1 00:00:02,169 --> 00:00:03,209 WILLIAM SHATNER: Sacred practices 2 00:00:03,337 --> 00:00:05,167 that transition the dead 3 00:00:05,255 --> 00:00:07,375 into the afterlife, 4 00:00:07,466 --> 00:00:10,216 special coffins that prevent, 5 00:00:10,302 --> 00:00:13,392 people from being buried alive, 6 00:00:13,514 --> 00:00:17,734 and substances that can bring the deceased 7 00:00:17,809 --> 00:00:19,519 back from the grave. 8 00:00:20,938 --> 00:00:24,188 For over 100,000 years, humans have practiced 9 00:00:24,274 --> 00:00:28,404 surprisingly similar methods for laying the dead to rest. 10 00:00:28,529 --> 00:00:33,449 Graves, tombs, cremations 11 00:00:33,575 --> 00:00:35,905 are all considered respectful ways to provide 12 00:00:35,994 --> 00:00:37,754 the deceased with a final resting place. 13 00:00:39,581 --> 00:00:43,791 But, is it possible, as many people believe, 14 00:00:43,919 --> 00:00:48,009 that some of these practices can preserve the soul 15 00:00:48,090 --> 00:00:49,550 for eternity? 16 00:00:49,633 --> 00:00:54,393 Or perhaps, even bring the dead back to life? 17 00:00:54,471 --> 00:00:57,271 Well, that is what we’ll try and find out. 18 00:00:57,391 --> 00:00:59,391 ♪ ♪ 19 00:01:11,780 --> 00:01:15,450 SHATNER: It’s an inescapable truth of human experience 20 00:01:15,576 --> 00:01:20,956 that we’re all born, we all live, and then one day 21 00:01:21,081 --> 00:01:24,291 we all eventually die. 22 00:01:25,544 --> 00:01:28,924 For many cultures, the proper way to honor the deceased 23 00:01:29,006 --> 00:01:32,126 is to provide their body with a permanent resting place 24 00:01:32,259 --> 00:01:37,429 by using the sacred practice of burial. 25 00:01:38,974 --> 00:01:42,694 65 million people die every year. 26 00:01:42,811 --> 00:01:47,731 And depending on where they die, depending on what they believe, 27 00:01:47,816 --> 00:01:49,976 different cultures, different religions, 28 00:01:50,068 --> 00:01:52,148 bury people in different ways. 29 00:01:52,237 --> 00:01:55,487 However, all of these burials, 30 00:01:55,616 --> 00:02:00,996 regardless of where they occur, have a few things in common. 31 00:02:01,079 --> 00:02:06,329 Perhaps the most important is you don’t mess with the dead. 32 00:02:06,460 --> 00:02:09,170 Whether you believe in Heaven and Hell or not, 33 00:02:09,254 --> 00:02:12,844 whether you believe in a god or not, there’s something about 34 00:02:12,924 --> 00:02:18,564 honoring the deceased, that is common throughout history. 35 00:02:20,390 --> 00:02:23,180 Our earliest burials are about 100,000 years old. 36 00:02:23,268 --> 00:02:25,848 Probably some of the initial reasons for burying the dead 37 00:02:25,979 --> 00:02:29,149 weren’t about ritual religion, but practicality. 38 00:02:30,233 --> 00:02:34,703 We find a lot of early humans buried in caves, 39 00:02:34,821 --> 00:02:37,031 places where people were actually living. 40 00:02:37,157 --> 00:02:40,537 So, burying them as a way to mark territory. 41 00:02:40,619 --> 00:02:42,499 This is where my ancestors are buried. 42 00:02:44,206 --> 00:02:47,706 JOSEPH LAYCOCK: A lot of burial traditions revolve around the idea 43 00:02:47,834 --> 00:02:50,554 that this is not just decaying flesh. 44 00:02:50,629 --> 00:02:54,049 This is a person. This is someone whose life mattered. 45 00:02:54,132 --> 00:02:57,342 And this goes all the way back to the Stone Age, 46 00:02:57,427 --> 00:03:00,007 where basically cave people have been bound 47 00:03:00,097 --> 00:03:02,927 in the fetal position and buried 48 00:03:03,058 --> 00:03:06,188 with tools that they would’ve used in life. 49 00:03:06,269 --> 00:03:08,859 So, these traditions are really as old as humankind. 50 00:03:08,939 --> 00:03:12,529 SHATNER: Over the course of tens of thousands of years, 51 00:03:12,609 --> 00:03:15,239 burial practices started to reflect 52 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,410 the principles of organized religion. 53 00:03:17,489 --> 00:03:20,449 Ancient cultures around the world believed 54 00:03:20,575 --> 00:03:23,115 that a proper burial involved showing respect, 55 00:03:23,245 --> 00:03:26,715 not just for a dead person’s body, 56 00:03:26,790 --> 00:03:31,040 but also for their soul. 57 00:03:31,128 --> 00:03:33,798 In antiquity, there were very specific rites 58 00:03:33,922 --> 00:03:37,932 that were used to help the deceased’s soul 59 00:03:38,009 --> 00:03:41,259 navigate its way into the afterlife. 60 00:03:41,388 --> 00:03:45,348 For instance, in ancient Egypt, there was the famous 61 00:03:45,434 --> 00:03:47,604 Book of the Dead, which is essentially 62 00:03:47,686 --> 00:03:49,096 a set of CliffsNotes 63 00:03:49,229 --> 00:03:51,519 that helps the deceased’s soul navigate 64 00:03:51,606 --> 00:03:55,776 this series of tests and gates and booby traps 65 00:03:55,902 --> 00:03:58,572 that are set to try to keep the soul 66 00:03:58,655 --> 00:04:01,615 from entering into the afterlife. 67 00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:04,660 The ancient Greeks believed that the spirit 68 00:04:04,786 --> 00:04:06,656 left the body as a breath of air. 69 00:04:06,788 --> 00:04:11,458 And it was important to get the body itself 70 00:04:11,585 --> 00:04:13,425 to the afterlife as quickly as possible 71 00:04:13,503 --> 00:04:16,463 to reunite with the spirit. 72 00:04:16,548 --> 00:04:20,258 To that end, they were often buried with a coin in the mouth 73 00:04:20,343 --> 00:04:22,013 as payment to Charon, 74 00:04:22,137 --> 00:04:24,847 the ferryman over the river Styx, 75 00:04:24,973 --> 00:04:26,983 to aid them on their journey 76 00:04:27,058 --> 00:04:29,138 and help them locate their spirit. 77 00:04:29,269 --> 00:04:33,149 SHATNER: Although many ancient European societies 78 00:04:33,231 --> 00:04:35,651 like the Greeks believed in burying the dead, 79 00:04:35,734 --> 00:04:40,494 oftentimes, they did not lay out individual graves with nice, 80 00:04:40,614 --> 00:04:45,374 neat headstones for each body, like we do today. 81 00:04:45,494 --> 00:04:47,704 KEITH EGGENER: Historically speaking, in Europe, 82 00:04:47,829 --> 00:04:51,329 people of all classes were typically buried in, 83 00:04:51,416 --> 00:04:53,166 uh, mass graves. 84 00:04:54,836 --> 00:04:58,126 It was really only the people of the highest levels 85 00:04:58,215 --> 00:05:00,175 of the aristocracy, 86 00:05:00,258 --> 00:05:04,348 who would receive any kind of individual burial 87 00:05:04,429 --> 00:05:07,969 and individual marker of their death. 88 00:05:08,058 --> 00:05:12,848 However, eventually, as we enter into the early modern age, 89 00:05:12,938 --> 00:05:18,188 the 1400s-1500s and forward, increasingly, people 90 00:05:18,276 --> 00:05:22,026 want to be remembered. 