Its a small grassy mound with a large slab of concrete placed at the top.
This concrete block has a small fourteen inch square glass window facing towards the sky.
The grave of Timothy Clark Smith.
Before he became a physician, he worked as a teacher and clerk in the US Treasury Department.
All throughout his life, Timothy Clark Smith suffered from an incurable fear of being buried alive.
But in those days, before the advent of modern medicine, the fear was not entirely irrational.
Throughout history, there have been numerous storiesurban legend or otherwise of people being accidentally buried alive.
After his tomb was reopened, years later, his body was found outside his coffin.
His hands were torn and bloody from the attempted escape.
There were also scratch marks visible on all sides of the coffin’s interior.
Edgar Allan Poe was especially guilty of this.
Some of the worst afflicted of this phobia began to use what is known as a safety coffin.
Many different designs were invented and patented during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Others had ladders, escape hatches, and even a supply of food and water.
Ironically, many designs forgot to include the most essential element a breathing tube to provide air.
Photograph of a burial vault built circa 1890 to protect against premature burial.
Timothy Clark Smiths coffin in Evergreen Cemetery was of a similar design.
In addition, he was buried with a bell in his hand so that he could signal for help.
According to cemetery records, there is a second room within the burial crypt which houses Timothys wife.
Timothy Clark Smiths grave is a rare example of a phenomenon that has not quiet died out yet.
The most recent patent for a safety coffin was filed in 1995.
A design for a safety coffin.
Photo credit:Road Trippers
The window on Timothy Clark Smiths grave.
Photo credit:vermonter.com
Timothy Clark Smiths grave mound.
Photo credit:vermonter.com
Sources:Road Trippers/www.findagrave.com/Wikipedia/Wikipedia/Wikipedia/Australian Museum
