The Premature Burial

“The Premature Burial” is a short horror story published in 1844 by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that explores the fear of being buried alive, otherwise known as taphephobia. This condition is considered rare in contemporary times but was a common fear during the 19th century because, due to a lack of sufficient medical techniques and technologies, people were sometimes mistakenly declared deceased and accidentally buried alive.

Other short stories written by this author include The Man of the Crowd, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, and Berenice.

The story revolves around an unnamed protagonist’s morbid obsession with the possibility of being buried alive and his desperate attempts to avoid such a fate. Ultimately, in what is sometimes considered one of Poe’s most optimistic moments, this fear is overcome through exposure therapy. This behavioral therapy technique, in which a person confronts their fear at a high level of intensity to overcome it, is often used to treat anxiety disorders. Poe’s narrator grapples with themes of anxiety caused by The Line Between Truth and Fiction and life and death, as well as the ability of visions and fantasies to create physical ailments and despair.