Many people don’t know this piece of useless, yet interesting, information so there you go: George Washington’s greatest fear was to be buried alive.
Back in the old days, being buried alive was not uncommon. It was before the invention of the stethoscope and the only 100% sure sign of death was the onset of putrefaction. But that happened a couple of days after death, so there were a lot of incidents were people were mistakenly thought to be dead and buried alive.
George Washington was… deathly afraid of this happening to him, so he wanted to be laid out for three days just to be sure he was dead. In fact, a few hours before dying, he said to his secretary: “I am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the Vault in less than three days after I am dead.”
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: George Washington’s Views On Political Parties
Photo: Joye~ / Flickr
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