Předčasný pohřeb a jiné povídky – Poe Edgar Allan (2025)

The Premature Burial is a horror classic by master Edgar Allan Poe on the theme of being buried alive. This was a concern that was quite common in the 19th century, and Poe capitalized on the public interest in this issue. This work was later adapted into a film.

An unnamed narrator describes his struggle with a rare disorder that doctors began to call catalepsy, a state in which a person suddenly falls into a death-like trance. This awakens in him a tremendous fear of being buried alive. He supports his fear with mentions of several people to whom this actually happened. In the first case, a tragic accident was discovered much later when the victim's crypt was reopened. In others, the victims revived and managed to alert others in time so they could be rescued from their horrific prisons.

The narrator becomes utterly obsessed with the idea that he will fall into a trance while away from home, and that his condition will truly be mistaken for death. He begs his friends to promise not to bury him alive, refuses to leave home, and constructs an elaborate tomb equipped with devices that will allow him to signal in case he really wakes up after "death."

And one morning, he seriously wakes up and...