91 00:05:22,113 --> 00:05:24,873 Permanent burial for individuals 92 00:05:24,991 --> 00:05:28,491 of even the non-aristocratic classes 93 00:05:28,578 --> 00:05:30,538 becomes increasingly common, 94 00:05:30,664 --> 00:05:33,504 and we see the rise of gravestones. 95 00:05:34,918 --> 00:05:38,708 SHATNER: As individual graves became more common for the masses 96 00:05:38,797 --> 00:05:42,837 European and American communities in the 19th century 97 00:05:42,926 --> 00:05:46,506 created new, elaborate burial places 98 00:05:46,596 --> 00:05:50,726 that were located far away from churches and residential areas. 99 00:05:50,809 --> 00:05:56,729 They were referred to as garden cemeteries. 100 00:05:56,857 --> 00:05:59,277 Garden cemeteries are an interesting development. 101 00:05:59,401 --> 00:06:01,861 They come in, at least in the American context, 102 00:06:01,945 --> 00:06:03,745 in about the 1830s. 103 00:06:03,864 --> 00:06:08,374 They were a different place, a place outside of the city. 104 00:06:08,451 --> 00:06:11,411 They have their own necropolis 105 00:06:11,496 --> 00:06:15,416 that we can visit through big elaborate gates. 106 00:06:16,835 --> 00:06:21,305 EGGENER: These cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn in Cambridge, 107 00:06:21,423 --> 00:06:23,933 Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, 108 00:06:24,050 --> 00:06:27,430 Greenwood in Brooklyn, and many others, 109 00:06:27,512 --> 00:06:30,602 were much larger than the church burial grounds. 110 00:06:30,682 --> 00:06:34,642 They were also landscaped, um, in a picturesque fashion, 111 00:06:34,769 --> 00:06:37,979 with winding paths and hills 112 00:06:38,106 --> 00:06:40,566 and all sorts of varied plantings. 113 00:06:40,650 --> 00:06:44,900 So, you’re not thinking of the oblivion of the grave, 114 00:06:44,988 --> 00:06:48,278 but rather, you’re thinking of the departed 115 00:06:48,366 --> 00:06:50,406 as resting peacefully, 116 00:06:50,493 --> 00:06:54,463 surrounded by beautiful flowers and those who love them. 117 00:06:54,539 --> 00:06:59,789 Death became widely seen as a gentle sleep. 118 00:07:01,546 --> 00:07:05,626 SHATNER: Today, it is estimated that there are 144,000 119 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:07,969 cemeteries in the United States, 120 00:07:08,094 --> 00:07:12,474 in which over one million people are buried every single year. 121 00:07:12,557 --> 00:07:16,387 Since the practice of burial is thousands of years old, 122 00:07:16,478 --> 00:07:19,648 perhaps it’s not surprising that we have inherited 123 00:07:19,773 --> 00:07:21,773 a number of superstitions about 124 00:07:21,858 --> 00:07:24,488 how this ritual should be performed. 125 00:07:25,862 --> 00:07:28,872 There is a superstition of carrying the body 126 00:07:28,990 --> 00:07:30,700 out of the house feet first. 127 00:07:30,825 --> 00:07:34,785 And the idea was that, if you carry the body out headfirst, 128 00:07:34,871 --> 00:07:37,371 the corpse gets this backward glance, 129 00:07:37,499 --> 00:07:40,839 and that glance could maybe invite someone 130 00:07:40,961 --> 00:07:43,961 to come with the deceased into the afterlife. 131 00:07:44,047 --> 00:07:46,797 Another is you can’t take the body 132 00:07:46,883 --> 00:07:49,513 in the family car, you have to hire a hearse. 133 00:07:49,594 --> 00:07:52,854 The hearse can’t stop on the way to the cemetery, 134 00:07:52,931 --> 00:07:55,561 because if it stops, the house where it stops 135 00:07:55,684 --> 00:07:58,194 could perhaps get some of that death energy. 136 00:07:58,311 --> 00:08:02,901 There’s a superstition of having pallbearers wear gloves. 137 00:08:03,024 --> 00:08:06,034 And this is the same logic that there could be some sort of 138 00:08:06,111 --> 00:08:08,531 lingering death energy on the casket, 139 00:08:08,613 --> 00:08:09,863 and, if you have gloves, 140 00:08:09,948 --> 00:08:11,868 that will give you some protection from it. 141 00:08:12,867 --> 00:08:15,867 All people are driven to ritualize 142 00:08:15,954 --> 00:08:17,834 the process of death. 143 00:08:17,914 --> 00:08:22,424 So, when we think about what are these rites and rituals 144 00:08:22,544 --> 00:08:23,924 doing for us, 145 00:08:24,045 --> 00:08:28,215 making sure that certain rules are observed 146 00:08:28,299 --> 00:08:31,549 gives us some element of control 147 00:08:31,678 --> 00:08:36,098 in a realm that is, by definition, uncontrollable. 148 00:08:36,224 --> 00:08:38,064 (crowd chanting) 149 00:08:38,143 --> 00:08:40,233 SHATNER: Billions of people all over the world believe 150 00:08:40,311 --> 00:08:41,981 that sacred rites and traditions 151 00:08:42,063 --> 00:08:47,033 are the proper way to prepare a person’s soul for the afterlife. 152 00:08:48,945 --> 00:08:52,735 But on the other hand, throughout history, 153 00:08:52,866 --> 00:08:55,486 there have also been customs that were intended, 154 00:08:55,577 --> 00:08:57,747 not to benefit the soul of the deceased, 155 00:08:57,829 --> 00:09:00,289 but rather to harm it. 156 00:09:00,415 --> 00:09:05,095 These practices are referred to as deviant burials. 157 00:09:06,629 --> 00:09:09,799 The word "deviant burial" comes from archaeology. 158 00:09:09,924 --> 00:09:12,644 When archaeologists look at dead people, 159 00:09:12,761 --> 00:09:15,261 if someone has been buried in a way 160 00:09:15,346 --> 00:09:17,266 that is different from everyone else, 161 00:09:17,390 --> 00:09:18,810 that’s known as a deviant burial. 162 00:09:19,976 --> 00:09:23,436 For example, in this village in Poland, 163 00:09:23,563 --> 00:09:27,023 archaeologists discovered about six buried corpses 164 00:09:27,108 --> 00:09:30,698 where there were sickles that had been placed 165 00:09:30,779 --> 00:09:33,739 over the neck or over the pelvis 166 00:09:33,823 --> 00:09:37,033 with the logic seeming to be, if this corpse tries to get up, 167 00:09:37,118 --> 00:09:39,698 it will be cut with iron. 168 00:09:39,788 --> 00:09:42,918 And one possibility is that these people 169 00:09:42,999 --> 00:09:45,629 did something really bad while they were alive. 170 00:09:45,710 --> 00:09:49,550 They practiced black magic or murder. 171 00:09:49,631 --> 00:09:53,091 And the idea is that, if we can basically mutilate their body, 172 00:09:53,176 --> 00:09:57,136 this will stop them from entering into the afterlife. 173 00:09:58,348 --> 00:10:02,638 It’s a little unnerving to think that an improper burial 174 00:10:02,769 --> 00:10:04,769 could actually prevent someone’s soul 175 00:10:04,854 --> 00:10:06,814 from reaching the afterlife. 176 00:10:06,940 --> 00:10:11,320 But perhaps even more concerning is a burial that’s gone wrong 177 00:10:11,444 --> 00:10:21,164 because the deceased was actually buried alive. 178 00:10:21,246 --> 00:10:22,746 SHATNER: All over the world, 179 00:10:22,831 --> 00:10:24,831 human beings clearly go to great lengths 180 00:10:24,958 --> 00:10:29,708 to ensure that the dead are buried in a respectful manner. 