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Tabloids Revive 1915 South Carolina Story of Woman Declared Dead, Found Alive in Coffin

New pieces recount the long-circulated account using regional reports plus a 2002 book, without presenting fresh records.

Overview

  • The Mirror and the Daily Record republished the century-old tale on December 26, 2025, drawing from earlier local reporting and retrospectives.
  • In 1915, local physician Dr. D. K. Briggs reportedly examined Essie Dunbar after an epileptic seizure and declared her dead.
  • Minutes after her burial, a late-arriving sister prompted an exhumation, witnesses said Dunbar sat up and smiled, and ministers panicked, with one reportedly injured as chronicled in the book Buried Alive.
  • Accounts describe Dunbar returning to ordinary life, working in the fields, receiving welfare, and later dying in 1962 at age 77.
  • The retellings reference the Augusta Chronicle and the 2002 compilation Buried Alive, with no new archival documentation offered to corroborate additional details.