It is the stuff of actual nightmares. You wake up in total darkness. The air is heavy, smelling of pine and damp earth. You reach out, but your fingers hit wood just inches from your face. This isn't a horror movie plot. For Mary Best, a seventeen-year-old girl in 1871, this was a documented medical reality that still haunts the annals of forensic history.
When people talk about the girl who died twice, they are usually referring to Mary, though history has a few similar "Lazarus" cases. Mary was an orphan living in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, during a time when medicine was, frankly, a bit of a guessing game. Cholera was ripping through the city. It was a brutal, fast-acting killer.
One afternoon, Mary collapsed. Her pulse vanished. Her skin went cold. The doctors of the Victorian era didn't have EKGs or pulse oximeters. They had a mirror to check for breath and a finger to check for a heartbeat. When they found neither, they declared her dead.
She was buried almost immediately.
Ten years later, the family vault was opened to inter another relative. What the workers found was enough to turn the strongest stomach. Mary’s coffin lid wasn't shut. Her skeleton wasn't lying peacefully. She was half-out of the casket, her skull fractured, and her shroud torn to ribbons.
She hadn't died once. She had died twice—once according to the doctors, and once, for real, in the dark.
The Science of Living Burials and Cholera
How does this actually happen? It sounds like an urban legend, but the medical reality of the 19th century made "premature burial" a legitimate, widespread phobia. Edgar Allan Poe didn't just write about it because it was spooky; he wrote about it because people were terrified it would happen to them.
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Cholera induces a state of extreme dehydration and "apparent death." Your body goes into a deep hypovolemic shock. The pulse becomes so faint that it’s nearly impossible to detect without modern equipment.
Mary Best was likely in a "cholera coma." Her metabolism slowed to a crawl. To a 1871 surgeon in a hurry to dispose of a contagious body, she looked like a corpse. They put her in a vault.
The Second Death
When Mary woke up, the air in the vault would have been limited. Experts who study taphonomy—the study of how organisms decay—suggest she probably regained consciousness a few hours after the funeral. The "second death" wasn't caused by the disease. It was caused by a mix of asphyxiation and the sheer physical trauma of trying to claw her way out of a stone-encased tomb.
The fracture found on her skull years later suggested she might have fainted and hit her head against the masonry of the vault while trying to escape. Or, more tragically, she may have died from the sheer terror of the situation, leading to cardiac arrest.
Why Modern Medicine Doesn't "Die Twice" Anymore
You might be wondering if this could happen today. Honestly, the short answer is: almost never. But "almost" is a heavy word.
We now use the "Lazarus Phenomenon." This is a delayed return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after CPR has been stopped. According to a 2020 study published in Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, there have been roughly 65 documented cases of this since 1982.
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But today, we don't just bury people an hour after they stop breathing.
- Brain Death Testing: We look for the absence of brainstem reflexes.
- EKG Monitoring: We check for electrical activity in the heart, even if a pulse isn't felt.
- Body Temperature: Doctors have a saying: "You aren't dead until you're warm and dead." If someone is hypothermic, their heart might stop, but they can sometimes be revived once they are warmed up.
- Embalming: In many cultures, the process of embalming—while morbid—acts as a final "fail-safe." No one survives that process.
The Case of Janina Kolkiewicz
If you think Mary Best is just an old ghost story, look at Janina Kolkiewicz from Poland. In 2014, the 91-year-old was declared dead by her family doctor. No pulse. No breathing. She was sent to the morgue.
Eleven hours later, morgue staff noticed her body bag moving.
She wasn't a ghost. She was just cold. Janina woke up and asked for hot tea and a pancake. She had technically "died" according to a medical professional, only to return to the living. These cases fascinate us because they challenge the most fundamental line we have: the one between here and gone.
Learning from the Macabre: What You Should Know
The story of the girl who died twice isn't just a campfire tale. It’s a lesson in the fallibility of human observation. It’s why we have rigorous protocols today. If you're someone who worries about this (it’s called taphophobia, by the way), there are a few things that have changed the game since Mary Best’s time.
Firstly, the waiting period. In many jurisdictions, a body cannot be cremated or buried until a specific amount of time has passed, specifically to avoid the "Calcutta mistake."
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Secondly, the way we define death has shifted. It’s no longer just about the heart stopping. It’s about the permanent cessation of all functions of the entire brain. This is a much higher bar to clear than what Mary’s doctors were looking for.
Actionable Insights for the Curious
If you are interested in forensic history or want to ensure your own "final arrangements" are foolproof, here is what the experts suggest:
- Understand the Lazarus Sign: This is a reflex movement in brain-dead patients that can look like they are sitting up or reaching out. It’s not life; it’s a spinal cord reflex. Knowing the difference prevents a lot of trauma for grieving families.
- Verify Vital Records: If you are ever in a position of dealing with a sudden death, ensure the medical professional performs an EKG. It is the gold standard for confirming the "silent heart."
- Document Your Wishes: Advanced directives aren't just for when you're alive. They can specify things like whether you want an autopsy. An autopsy, while clinical, is the 100% guarantee that a "second death" can never occur.
- Look into Taphonomy: If this story intrigued you, read the works of Dr. Bill Bass, who founded the "Body Farm." It explains exactly what happens to the body after the first—and only—death.
Mary Best’s story eventually led to changes in how the British Empire handled burials in tropical climates. They started building "waiting mortuaries" where bodies were kept until signs of decomposition were undeniable. It was a grisly solution, but a necessary one.
We live in an age where "the girl who died twice" is a historical anomaly rather than a recurring threat. We have the technology to see the tiniest spark of life. But Mary’s story remains a chilling reminder that sometimes, the experts are wrong, and the line between life and death is thinner than we’d like to believe.
To avoid the pitfalls of historical medical errors, always trust the data over the initial "feeling" of a situation. Modern forensic science exists specifically because of the tragedies of people like Mary Best.