181 00:10:29,838 --> 00:10:32,628 But on the other hand, throughout history, 182 00:10:32,715 --> 00:10:35,965 people also took steps to determine whether or not someone 183 00:10:36,052 --> 00:10:39,182 was actually ready to be laid to rest 184 00:10:39,264 --> 00:10:41,854 in order to prevent people from being 185 00:10:41,933 --> 00:10:43,893 buried alive. 186 00:10:45,186 --> 00:10:48,686 DONNELLY: The fear of being buried alive was a fairly common fear 187 00:10:48,773 --> 00:10:52,193 up until 20th century medical practices meant 188 00:10:52,277 --> 00:10:54,357 fewer people were, in fact, buried alive. 189 00:10:56,239 --> 00:11:00,369 It was most common in 18th and 19th century 190 00:11:00,451 --> 00:11:02,871 Europe and America, 191 00:11:02,954 --> 00:11:05,794 mostly due to the medical practices 192 00:11:05,874 --> 00:11:08,044 and the burial practices at the time. 193 00:11:08,126 --> 00:11:12,206 This was when medical diagnoses could get things wrong, 194 00:11:12,338 --> 00:11:15,838 and people were, in fact, buried alive, 195 00:11:15,925 --> 00:11:18,885 and stories of that became sensationalized, 196 00:11:19,012 --> 00:11:21,892 and therefore, the panic would spread. 197 00:11:23,433 --> 00:11:25,733 LAYCOCK: In the 19th century, the great fear 198 00:11:25,852 --> 00:11:27,402 of being buried alive 199 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,360 was partly because this was the age of cholera. 200 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,530 Cholera causes severe diarrhea, 201 00:11:32,609 --> 00:11:34,819 which can deplete all the electrolytes in your body 202 00:11:34,903 --> 00:11:38,453 and, in extreme cases, can induce a coma. 203 00:11:38,573 --> 00:11:41,083 So, sometimes people appear dead, 204 00:11:41,159 --> 00:11:43,619 and they’re actually in this sort of vegetative state, 205 00:11:43,745 --> 00:11:45,125 and they can come out of it. 206 00:11:45,246 --> 00:11:49,416 But if you bury them, then you’ve buried them alive, 207 00:11:49,500 --> 00:11:50,880 and that is a terrible death. 208 00:11:52,420 --> 00:11:54,090 SHATNER: Historically, the thought of being trapped 209 00:11:54,214 --> 00:11:56,924 in a wooden box, beneath thousands of pounds of dirt, 210 00:11:57,050 --> 00:12:00,140 with no possibility of escape, was so widespread, 211 00:12:00,261 --> 00:12:03,261 that this fear was actually given a name. 212 00:12:03,389 --> 00:12:06,429 It’s called taphophobia. 213 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,899 Taphophobia is the idea of simply just the fear 214 00:12:09,979 --> 00:12:11,109 of being buried alive. 215 00:12:11,231 --> 00:12:13,441 Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote about 216 00:12:13,566 --> 00:12:17,106 premature burial was terrified of being buried alive. 217 00:12:17,195 --> 00:12:19,115 Frédéric Chopin, the composer, 218 00:12:19,239 --> 00:12:21,619 wanted to be stabbed in the heart and bled out 219 00:12:21,699 --> 00:12:23,579 to make sure that he was dead 220 00:12:23,660 --> 00:12:25,620 when doctors believed that he was. 221 00:12:25,745 --> 00:12:29,495 And even George Washington was so afraid of being buried alive 222 00:12:29,624 --> 00:12:32,214 that he had written in his will that his body had to remain 223 00:12:32,293 --> 00:12:35,803 in bed for three days after they thought he was dead 224 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,420 to make sure that he didn’t come back. 225 00:12:38,508 --> 00:12:42,178 EGGENER: It was estimated by the 1890s 226 00:12:42,303 --> 00:12:47,353 that some two percent of people being buried were buried alive. 227 00:12:47,475 --> 00:12:51,095 Now, this is a gross exaggeration, no doubt. 228 00:12:51,187 --> 00:12:52,977 But it was believed at the time, 229 00:12:53,106 --> 00:12:55,686 enough so that organizations like 230 00:12:55,817 --> 00:12:59,147 the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial 231 00:12:59,279 --> 00:13:01,859 was founded in 1896. 232 00:13:01,990 --> 00:13:04,700 And they lobbied parliament for greater diligence 233 00:13:04,826 --> 00:13:06,486 on the part of doctors to make sure 234 00:13:06,577 --> 00:13:09,827 that doctors were verifying death. 235 00:13:09,956 --> 00:13:12,496 SHATNER: Despite doctors’ best efforts, 236 00:13:12,583 --> 00:13:14,963 it was simply difficult at the time 237 00:13:15,044 --> 00:13:17,844 to determine whether a person was alive or dead. 238 00:13:17,964 --> 00:13:20,514 And so, in order to ease people’s minds, 239 00:13:20,591 --> 00:13:25,351 authorities in Europe were forced to take drastic measures. 240 00:13:30,059 --> 00:13:34,189 Within this storied city lies the Vienna Central Cemetery, 241 00:13:34,314 --> 00:13:37,324 the second largest cemetery in the entire world. 242 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,030 In the heart of the cemetery, stands a small building 243 00:13:40,111 --> 00:13:42,401 that, today, houses a museum. 244 00:13:42,530 --> 00:13:45,830 But, in the 19th century, it was referred to 245 00:13:45,908 --> 00:13:49,118 as a Leichenhaus. 246 00:13:49,203 --> 00:13:53,123 The Leichenhaus was a kind of mortuary where 247 00:13:53,207 --> 00:13:57,547 corpses were kept for a period, typically about three days, 248 00:13:57,670 --> 00:13:59,300 and watched over by attendants 249 00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:02,170 to make sure that a person was truly dead 250 00:14:02,258 --> 00:14:06,718 and wouldn’t be buried alive in a state of coma or catalepsy. 251 00:14:33,790 --> 00:14:36,380 SHATNER: In modern times, it may sound a little disturbing 252 00:14:36,459 --> 00:14:39,089 to hear that doctors once stabbed their patients 253 00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:42,132 in order to determine whether they were alive or dead. 254 00:14:42,256 --> 00:14:44,546 But the truth is that the hysteria 255 00:14:44,634 --> 00:14:46,764 about being buried alive was so prevalent 256 00:14:46,844 --> 00:14:50,264 that an entire industry sprang up to help calm such fears 257 00:14:50,390 --> 00:14:52,390 by producing bizarre contraptions 258 00:14:52,475 --> 00:14:56,195 that were known as safety coffins. 259 00:14:56,270 --> 00:14:58,310 LAYCOCK: If you were afraid of being buried alive, 260 00:14:58,439 --> 00:15:00,569 the solution was the safety coffin. 261 00:15:00,650 --> 00:15:03,530 And this began very simply with a bell 262 00:15:03,611 --> 00:15:07,621 tied to a string that went down under the earth into the coffin. 