn Miniature Golf Course in Gettysburg, PA in 1933. “My family needs the money badly,” she told the Gettysburg Times. Jack Loreen, an out-of-work miner, did weekend stints underground at carnivals on the East Coast and was later buried for two months in 1933 and 1934, reportedly breaking world records for burial endurance.[4] In 1934 “human groundhog” Harry Morrison spent 120 days under the Akron airport.[5] Gloria Graves was exhibited as the “Beautiful Girl Buried Alive” in the summer of 1935 at Ocean Park Pier for three months, earning $1,500. Her promoter, former vaudeville hypnotist "Mr. Q" claimed that the burial demonstrated a new form of self-hypnosis.[5] She was dug up by city workers 192 hours into the burial and arrested for breaking a local law against “indoor endurance contests.” [6]
The 1960s saw a rebirth of the fad. In 1963, Frank Allen, a circus clown in West Virginia, was buried for 73 days.[7] Texan Charles William White or Country Bill White dubbed himself the "living corpse" and toured the US making several publicity stunts.[8] In 1967, Irishman Tim Hayes was voluntarily buried for 100 hours.[9] 1968, another Irishman, Michael "Mick" Meaney, staged a funeral at a local pub and was buried for 61 days before emerging alive.[10] In May 1968, Englishwoman Emma Smith attempted to stay underground for 100 days.[11] Stuntman Herbert "Digger" O'Dell Smith toured the US and claimed to set the world-record for voluntary burial in the 1970s.[12]
In 1999, Englishman Geoff Smith broke the Guinness World Record for voluntary burial, spending 142 days underground.[13] In 2004, Czech Zdenek Zahradka claimed to hold the world record for being buried alive without food or water for ten days.[14] In 2010 a Russian man died after being buried alive to try to overcome his fear of death: he was crushed to death by the earth on top of him. The following year, another Russian died after being buried overnight in a makeshift coffin "for good luck".[15] In 2012 Sri-Lankan Janaka Basnayake died attempting to set the world record.[16]
Harry Houdini performed at least three variations on a buried alive stunt during his career: once in 1915 and twice in 1926. Houdini claimed he did not use any trickery or supernatural powers to accomplish this feat, just controlled breathing.[17] [18]
In 1949, escape artist Alan Alan attempted Houdini's buried alive stunt and almost died in the process.[19]
In 1992, escape artist Bill Shirk was buried alive under seven tons of dirt and cement in a Plexiglas coffin, which collapsed and almost took Shirk's life.[20]
In 1999, illusionist and escape artist David Blaine was buried in a plastic box underneath a 3-ton water-filled tank for seven days across from Trump Place on 68th St. and Riverside Boulevard, as part of a stunt titled "Buried Alive". According to CNN, "Blaine's only communication to the outside world was by a hand buzzer, which could have alerted an around-the-clock emergency crew standing by." BBC News reported that the plastic coffin had 6abbr=offNaNabbr=off of headroom and 2abbr=offNaNabbr=off on each side.
In 2015, escapologist Antony Britton attempted Houdini's buried alive trick and almost suffocated before being rescued by local paramedics.[21] In 2021, American illusionist Phil Dalton attempted to set the world record for being buried alive in Branson's Haunted Screampark.[22]
Buried Alive is a controversial art and lecture performance series by the art-tech group monochrom.[23] Participants have the opportunity to be buried alive in a coffin for fifteen to twenty minutes. As a framework program, monochrom offers lectures about the history of the science of determining death and the medical and cultural history of premature burial.
In 2021, the YouTuber MrBeast was voluntarily buried alive for 50 hours. This event was documented and filmed, giving an inside-the-coffin perspective.[24]