Legends 81: Undertaken

The episode explores the terrifying yet largely mythical fear of being buried alive—a dread that gripped Europe for centuries, fueled by sensational stories, medical uncertainty, and cultural panic. While premature burial did occur, the scale of horror was vastly exaggerated by a literary genre that thrived on tropes like the pregnant corpse, the woman with the ring, and the man who woke during autopsy. The most chilling case examined is that of Alice Blunden, a 17th-century woman who overdosed on laudanum, was declared dead, and buried—only to be exhumed screaming. Yet modern historians suspect she was already dead, her 'screams' likely gas emissions and decomposition, not conscious terror. The episode reveals how fear, amplified by media and misinformation, turned a rare medical error into a cultural obsession. In a twist of irony, the man who nearly died from being buried alive himself—Angelo Hayes—turned his trauma into a fortune by inventing a luxury 'safety coffin' complete with a toilet, radio, and even a refrigerator, which he demonstrated publicly to crowds of thousands. His story underscores how fear can be monetized, transformed from existential dread into spectacle. The episode dismantles the myth of mass cat killings under Pope Gregory IX, clarifying that while his decree linked black cats to Satanism, it didn’t cause widespread feline genocide. Instead, it shows how a single religious edict, combined with societal anxiety, can distort history.