263 00:15:07,698 --> 00:15:10,528 And, if you were buried alive, and you woke up in a coffin, 264 00:15:10,618 --> 00:15:12,908 you could pull that string, the bell would ring, and 265 00:15:12,995 --> 00:15:15,825 hopefully, somebody would hear it and come dig you out. 266 00:15:15,957 --> 00:15:17,577 And this tradition is where we get 267 00:15:17,667 --> 00:15:20,337 the expression "saved by the bell." 268 00:15:20,461 --> 00:15:23,301 And if you had more money, safety coffins 269 00:15:23,381 --> 00:15:24,511 could get more elaborate. 270 00:15:24,632 --> 00:15:26,262 They could add air tubes, 271 00:15:26,342 --> 00:15:28,972 they could add windows, so you would have some lights 272 00:15:29,095 --> 00:15:30,645 inside the-the coffin. 273 00:15:30,763 --> 00:15:32,813 And there were even cases of people buried 274 00:15:32,932 --> 00:15:35,432 with a key in their pocket, so they could unlock 275 00:15:35,518 --> 00:15:38,308 the casket from the inside if-if this happens. 276 00:15:38,396 --> 00:15:41,396 EGGENER: There were loads of patents taken up 277 00:15:41,482 --> 00:15:43,282 for these safety coffins. 278 00:15:43,359 --> 00:15:45,779 And they would include devices like 279 00:15:45,862 --> 00:15:47,862 little flags that could be raised. 280 00:15:47,989 --> 00:15:50,199 Sometimes safety coffins included 281 00:15:50,324 --> 00:15:53,124 food or water, they would have breathing tubes, 282 00:15:53,202 --> 00:15:55,662 they might even include periscopes. 283 00:15:56,706 --> 00:15:58,956 One of the best-known ones really 284 00:15:59,041 --> 00:16:02,001 belonged to a doctor named Timothy Clark from Vermont. 285 00:16:02,128 --> 00:16:07,008 He came up with his own safety coffin device. 286 00:16:07,091 --> 00:16:10,341 He had a-a set of stone stairs installed 287 00:16:10,470 --> 00:16:13,180 next to his grave that could be opened up 288 00:16:13,306 --> 00:16:15,716 by a concrete block that was sitting beside it. 289 00:16:15,850 --> 00:16:18,230 That way anyone could get down to rescue him 290 00:16:18,352 --> 00:16:20,312 if he needed to be rescued. 291 00:16:20,396 --> 00:16:23,516 But the real kicker to the whole thing 292 00:16:23,608 --> 00:16:26,318 was that he had a glass window installed 293 00:16:26,402 --> 00:16:29,702 directly over his face, set into the stone. 294 00:16:29,822 --> 00:16:32,282 However, he died in 1893, 295 00:16:32,366 --> 00:16:34,196 and the doctors did not make a mistake. 296 00:16:34,285 --> 00:16:36,255 He really was dead. 297 00:16:36,370 --> 00:16:38,910 SHATNER: Safety coffins may seem like a quaint fad 298 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:44,040 from a bygone era that has no relevance in our world today. 299 00:16:44,170 --> 00:16:46,050 But believe it or not, 300 00:16:46,172 --> 00:16:47,972 there have been some recent cases in which people 301 00:16:48,049 --> 00:16:53,179 appear to have been mistakenly buried alive. 302 00:16:53,262 --> 00:16:57,562 Being buried alive is very, very rare, uh, 303 00:16:57,683 --> 00:16:59,023 at least in our own time, 304 00:16:59,101 --> 00:17:01,351 but it does still occasionally happen. 305 00:17:01,437 --> 00:17:05,267 As recently as 2018, there was a case in Brazil 306 00:17:05,399 --> 00:17:08,529 where a woman woke up in her grave and is thought 307 00:17:08,611 --> 00:17:11,071 to have survived for 11 days there. 308 00:17:11,155 --> 00:17:14,905 TAYLOR: Being buried alive doesn’t happen nearly as often 309 00:17:14,992 --> 00:17:16,702 as it used to, but, 310 00:17:16,786 --> 00:17:18,826 if you think about it, waking up in a coffin 311 00:17:18,913 --> 00:17:21,043 would be probably one of the most terrifying things 312 00:17:21,123 --> 00:17:23,083 that could ever happen to you. 313 00:17:23,167 --> 00:17:25,747 The thought of being buried alive is like 314 00:17:25,836 --> 00:17:27,416 something out of a nightmare. 315 00:17:27,505 --> 00:17:31,265 But there’s another scenario that many might find 316 00:17:31,342 --> 00:17:32,932 just as disturbing. 317 00:17:33,010 --> 00:17:34,930 It’s a method of preserving the deceased 318 00:17:35,054 --> 00:17:47,824 that takes embalming to the extreme. 319 00:17:47,942 --> 00:17:50,692 SHATNER: On the morning after the bloodiest battle 320 00:17:50,778 --> 00:17:54,908 of the Civil War, thousands of dead soldiers 321 00:17:54,991 --> 00:17:58,121 lay strewn across the blood-soaked battlefield. 322 00:17:58,244 --> 00:18:01,414 The Union Army brings the remains of the deceased 323 00:18:01,497 --> 00:18:04,827 back to their field hospital at Camp Letterman. 324 00:18:04,959 --> 00:18:08,799 But curiously, there is one tent in which bodies are 325 00:18:08,921 --> 00:18:11,671 not prepared for burial, but rather 326 00:18:11,799 --> 00:18:16,139 injected with chemicals to stop them from decaying, 327 00:18:16,220 --> 00:18:19,930 a process that is known as embalming. 328 00:18:20,016 --> 00:18:22,266 MONICA TORRES: The history of modern embalming 329 00:18:22,351 --> 00:18:24,521 began during the Civil War when 330 00:18:24,645 --> 00:18:28,225 surgeons at the time were able to embalm soldiers to 331 00:18:28,316 --> 00:18:30,106 be able to have them delivered back to their families. 332 00:18:31,319 --> 00:18:32,949 The process of embalming 333 00:18:33,029 --> 00:18:35,159 requires the embalmer to arterially 334 00:18:35,281 --> 00:18:37,831 inject a preservative, such as formaldehyde. 335 00:18:37,950 --> 00:18:43,830 So, the bodies were embalmed and sent home for their loved ones. 336 00:18:43,914 --> 00:18:46,834 SHATNER: All told, it is estimated that some 337 00:18:46,959 --> 00:18:51,089 40,000 soldiers were embalmed during the Civil War. 338 00:18:51,172 --> 00:18:53,922 The practice became so widespread, 339 00:18:54,008 --> 00:18:56,638 that it caught the attention of U.S. President 340 00:18:56,719 --> 00:18:58,509 Abraham Lincoln. 341 00:18:58,638 --> 00:19:01,638 TORRES: President Lincoln was so impressed 342 00:19:01,724 --> 00:19:03,684 by the embalming process that 343 00:19:03,768 --> 00:19:07,348 he himself chose and wanted to be embalmed 344 00:19:07,438 --> 00:19:10,148 and was actually embalmed 345 00:19:10,232 --> 00:19:13,532 and taken on a tour across the United States on a train. 346 00:19:13,611 --> 00:19:16,661 And he is actually the one who made it 347 00:19:16,739 --> 00:19:18,659 pretty popular here in America, 348 00:19:18,741 --> 00:19:22,201 created a whole American tradition 349 00:19:22,286 --> 00:19:24,536 that is still being practiced today. 350 00:19:26,082 --> 00:19:29,592 SHATNER: Today, experts estimate that 50% of all corpses 351 00:19:29,710 --> 00:19:32,710 in the United States undergo some sort of embalming 352 00:19:32,797 --> 00:19:35,167 so that the body can be viewed 353 00:19:35,257 --> 00:19:37,887 during mourning rituals. 