South African man wakes after 21 hours in morgue fridge

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/25/south-african-man-wakes-morgue
<snip>
Morgue owner Ayanda Maqolo said he sent his driver to collect the body shortly after the family reported the death.

"When he got there, the driver examined the body, checked his pulse, looked for a heartbeat, but there was nothing," Maqolo said.

But a day after staff put the body into a locked refrigerated compartment, morgue workers heard someone shouting for help. They thought it was a ghost, the morgue owner said.

He said the man was pale when they pulled him out.

"He asked, 'How did I get here?'" Maqolo said.

The health department said the man was then taken to a nearby hospital for observation and later discharged by doctors who deemed him stable.

The man's family was informed that he was alive during a family meeting convened to make funeral arrangements. They're very happy to have him home, Maqolo said.

[gratuitous]

1. M.E. says, "Boy, that autopsy was a bitch!"

"Guy just wouldn't hold still."

[ret5hd]

2. zombie!!!!

[ashling]

3. Signals from the Grave

http://www.americanartifacts.com/smma/life/life.htm

Early patents for detecting life in buried persons

The first such patent, granted to Christian Eisenbrandt, of Baltimore, in 1843, was for a spring loaded coffin lid. Unlike the later patents, this escape device would function only until the time of burial. “—-Whereas there have been instances of human beings having been buried alive, the inventor of this coffin has contrived an arrangement whereby anyone who may not really have departed this life may by the slightest motion of either the head or hand acting upon a system of springs and levers cause the instantaneous opening of the coffin lid.”

The next patent for a life signal, granted to Franz Vester, of Newark, N.J., in 1868, was designed to function after burial. “—-The nature of this invention consists in placing on the lid of the coffin, and directly over the face of the body laid therein, a square tube which extends from the coffin up through and over the surface of the grave, said tube containing a ladder and a cord, one end of the cord being placed in the hand of the person laid in the coffin and the other end of said cord being attached to a bell on the top of the square tube, so that, should a person be interred ere life is extinct, he can, on recovery to consciousness, ascend from the grave by the ladder, or if not able to ascend by said ladder, ring the bell, thereby giving an alarm and thus saving himself.”

In 1871, a patent was granted to Theodore Schroeder and Hermann Wuest, of Hoboken, N.J. for a “life detector for coffins”, which resembled a giant ear trumpet. The mechanism was simply a chain placed in the hand of the corpse, which, if pulled, would ring a bell and release a latch, causing a door to fall open, admitting air to the coffin and serving as a signal flag. An alternative mechanism in this patent substituted an electromagnet to actuate the latch trip and an electric bell to sound the alarm, requiring, of course, a charged battery to operate both.

The next grave signal to be patented was invented by Albert Fearnaught, of Indianapolis, in 1882. A rope tied around the wrist of the corpse, if tugged, would release a spring-loaded red flag at the surface to alert any bystander that the buried person wished to be disinterred.

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more

[malaise]

5. LOL

I guess they buried way more people alive back in those days. :hi:

[ashling]

7. the latest was filed in 1982

my favorite is the red flag ... and long may it wave :rofl:

[malaise]

8. I love your link

:fistbump:

[jberryhill]

4. Some people will do anything to get out of the heat

Wish I'd had this idea last week.

[malaise]

6. But but but

It's winter in South Africa now :rofl:

[jberryhill]

11. You have to book early, they fill up in the summer

[ohnoyoudidnt]

9. Jesus?

[Renew Deal]

10. "I was glad they had their firearms, in case something wanted to fight with us,"

:rofl:

[Kennah]

12. Bring out yer dead