Did you know that around 1829, they had bells attached to coffins? I didn’t either until I stated doing some research. You’ll never believe what those little bells were for. Evil snort. People in this time often got smallpox, diphtheria and cholera and doctors hastily pronounced they were dead and signed death certificates. Sometimes they did this without even seeing the bodies themselves – just by the word of family. Medical procedures were nothing like they are today. Often with such, people were buried and and would wake up in a casket – shivers – the fear of that! Patents were put out on caskets that had a hole drilled the coffin through which a chord was run that would be attached to a bell that was mounted above the grave. The chord handle was placed in the ‘dead’ person’s hand just in case they ‘woke up’ from the dead. They could ring the bell in hopes that someone would hear above and dig them back up. It was an unfortunate time to live through, you think?
Piglove 