354 00:19:37,968 --> 00:19:40,638 And it begs the question, 355 00:19:40,721 --> 00:19:42,971 why do human beings take these steps to preserve 356 00:19:43,057 --> 00:19:44,387 the remains of the dead? 357 00:19:44,475 --> 00:19:47,565 The fact that we pump the body full of chemicals 358 00:19:47,645 --> 00:19:50,945 and paint it with makeup and act like they’re just asleep, 359 00:19:51,065 --> 00:19:54,905 not actually dead is about processing grief 360 00:19:54,985 --> 00:19:57,735 and creating social, emotional space 361 00:19:57,822 --> 00:19:59,282 that’s deemed appropriate 362 00:19:59,407 --> 00:20:02,527 for people to have outward expressions of that grief. 363 00:20:02,618 --> 00:20:05,408 It’s celebrating life. 364 00:20:06,831 --> 00:20:08,711 SHATNER: Most people are familiar 365 00:20:08,791 --> 00:20:11,081 with commonly used embalming practices. 366 00:20:11,168 --> 00:20:14,758 But what’s less well-known, is that there have been 367 00:20:14,839 --> 00:20:16,719 some strange cases in recent history 368 00:20:16,799 --> 00:20:20,299 in which embalming was used to preserve the deceased, 369 00:20:20,428 --> 00:20:22,548 not for days or weeks, but rather 370 00:20:22,638 --> 00:20:24,348 for decades. 371 00:20:32,398 --> 00:20:35,898 At 8:25 p.m., activity throughout this bustling city 372 00:20:35,985 --> 00:20:37,365 came to an abrupt halt 373 00:20:37,445 --> 00:20:40,785 when government officials interrupted radio broadcasts 374 00:20:40,865 --> 00:20:42,125 to announce the death of 375 00:20:42,241 --> 00:20:45,621 Argentina’s First Lady, Eva Perón. 376 00:20:45,745 --> 00:20:48,125 Or, as she was more affectionately known, 377 00:20:48,205 --> 00:20:49,915 Evita. 378 00:21:31,540 --> 00:21:34,540 SHATNER: Evita’s casket drew so many mourners, 379 00:21:34,668 --> 00:21:38,668 that the funeral lasted for an astonishing 16 days. 380 00:21:38,756 --> 00:21:42,506 But what’s even more remarkable, is that Evita’s corpse 381 00:21:42,593 --> 00:21:47,433 maintained an uncanny, lifelike appearance the entire time 382 00:21:47,515 --> 00:21:50,935 because her husband, President Juan Perón, 383 00:21:51,018 --> 00:21:53,018 had gone to extraordinary lengths 384 00:21:53,145 --> 00:21:54,515 to keep her beauty intact 385 00:21:54,605 --> 00:21:58,155 by hiring a renowned embalmer 386 00:21:58,234 --> 00:22:00,694 known as Dr. Pedro Ara. 387 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,239 SHATNER: Evita’s burial monument was never built because 388 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,660 on September 19th, 1955 389 00:22:46,740 --> 00:22:50,200 Juan Perón was overthrown in a military coup, 390 00:22:50,286 --> 00:22:52,496 and Argentina’s new government chose 391 00:22:52,580 --> 00:22:57,210 to hide Evita’s embalmed body from the public. 392 00:22:58,544 --> 00:23:03,804 The location of Evita’s remains was a mystery for 16 years, 393 00:23:03,924 --> 00:23:08,054 until it was revealed in 1971 that the Argentinian government 394 00:23:08,137 --> 00:23:13,267 had secretly buried Evita in Milan, Italy in 1955. 395 00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:17,940 After this discovery, Evita’s remains were exhumed 396 00:23:18,063 --> 00:23:22,443 and brought to Spain, where Juan Perón was living in exile. 397 00:23:44,715 --> 00:23:47,975 SHATNER: Juan Perón eventually returned to Argentina, 398 00:23:48,052 --> 00:23:52,062 and at long last, on October 22, 1976, 399 00:23:52,139 --> 00:23:53,889 more than 20 years after her death, 400 00:23:53,974 --> 00:23:58,104 Evita Perón was finally laid to rest in a family crypt 401 00:23:58,187 --> 00:24:01,897 at Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. 402 00:24:01,982 --> 00:24:04,322 While the saga of Evita’s embalming 403 00:24:04,443 --> 00:24:08,243 is certainly a bizarre and unusual tale, 404 00:24:08,322 --> 00:24:12,782 in recent years, a number of people have undergone 405 00:24:12,868 --> 00:24:15,828 a similarly radical form of preservation 406 00:24:15,955 --> 00:24:20,335 that is referred to as extreme embalming. 407 00:24:20,417 --> 00:24:22,917 Extreme embalming is like it sounds like, 408 00:24:23,003 --> 00:24:25,843 embalming individuals, but taking it to a place 409 00:24:25,923 --> 00:24:28,513 beyond just having them lay in repose in a coffin 410 00:24:28,592 --> 00:24:30,972 and actually recreating the sort of poses 411 00:24:31,053 --> 00:24:33,433 they might have found themselves in in life. 412 00:24:33,514 --> 00:24:35,644 And this allows their family members 413 00:24:35,724 --> 00:24:39,314 and loved ones to actually take photos with them 414 00:24:39,395 --> 00:24:42,275 and act like they’re people who are still alive. 415 00:24:42,356 --> 00:24:45,686 TAYLOR: Extreme embalming could be a lot of different things. 416 00:24:45,776 --> 00:24:48,356 It’s as varied as the person who died. 417 00:24:48,445 --> 00:24:50,275 They will put them in a situation 418 00:24:50,364 --> 00:24:52,204 of-of what they loved during life. 419 00:24:52,282 --> 00:24:56,582 They might be reading a book, playing music, driving a car. 420 00:24:56,704 --> 00:24:59,544 And when their loved ones come to see them for the last time, 421 00:24:59,665 --> 00:25:03,045 they remember them how they were. 422 00:25:03,127 --> 00:25:07,457 Extreme embalming is trying to preserve 423 00:25:07,548 --> 00:25:11,338 that last moment in time before that person was gone forever. 424 00:25:11,427 --> 00:25:16,057 The art of extreme embalming offers the living 425 00:25:16,181 --> 00:25:18,391 a way to hold on to their deceased loved ones 426 00:25:18,517 --> 00:25:20,017 a while longer. 427 00:25:20,102 --> 00:25:23,442 But is there a way to, not just preserve the body, 428 00:25:23,564 --> 00:25:25,654 but actually bring the dead back to life? 429 00:25:26,817 --> 00:25:31,237 Well, according to the practices of Haitian voodoo, 430 00:25:31,321 --> 00:25:34,701 there may be a way to do it, but there’s a catch. 431 00:25:34,783 --> 00:25:37,203 It will cost you 432 00:25:37,286 --> 00:25:45,416 your soul. 433 00:25:45,544 --> 00:25:47,464 SHATNER: In this small village, 434 00:25:47,588 --> 00:25:50,418 Angelina Narcisse was going about her day, 435 00:25:50,549 --> 00:25:52,799 when she was approached by a man claiming to be her brother, 436 00:25:52,926 --> 00:25:54,216 Clairvius. 437 00:25:54,303 --> 00:25:56,973 It may sound like a heartwarming tale of reunion, 438 00:25:57,097 --> 00:25:59,637 but there was just one problem. 439 00:25:59,767 --> 00:26:03,307 Clairvius Narcisse had been dead and buried 440 00:26:03,437 --> 00:26:05,937 for nearly 20 years. 441 00:26:06,065 --> 00:26:09,325 DONNELLY: Clairvius was a Haitian man born in 1922. 442 00:26:09,443 --> 00:26:12,863 In the year 1962, 443 00:26:12,946 --> 00:26:15,316 he went to, uh, a hospital. 444 00:26:15,449 --> 00:26:18,699 His symptoms had been a severe fever, 445 00:26:18,786 --> 00:26:21,656 fatigue, and he’d been coughing up blood. 446 00:26:21,789 --> 00:26:24,709 His heart stopped, and he stopped breathing, 447 00:26:24,792 --> 00:26:27,632 and was declared dead and buried. 