Buried Alive & The Sideshow Mummy | 2 True Weird History Tales

0:06 Speaker 1: Curiouser and Curiouser. True Tales of the Uncanny and Peculiar.

0:12 Speaker 2: With Crimson McKenzie.

0:17 Speaker 3: Saved by the Bell. The term Saved by the Bell is commonly used to describe people who escaped difficult situations. thanks to a last-minute solution. But the light-hearted phrase actually may have a true scary story behind it, related to a medical condition known as catalepsy. And no, I'm not talking about your feline friends. Catalepsy is a medical condition in which A patient endures an uncontrolled state of muscle rigidity and unresponsiveness. The condition is often linked to episodes of catatonia.

1:13 Speaker 3: Although the disease is widely understood now, in the past it caused sufferers to be mistakenly buried alive.

1:37 Speaker 3: After newspapers reported on these tragic endings, writers like Edgar Allan Poe built similar incidents in his own creepy stories. In 18th and 19th century Europe, especially.

1:52 Speaker 4: Victorian England, Enough people were being mistakenly buried alive that coffin makers came up with a number of solutions.

2:20 Speaker 3: Caskets were designed with above-ground horns or bells that a person who found themselves mistakenly buried alive could ring from the inside should they wake up trapped underground. Some of these safety coffins also came equipped with a stash of poison, in case the person figured out they wouldn't be saved.

2:43 Speaker 1: Dang.

2:44 Speaker 3: Other models used glass panes that would fog up if the person was still alive and breathing. Some even had tubes that gravekeepers would have to sniff each day, sick, to confirm that the body inside was actually decomposing. Oh my Gosh, you couldn't pay me enough. Other people were simply buried with the keys to their own coffin in their pocket. How are you going to get out of that? But the bell models were among the most pervasive. These morbid contraptions were allegedly where the phrase saved by the bell came from, according to some.

3:25 Speaker 3: It's unclear whether safety coffins did any good to reduce the number of people who were accidentally buried alive, or merely bring comfort to the living. Because the thought of being trapped with no escape is enough to send a chill down your spine.

3:50 Speaker 2: Ugh.

4:08 Speaker 3: If you'd like to support us, visit our merchandise store. T-shirts, caps, mugs, and so much more. Visit doorwaytonightmare.com today.

4:25 Speaker 2: Chills run up and down your spine. There's a creeping sensation at the back of your neck. You're listening to Doorway to Nightmare. Join me, Artemis Black, as we venture through into a world of the strange and uncanny. Here's a sample of what we mean. Valdemar. Valdemar, can you hear me? Yes. I. Hear you.

5:03 Speaker 4: Are you asleep?

5:07 Speaker 2: Yes. No.

5:14 Speaker 4: I was asleep.

5:21 Speaker 2: And now.

5:24 Speaker 1: Now, I am dead.

5:45 Speaker 2: Join us. We will be lurking for.

6:00 Speaker 3: You.

6:05 Speaker 1: And now, Curiouser and Curiouser. True Tales of the Uncanny and Peculiar. With Crimson McKenzie.

6:19 Speaker 3: Elmer McCurdy. Elmer McCurdy spent his life as a drifter. Eventually, he hooked up with a band of train robbers who really were not that great at what they did. After a 1911 heist that yielded the grand total of $ 45, a little bit of whiskey, and a warrant poster from the law, Elmer McCurdy was killed in a shootout. End of the story? You'd think so. But, this is the Curiouser and Curiouser. Facts about Elmer McCurdy. After his death, the unknown bandit was embalmed, yes, preserved. However, no one, not a soul, came to claim his mortal remains.

7:54 Speaker 3: He simply sat, or laid, or however they positioned him, and waited. After a while, it was noticed that the embalmer had done such a great job. The outlaw was not dead. decaying. That's crazy. The funeral home began advertising McCurdy as the embalmed bandit. He was eventually taken to a sideshow and displayed for the amusement of the crowds. Now that's just sick.

8:28 Speaker 3: McCurdy changed owners a few times, but that is where the story becomes more bizarre. Music In 1968, he wound up with some not-at-all-real wax figures sold to a carnival house of horror and hung in the funhouse gallows. And that's where he stayed. For eight years, until the day a film crew for the 70s television series The Six Million Dollar Man came.

9:08 Speaker 2: Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.

9:14 Speaker 3: A crew member accidentally broke McCurdy's arm, and everyone realized that there inside of the arm was a genuine human bone. Oh, that'd be the day. McCurdy was finally given a plot in Guthrie, Oklahoma's Summit View Cemetery, where he was finally allowed to rest in peace. 66 years after his death. Bless his heart, man. man this guy can't get a break except for his arm.

10:16 Speaker 2: You can help support the channel and visit our merchandise store. T-shirts, caps, mugs, and so much more. Now available at doorwaytonightmare.com.

10:35 Speaker 3: This is Crimson McKenzie. Join me again for another true tale of the uncanny and peculiar. Curiouser and Curiouser.

10:46 Speaker 1: Produced, directed, and hosted by Crimson McKenzie. A Crimson Swan production in association with Doorway to Nightmare.