11. President George Washington, like many of his contemporaries, suffered from taphophobia, a fear of being buried alive
George Washington was nobody’s fool. In fact, the Founding Father of the United States – and the nation’s first President – possessed one of the finest minds of his age. But still, he had his fears and phobias just like everybody else. In particular, Washington feared being buried alive. And, perhaps justifiably so. After all, there were no medical machines reading pulses back in 18th century America, and sometimes people looked dead but really weren’t. Washington was far from alone in suffering from taphophobia, even if, as the President, he was uniquely positioned to issue orders to make sure the worst-case scenario never happened.
By all accounts, Washington never showed any fear of being buried while still alive until he reached old age. Then, it seems he became increasingly consumed by the phobia. Apparently, while lying on his deathbed, the President ordered that his body be left alone and untouched for two days. This way, his doctors, as well as his servants – and, perhaps most importantly of all, the gravediggers and undertakers – could be certain that he had passed away.
Washington’s reported taphophobia only served to fuel other people’s fears. During the 19th century urban legends of people being buried alive, sometimes rescued but other times not, spread across America as well as Europe. Some scholars claim that as many as 2% of all the people buried back then may have been in a coma or stupor rather than actually being dead, though others dispute this and maintain that actual instances of people being buried alive are very rare, even in the days before modern medical technology.