448 00:26:28,712 --> 00:26:32,342 20 years later, a man claiming to be Clairvius 449 00:26:32,466 --> 00:26:35,966 showed up at his village and approached his family. 450 00:26:36,095 --> 00:26:40,475 In many respects, his story did check out. 451 00:26:40,557 --> 00:26:44,847 He bared a physical resemblance to the deceased. 452 00:26:44,978 --> 00:26:48,148 He went by a nickname that was only known to him 453 00:26:48,232 --> 00:26:50,402 and his sister when they were very little kids. 454 00:26:50,484 --> 00:26:54,404 And so, he was able to relate certain details 455 00:26:54,488 --> 00:26:58,408 of his former life that seemed to add up. 456 00:26:58,492 --> 00:27:02,792 SHATNER: But if Clairvius Narcisse died and was buried, 457 00:27:02,871 --> 00:27:05,541 then how on earth was he alive and able to track down 458 00:27:05,666 --> 00:27:08,036 his sister almost 20 years later? 459 00:27:08,168 --> 00:27:13,008 Well, according to Clairvius, the reason he was not lying dead 460 00:27:13,090 --> 00:27:17,510 in his grave, was that a voodoo priest 461 00:27:17,636 --> 00:27:21,096 had transformed him into a zombie. 462 00:27:21,181 --> 00:27:23,681 In Haiti, a zombie is an individual 463 00:27:23,809 --> 00:27:26,729 who’s had their soul stolen by sorcery 464 00:27:26,854 --> 00:27:30,444 causing them to be sort of flung into a perpetual, uh, place 465 00:27:30,524 --> 00:27:35,204 of purgatory through this incredible transition 466 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,910 of death, rebirth, and return to the living, 467 00:27:39,032 --> 00:27:42,792 induced by the folk poison known as a Pudzombie. 468 00:27:42,870 --> 00:27:44,410 It was a plethora of ingredients, 469 00:27:44,538 --> 00:27:47,668 including various plants 470 00:27:47,749 --> 00:27:50,459 and the toxin from a fish. 471 00:27:50,544 --> 00:27:53,214 It selectively blocks sodium channels and nerves, 472 00:27:53,297 --> 00:27:57,337 bringing on paralysis until the moment of death. 473 00:27:57,426 --> 00:28:01,096 And yet, critically, if you get through that, 474 00:28:01,221 --> 00:28:04,221 you have nothing to worry about. 475 00:28:04,349 --> 00:28:07,389 This fascinating poison 476 00:28:07,477 --> 00:28:11,817 had made people appear to be dead. 477 00:28:11,899 --> 00:28:14,359 According to Clairvius, um, 478 00:28:14,443 --> 00:28:17,323 he had been paralyzed by a voodoo priest. 479 00:28:17,404 --> 00:28:21,074 This was a result of being drugged, um, 480 00:28:21,158 --> 00:28:25,698 and this paste mixture that he was forced to consume 481 00:28:25,787 --> 00:28:28,667 kept him in this death-like toper. 482 00:28:30,042 --> 00:28:32,252 Narcisse is buried, 483 00:28:32,336 --> 00:28:36,756 and the priest then dug him up from his grave 484 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:41,590 and enslaved him on a sugarcane plantation for 20 years. 485 00:28:43,096 --> 00:28:46,266 DAVIS: From the Haitian point of view, the fate of a zombie is said 486 00:28:46,391 --> 00:28:49,691 to become an indentured servant. 487 00:28:49,770 --> 00:28:52,190 And losing your soul, losing your identity, 488 00:28:52,272 --> 00:28:53,612 your personal autonomy, 489 00:28:53,690 --> 00:28:58,110 combined to make this a fate worse than death. 490 00:28:58,237 --> 00:29:02,277 SHATNER: The story of Clairvius Narcisse being buried and then revived 491 00:29:02,407 --> 00:29:04,617 as an un-dead zombie made headlines 492 00:29:04,701 --> 00:29:06,621 around the world. 493 00:29:06,745 --> 00:29:09,285 Numerous experts investigated the case 494 00:29:09,373 --> 00:29:13,963 in hopes of shedding light on what exactly took place. 495 00:29:14,044 --> 00:29:18,924 The first question on everyone’s mind was whether Clairvius 496 00:29:19,007 --> 00:29:21,837 had only appeared to be dead because he was drugged, 497 00:29:21,969 --> 00:29:25,049 or if there was some truth 498 00:29:25,138 --> 00:29:28,218 to the idea that he actually died 499 00:29:28,308 --> 00:29:32,848 and was then revived by the power of voodoo. 500 00:29:32,980 --> 00:29:35,690 What made the case of Narcisse unique 501 00:29:35,816 --> 00:29:39,736 was one single thing, he had been pronounced dead 502 00:29:39,820 --> 00:29:43,870 in an American-directed philanthropic institution, 503 00:29:43,991 --> 00:29:45,531 the Schweitzer Hospital. 504 00:29:45,659 --> 00:29:49,579 And his family members had witnessed the death 505 00:29:49,663 --> 00:29:53,043 and authenticated it at the time. 506 00:29:53,166 --> 00:29:58,546 So, all these lines of evidence led scientists to go public 507 00:29:58,672 --> 00:30:00,172 in the 1980s, 508 00:30:00,299 --> 00:30:02,379 saying they felt they had found the first 509 00:30:02,509 --> 00:30:06,009 medically verifiable instance of zombification. 510 00:30:06,096 --> 00:30:11,056 SHATNER: There are many theories as to what caused Clairvius Narcisse 511 00:30:11,184 --> 00:30:14,734 to be declared dead and then seemingly brought back to life. 512 00:30:14,855 --> 00:30:17,575 Ultimately, what happened to him remains a mystery, 513 00:30:17,691 --> 00:30:21,401 but many Haitians are convinced 514 00:30:21,528 --> 00:30:25,528 that Clairvius did, in fact, rise from the grave. 515 00:30:27,284 --> 00:30:30,624 And for some, his story is a reminder 516 00:30:30,704 --> 00:30:33,214 that the distinction between the living and the dead 517 00:30:33,332 --> 00:30:37,592 may not be as clear-cut as we commonly think. 518 00:30:37,711 --> 00:30:40,841 Narcisse never doubted that he’d become a zombie. 519 00:30:40,922 --> 00:30:44,682 In Haiti, a zombie is a complete pariah 520 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:46,720 who walks the edge between life and death 521 00:30:46,845 --> 00:30:50,215 and will do so for the rest of their existence. 522 00:30:50,307 --> 00:30:54,057 And so, this idea that a person 523 00:30:54,144 --> 00:30:56,734 could be brought back to life 524 00:30:56,855 --> 00:31:01,725 fills all of us with mystery and trepidation and dread. 525 00:31:02,944 --> 00:31:07,624 Can a combination of fish toxin and poisonous plants 526 00:31:07,741 --> 00:31:13,251 actually transform the recently deceased into an undead slave? 527 00:31:14,247 --> 00:31:16,747 (scoffs) It may sound far-fetched, 528 00:31:16,875 --> 00:31:19,585 but the truth is that, for centuries, 529 00:31:19,711 --> 00:31:22,131 some people have believed in the possibility 530 00:31:22,255 --> 00:31:25,585 of what is known as reanimation. 531 00:31:25,717 --> 00:31:30,007 And there are many experts who claim that, someday soon, 532 00:31:30,097 --> 00:31:32,767 modern medicine will finally figure out 533 00:31:32,849 --> 00:31:42,479 how to bring back the dead. 534 00:31:42,609 --> 00:31:45,239 SHATNER: Scientists at the University of Utah 535 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,280 publish a study in the journal Nature 536 00:31:47,364 --> 00:31:51,704 announcing the results of an extraordinary experiment. 