The Premature Burial(1844)

Edgar Allan Poe

'The Premature Burial' is a horror classic written by Edgar Allan Poe. One of his most memorable.

It's theme is that of being buried alive, which was a common fear at the time and Poe takes advantage of the public interest. The unnamed narrator describes his struggle with "attacks of the singular disorder which physicians have agreed to term catalepsy," a condition which sees a person falling into a death-like trance with no forewarning. This leads to the narrator's overwhelming fear. "The true wretchedness," he says, is "to be buried while alive."

One morning, he awakens to find his worst fears realized!