It is no coincidence that in many countries of the world it is customary to bury a person a few days after his death, and not in vain, history is full of evidence of how the dead came to life during funeral ceremonies, and the worst thing is that some woke up right in the grave …
In medical terminology, there is such a concept - lethargy, meaning a condition in which all functions of the human body significantly slow down their work, it seems that a person has died, but in fact, this is such a special state of his.
It should be noted that a couple of centuries ago it was not always possible to unequivocally state natural death, a person was considered dead if he had no heartbeat and breathing. For this reason, a lot of information has been preserved, when, for example, as a result of a serious illness, a person fell asleep in such a deep sleep that he could not wake up, relatives declared him dead and buried him, this happened even with famous people.
For example, a chilling case happened to the famous Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. During an attack of a serious illness, he fell asleep in a lethargic sleep, and did not wake up for a long time, his relatives considered him dead, began to prepare for the funeral, the poet woke up at the very last moment, when the coffin was already laid in the ground. This incident, fortunately, ended quite well, and the poet, after that terrible event in his life, lived for more than 30 years.
This incredible story that happened to the great poet, rather a happy exception, there are many cases when lethargy ended much tragically, waking up buried alive, a person fell into panic, scratching the coffin from the inside, calling for help, making unsuccessful attempts to get out of it and staying in it forever …
Now in the 21st century, with advanced medicine, it is almost impossible to bury a still living person, although two centuries ago, it was quite common. Such a conclusion can be made if we analyze reports about finds in medieval cemeteries, when, while preparing a pit for a new grave, diggers often found half-rotted coffins in which the remains of the deceased were in unnatural positions, on their side, with their hands raised to their throats. According to rumors, in the old medieval cemeteries of Europe, every third grave has such an eerie sight.