Lived Once - Buried Twice

by Faun Grey

In 1705, an Irish housewife named Margorie McCall died of a fever. She was hastily buried to prevent the spread of whatever illness she had. She was buried with a valuable ring that couldn't be removed due to swelling.

The evening she was buried, grave robbers

showed up to take the ring. When they tried to

cut the finger off, Margorie suddenly woke up

and screamed. The grave robbers were

frightened out of their wits and scattered.

Margorie climbed out of the hole and made her

way home.

When her husband John opened the door, he

found his recently deceased wife standing there,

still in her burial clothes with blood dripping

from her hands. The unfortunate husband

dropped dead on the spot, and was buried in the

grave recently occupied by Margorie.

Margorie went on to remarry and have more

children. When she finally died (for real this

time), she was returned to Shankill Cemetery in

Lurgan, Northern Ireland, where her gravestone

bears the inscription “Lived Once, Buried Twice.

According to Wikipedia, this legend has been around for many years, and variations are repeated in Germany, Scotland, England, and Ireland. Supposedly, the gravestone above was placed as a tourist attraction.

The following details are included in some versions of the story:

• the grave robber instantly dies of fright after the woman awakes;

• the woman walks a considerable distance from her burial spot to her home;

• the woman's husband or other people at her house think that she is a ghost and refuse her entry into the house;

• the person refusing entry to the woman tells the woman that it would be as impossible for her to return from the dead as it would be for horses to leave their stable and run up the stairs in the house; immediately after making this comparison, horses are heard and seen with their heads emerging from a high window of the house; when this occurs, the person refusing entry realises that the woman is not a ghost;

• the woman lives for many more years and gives birth to numerous children;

• the woman's husband dies of fright upon seeing her.

Whether true or not, it makes for a good story!