537 00:31:51,785 --> 00:31:56,795 The team took eye cells from a deceased person 538 00:31:56,915 --> 00:31:59,745 and then, using electrical stimulation, 539 00:31:59,835 --> 00:32:02,385 they reanimated the dead cells 540 00:32:02,462 --> 00:32:06,222 and brought them back to life. 541 00:32:06,299 --> 00:32:10,349 Experiments like this highlight the fact that, uh, death 542 00:32:10,470 --> 00:32:14,060 is not always absolute when it comes to understanding 543 00:32:14,141 --> 00:32:17,481 what is happening in this field of the biology of death. 544 00:32:17,561 --> 00:32:20,191 Death is still defined, 545 00:32:20,313 --> 00:32:24,573 per what is known as the Harvard ad hoc brain death definition, 546 00:32:24,651 --> 00:32:27,741 as irreversible coma. 547 00:32:27,821 --> 00:32:30,621 But will death be irreversible for the foreseeable future? 548 00:32:30,699 --> 00:32:31,869 Not at all. 549 00:32:31,992 --> 00:32:35,292 SHATNER: It seems that, after centuries of using 550 00:32:35,370 --> 00:32:38,410 sacred rites to show reverence for the deceased, 551 00:32:38,498 --> 00:32:42,668 humanity may be on the cusp of harnessing modern technology 552 00:32:42,794 --> 00:32:46,464 to make death itself a thing of the past. 553 00:32:49,342 --> 00:32:53,052 While that may seem like a bizarre possibility to consider, 554 00:32:53,180 --> 00:32:56,680 the truth is that, since the 19th century, many people 555 00:32:56,766 --> 00:33:01,146 have tried to use science to reanimate the dead, 556 00:33:01,229 --> 00:33:04,109 rather than perform rituals to honor them. 557 00:33:04,191 --> 00:33:06,781 One of the first of these scientists 558 00:33:06,860 --> 00:33:12,200 was an Italian doctor named Giovanni Aldini. 559 00:33:12,282 --> 00:33:16,662 Giovanni Aldini used a-a battery to make frog legs twitch 560 00:33:16,745 --> 00:33:21,125 and then moved on to, um, sheep and pig and cow and ox. 561 00:33:22,542 --> 00:33:24,962 But, naturally, he wanted to see 562 00:33:25,045 --> 00:33:28,015 what it would do to human tissue. 563 00:33:28,089 --> 00:33:32,759 He managed to acquire a body, and he hooked up his battery 564 00:33:32,886 --> 00:33:37,386 and was able to make, uh, the facial muscles contort. 565 00:33:37,474 --> 00:33:42,734 The left eye opened, and it even took a deep breath. 566 00:33:43,897 --> 00:33:47,647 As it happens, a friend of Aldini’s 567 00:33:47,734 --> 00:33:51,284 had a daughter by the name of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, 568 00:33:51,404 --> 00:33:56,034 who remembered the story and was inspired by it. 569 00:33:56,117 --> 00:34:00,157 And years later, she would write the novel Frankenstein 570 00:34:00,247 --> 00:34:02,537 under her married name, Mary Shelley. 571 00:34:02,624 --> 00:34:06,634 SHATNER: Published in 1818, Mary Shelley’s seminal novel 572 00:34:06,753 --> 00:34:09,763 tells the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, 573 00:34:09,839 --> 00:34:14,089 who develops a method to restore life to dead matter. 574 00:34:14,219 --> 00:34:16,599 He assembles a human from various body parts, 575 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:22,100 but, after bringing it to life, he’s horrified by his creation. 576 00:34:23,478 --> 00:34:25,018 McNEILL: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 577 00:34:25,105 --> 00:34:27,195 does a very interesting thing because 578 00:34:27,274 --> 00:34:31,074 we get our first incarnation of a mad scientist, 579 00:34:31,152 --> 00:34:33,532 someone going too far, 580 00:34:33,613 --> 00:34:36,573 trying to act as a god 581 00:34:36,658 --> 00:34:38,528 in ways that maybe shouldn’t be done, 582 00:34:38,618 --> 00:34:40,998 and we get this resulting monster. 583 00:34:41,121 --> 00:34:43,871 SHATNER: You would think that the notoriety 584 00:34:43,957 --> 00:34:46,457 of Dr. Frankenstein and his monstrous creation 585 00:34:46,585 --> 00:34:49,005 would dissuade scientists 586 00:34:49,129 --> 00:34:52,419 from trying to tamper with corpses, 587 00:34:52,507 --> 00:34:54,427 but in the 1920s and ’30s, 588 00:34:54,509 --> 00:34:58,299 a Soviet scientist named Sergei Brukhonenko 589 00:34:58,388 --> 00:35:01,808 conducted a series of grisly experiments 590 00:35:01,891 --> 00:35:03,731 that seemed to ignore the warnings 591 00:35:03,810 --> 00:35:06,400 of Mary Shelley’s novel. 592 00:35:29,878 --> 00:35:33,878 Sergei Brukhonenko is maybe most famous for 593 00:35:34,007 --> 00:35:36,837 the process by which dogs, 594 00:35:36,926 --> 00:35:38,966 those are the main experimental animals, 595 00:35:39,054 --> 00:35:41,014 were drained of blood, 596 00:35:41,097 --> 00:35:46,017 all the blood was taken out, and they died. 597 00:35:46,144 --> 00:35:50,774 Then, the autojektor put the oxygenated blood 598 00:35:50,857 --> 00:35:55,567 back into the dog, and it came back to life. 599 00:35:56,780 --> 00:35:59,660 PASTOR: Sergei Brukhonenko set the stage for what 600 00:35:59,741 --> 00:36:02,411 we know as modern-day heart and lung machines 601 00:36:02,535 --> 00:36:05,245 that we use nowadays, and which potentially 602 00:36:05,372 --> 00:36:08,672 will use in the future for doing more ambitious research. 603 00:36:08,750 --> 00:36:11,170 There’s a lot of cutting-edge research out there 604 00:36:11,252 --> 00:36:14,172 that may have a bit of a unpalatable feel to many. 605 00:36:14,255 --> 00:36:18,045 We’re talking about the ability to regrow limbs, 606 00:36:18,134 --> 00:36:19,974 regrow major parts of the heart, and, of course, 607 00:36:20,053 --> 00:36:23,683 significant parts of the brain, as a way to reanimate life. 608 00:36:23,765 --> 00:36:27,315 SHATNER: But if and when humanity is finally able 609 00:36:27,394 --> 00:36:31,024 to reverse death, what will be the consequences? 610 00:36:33,441 --> 00:36:36,031 Is it really a good idea to break 611 00:36:36,111 --> 00:36:38,111 with thousands of years of tradition, 612 00:36:38,238 --> 00:36:43,118 by not allowing the dead to rest in peace? 613 00:36:43,243 --> 00:36:47,253 We have entered an era where the questions 614 00:36:47,372 --> 00:36:51,712 of what science can do versus what science should do 615 00:36:51,793 --> 00:36:53,633 is especially poignant. 616 00:36:53,753 --> 00:36:58,173 Funerary rites are explicitly stated 617 00:36:58,258 --> 00:37:01,138 to be about shepherding the soul 618 00:37:01,261 --> 00:37:05,601 from life into death. 619 00:37:05,682 --> 00:37:09,602 But if a body is reanimated, 620 00:37:09,728 --> 00:37:11,688 where does the soul go? 621 00:37:11,771 --> 00:37:15,691 It changes how we understand 622 00:37:15,775 --> 00:37:18,985 the real pragmatics of death. 