"A Three-Day Wait"

In the year 1878, a newspaper in Decatur, Indiana published a hair-raising story about a cemetery in Munich, Germany.

A Strange Custom: Munich's Three-Day Wait to Prevent Burial Alive 

It was reported that this cemetery held a peculiar attraction for visitors on account of its unusual funeral customs, which included the three-day exposure of the deceased before burial. By law, the body of every person who died in Munich had to be conveyed to the cemetery within three hours of death. It was then required to remain for three days in specially constructed buildings on the grounds. 

The Resuscitation Alarm 

To guard against the possibility of being buried alive, a wire was attached to the hand of each corpse. This wire led to a spring bell, designed to alert the attendants on guard in the event of resuscitation. While the newspaper correspondent could not confirm if a resuscitation had ever occurred, it was understood that a long-ago case of someone being buried alive led to the establishment of this custom. The practice had been maintained ever since to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again. 

The Appearance of Natural Sleep 

The correspondent visited one of the halls where the bodies of the poor were deposited and observed eighteen bodies in total: seven infants and eleven adults. Spectators were not permitted to enter the rooms but could view the deceased through surrounding windows. The bodies were not laid out flat as if for a typical burial; instead, they were arranged in careless, half-reclining positions to give the appearance of natural sleep. 

Among them was a beautiful girl of about twelve years, arrayed in white muslin and resting on a bed of flowers with a wreath of orange blossoms around her head. She was reclining as if asleep, with her arms lying by her side. Another was an old man, at least sixty years of age, whose body was dressed in a black cloth suit and placed in an almost sitting posture. Around each body were large bouquets with cards attached, sent by friends of the deceased.

The Final Ceremony 

After the three days had expired, the body was placed in a coffin by the undertaker. The friends and relatives would then assemble at the cemetery, where the funeral and burial would finally take place.