Been surfing the ‘Net today, looking for articles mentioning our oganization that came out over the weekend… But I got booored… so I decided to check into Snopes.com…  I found these two examples and I started laughing so hard people were looking into my office to find out what was going on. I don’t know exactly why I found them so funny…. perhaps it’s just because it’s Monday, and so close to quittin time…

You decide.

Claim:   People have been buried alive by mistake.

Status:   True.

Origins:   Don’t quit your shuddering just yet. Live burial is not unheard of; it has always been a real (albeit distant) possibility. Indeed, it’s conceivable the first burials of humans were accidental, live ones: Ill and wounded hunters were left in caves with the entrances sealed off to keep out wild animals while the rest of the hunting parties continued after their prey. It was hoped that once the victims had regained their strength, they would push the barriers out of the way and rejoin the group. Some died in those caves, however.

The still-living have been consigned to an eternal dirt nap often enough that fears of premature burial are based on fact as much as on lore. Numerous cases of interments and almost interments dot history.

In the early 17th century, Marjorie Elphinstone died and was buried in Ardtannies, Scotland. When grave robbers attempted to steal the jewelry interred with her, the deceased surprised the heck out of them by groaning. The robbers fled for their lives, and Elphinstone revived, walked home, and outlived her husband by six years.

I bet they never robbed another grave as long as they lived!

Marjorie Halcrow Erskine of Chirnside, Scotland, died in 1674 and was buried in a shallow grave by a sexton intent upon returning later to steal her jewelry. While the light-fingered sexton was trying to cut off her finger to retrieve a ring, she awoke. In her additional years of life after her first burial, she went on to give birth to and raise two sons. No one knows what happened to the sexton.

Probably died of a heart attack and fell into her just emptied shallow grave! Then was buried by some kindly passerby who felt sorry for the "poor bloke" whom no one cared enough about to give a proper burial!