623 00:37:20,155 --> 00:37:22,915 Is it possible that science will one day allow us 624 00:37:22,991 --> 00:37:27,291 to create living people out of dead people’s body parts? 625 00:37:27,412 --> 00:37:30,372 The notion of millions of actual Frankenstein monsters 626 00:37:30,457 --> 00:37:32,827 roaming the streets is certainly difficult to fathom. 627 00:37:32,959 --> 00:37:37,759 But, as it turns out, cemeteries are getting so full, 628 00:37:37,839 --> 00:37:40,259 they’re actually running out of space, 629 00:37:40,341 --> 00:37:45,891 and this has led to a host of new and strange methods 630 00:37:45,972 --> 00:37:48,472 for interring the dead. 631 00:37:54,856 --> 00:37:58,316 SHATNER: The South Korean government passes a controversial law 632 00:37:58,443 --> 00:38:00,953 declaring that people can remain buried 633 00:38:01,029 --> 00:38:03,699 for only 60 years. 634 00:38:03,823 --> 00:38:05,203 After 60 years, 635 00:38:05,325 --> 00:38:08,125 their body must be exhumed and disposed of 636 00:38:08,203 --> 00:38:11,213 in an environmentally friendly manner. 637 00:38:11,331 --> 00:38:14,331 The idea of so-called "temporary burials" 638 00:38:14,417 --> 00:38:17,297 may sound shocking, but the fact is 639 00:38:17,378 --> 00:38:19,878 graveyard space has been dwindling 640 00:38:20,006 --> 00:38:23,466 all around the world for decades. 641 00:38:23,551 --> 00:38:26,471 Today, in most countries in the world 642 00:38:26,554 --> 00:38:28,184 where burial is still practiced, 643 00:38:28,306 --> 00:38:31,016 people are buried for a-a temporary period. 644 00:38:31,100 --> 00:38:34,650 You, in effect, lease a grave site, 645 00:38:34,729 --> 00:38:36,859 and then, eventually, your remains are removed. 646 00:38:36,981 --> 00:38:40,991 This is, in large part, a response to 647 00:38:41,069 --> 00:38:43,149 the fact that there’s a lot of people on Earth-- 648 00:38:43,238 --> 00:38:44,528 over seven billion now-- 649 00:38:44,656 --> 00:38:47,826 and we’re still dying, as we always have. 650 00:38:47,909 --> 00:38:50,079 Eventually, we run out of land, 651 00:38:50,203 --> 00:38:52,043 and there’s no more space for burial. 652 00:38:52,163 --> 00:38:56,383 And so, burial is becoming less and less common. 653 00:38:56,501 --> 00:38:59,501 Cremation has become more and more popular, uh, 654 00:38:59,587 --> 00:39:01,087 in many parts of the world. 655 00:39:01,214 --> 00:39:04,434 SHATNER: In the last 65 years, 656 00:39:04,551 --> 00:39:07,551 cremations have risen in the United States 657 00:39:07,679 --> 00:39:09,889 by over 1,000%. 658 00:39:10,014 --> 00:39:13,104 In fact, since 2015, more than half of all Americans 659 00:39:13,226 --> 00:39:16,896 who passed away chose to have their remains cremated. 660 00:39:16,980 --> 00:39:20,400 And many people are experimenting with new ways 661 00:39:20,483 --> 00:39:23,903 to handle their ashes. 662 00:39:24,028 --> 00:39:26,158 In the past, when someone was cremated, 663 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:28,739 you put all of the ashes in the urn. 664 00:39:28,867 --> 00:39:34,577 And yet, today, there are all kinds of alternatives. 665 00:39:34,706 --> 00:39:37,036 People want to have their ashes spread 666 00:39:37,125 --> 00:39:38,925 at all their favorite places. 667 00:39:39,002 --> 00:39:40,882 So, the body is spread out. 668 00:39:40,962 --> 00:39:44,422 LAYCOCK: More recently, as far as what people can do 669 00:39:44,507 --> 00:39:46,377 with those cremains, 670 00:39:46,467 --> 00:39:50,007 you can have your ashes turned into a diamond. 671 00:39:50,096 --> 00:39:53,266 In Korea, there is a company that turns your cremains 672 00:39:53,349 --> 00:39:58,309 into a jar of pellets that look a bit like caviar. 673 00:39:58,438 --> 00:39:59,938 There have been people having their ashes 674 00:40:00,023 --> 00:40:02,403 mixed with concrete and dumped in the ocean 675 00:40:02,483 --> 00:40:06,243 where they can become part of a coral reef. 676 00:40:06,321 --> 00:40:09,871 There’s so many things that you can do with cremains. 677 00:40:09,949 --> 00:40:13,539 One of the strangest things that I’ve seen 678 00:40:13,620 --> 00:40:18,750 in my career as an embalmer and mortician 679 00:40:18,833 --> 00:40:21,843 is I did have someone request 680 00:40:21,961 --> 00:40:25,921 that I put their loved one’s 681 00:40:26,007 --> 00:40:29,297 cremated remains into buckshot, 682 00:40:29,385 --> 00:40:31,965 like shells, and they wanted to be shot. 683 00:40:32,096 --> 00:40:35,136 SHATNER: Being shot from a gun certainly makes the notion 684 00:40:35,224 --> 00:40:38,484 of a traditional burial feel rather mundane. 685 00:40:38,603 --> 00:40:40,983 However, one thing most experts agree on is that, 686 00:40:41,105 --> 00:40:45,185 in the final analysis, it ultimately doesn’t matter 687 00:40:45,318 --> 00:40:48,278 how we say farewell to a person and their remains. 688 00:40:48,363 --> 00:40:51,823 Rather, it’s what we say 689 00:40:51,908 --> 00:40:55,158 that is of far greater importance. 690 00:40:55,244 --> 00:40:58,794 These are moments that would happen biologically 691 00:40:58,873 --> 00:41:01,383 without human interference, 692 00:41:01,501 --> 00:41:05,801 but we cluster our rituals and our beliefs around them. 693 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,800 And following these guidelines 694 00:41:08,883 --> 00:41:11,223 tells us one very important thing, 695 00:41:11,344 --> 00:41:12,894 this person’s still here. 696 00:41:13,012 --> 00:41:16,022 If they weren’t still here, if some element of them, 697 00:41:16,099 --> 00:41:18,519 their soul, their spirit weren’t still here, 698 00:41:18,601 --> 00:41:20,351 we wouldn’t need to do these things. 699 00:41:20,436 --> 00:41:22,186 So, the fact that we do them 700 00:41:22,271 --> 00:41:27,861 helps remind us that there’s still something of that person. 701 00:41:27,986 --> 00:41:30,856 So, would you like your body to be transformed 702 00:41:30,989 --> 00:41:32,699 into a piece of jewelry? 703 00:41:32,824 --> 00:41:35,374 Or planted with a tree? 704 00:41:35,493 --> 00:41:37,243 It may sound unusual, but then again, 705 00:41:37,370 --> 00:41:39,870 how can we really say for certain 706 00:41:39,956 --> 00:41:44,246 what is or is not a proper burial? 707 00:41:44,377 --> 00:41:47,207 There’s no doubt technology will play a role 708 00:41:47,338 --> 00:41:50,128 in how we are laid to rest in the future, 709 00:41:50,216 --> 00:41:53,836 or perhaps it’ll be hard drives and holograms 710 00:41:53,928 --> 00:41:56,808 that will allow us to live forever. 711 00:41:56,889 --> 00:42:01,059 It’s an interesting notion, but, for now, it remains 712 00:42:01,185 --> 00:42:03,515 unexplained. 713 00:42:03,604 --> 00:42:05,864 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS