Buried Alive in Ninteenth-Century India June 11, 2013
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
***Dedicated to Leif*** Busy day chez Beachcombing as two Romanians help to retrieve a garden that has been abandoned for forty years to a state of wellbeing. On the subject of digging this brilliant piece was sent in by an old friend of this blog, Leif. The text comes from The Court and Camp of […]
Two Thousand Infants Sold to Russia for Human Sacrifice May 30, 2012
Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Prehistoric
***Dedicated to Wade who sent the relevant passage in*** The custom of burying infant children in the foundations of new buildings was well established in prehistoric, ancient and even (gulp) medieval times. The bigger and more important a building the more likely it was to a have a tot dropped in the cement. It is […]
Giving Birth in a Coffin June 18, 2011
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval, Modern
Beachcombing has recently been toying around with the idea of a publication on ‘buried alive’ stories from Boccaccio to Poe. It would be a short volume, but one that would keep most of us awake past our bedtimes. Any suggestions for vaguely literate buried-alive tales please contact: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com Beachcombing has got […]
Giving Corpses Acrid Enemas May 18, 2011
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
Beachcombing has a substantial file on individuals being accidentally buried alive and a second file full of strategies employed to avoid such unpleasantries. Being buried alive is, after all, something of a human preoccupation. Thrillers end with heroes in tiny underground boxes, cinema epics – including a notable recent effort – have been filmed in […]
