By 1891, Italian psychiatrist Enrico Morselli said fears of premature burial were so widespread it was time to create an official medical term.
Rampant taphephobia also led to the creation of so-called “safety coffins,” designed to prevent premature burial.
Germany alone saw more than 30 of these designs patented in the second half of the 19th century.
According to his biographer Jackie Wullschlager, Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen was deathly afraid of being buried alive.
Andersen was more than a little neurotic, and being buried alive was far from his only fear.
In his last written message, composer Frédéric Chopin is believed to have penned the words (in French): “The earth is suffocating.
According to a memoir by his son Jean Renoir, the French painter Auguste Renoir repeatedly expressed a fear of being buried alive. »