I was putting away some of the books I used to research my most recent book Beyond Bizarre when I came upon this article neatly folded among the pages of Troy Taylor’s Haunted Graveyards. I had included this story in The Book of the Bizarre, but it is certainly worthy of repeating.
From an AP Press story from 2007, comes this 1600’s tale of premature burial . Francis de Civille was buried alive not once, not twice, but THREE times! First he was buried when still in utero when his mother died while pregnant. His father had the mother’s body exhumed and Francis was delivered via cesarean. The second time Civille was wounded in battle in the siege of Rouen in 1563. He was tossed into a common grave where he remained for seven hours until a loyal servant dug him up to move him to a more fitting grave. He was still breathing and was slowly being nursed back to health when his house was raided by the enemy. His body was thrown upon a dung heap becoming partially buried for three days!! He somehow survived and was again nursed back to health after the enemy siege had passed. When he finally did die, at a ripe old age of 105, his family waited more than three days to bury him, just to be sure.