Reiss records the death of a woman who was hastily buried while
her husband was away, and on his return he ordered exhumation of
her body, and on opening the coffin a child's cry was heard. The
infant had evidently been born postmortem. It lived long
afterward under the name of "Fils de la terre." Willoughby
mentions the curious instance in which rumbling was heard from
the coffin of a woman during her hasty burial. One of her
neighbors returned to the grave, applied her ear to the ground,
and was sure she heard a sighing noise. A soldier with her
affirmed her tale, and together they went to a clergyman and a
justice, begging that the grave be opened. When the coffin was
opened it was found that a child had been born, which had
descended to her knees. In Derbyshire, to this day, may be seen
on the parish register: "April ye 20, 1650, was buried Emme, the
wife of Thomas Toplace, who was found delivered of a child after
she had lain two hours in the grave."
Johannes Matthaeus relates the case of a buried woman, and that
some time afterward a noise was heard in the tomb. The coffin was
immediately opened, and a living female child rolled to the feet
of the corpse. Hagendorn mentions the birth of a living child
some hours after the death of the mother.
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