Lived once, buried twice: the mystery of Marjorie McColl
In 1705, a woman in the Irish town of Lurgan was believed to have died from a severe fever. Her family arranged a hurried burial, never realizing that she was still alive.
Marjorie McColl had become dangerously ill, and her condition appeared hopeless. At the time, doctors had limited ways to determine whether an unconscious person had actually died. Fear of infection also encouraged families to arrange funerals quickly.
Her husband, John McColl, was a local physician. Before the burial, he reportedly tried to remove a valuable ring from Marjorie’s swollen finger. He could not get it off, so she was buried with the ring still in place.
That decision soon attracted unwanted attention. Grave robbers noticed the fresh burial and returned during the night, hoping to steal the valuable ring.
When they opened the coffin, the thieves struggled to remove it. They eventually tried to cut the ring from Marjorie’s finger. The pain apparently brought the woman out of her deep unconscious state.
To their horror, Marjorie suddenly moved and screamed. The terrified grave robbers abandoned the coffin and ran away, leaving her alive inside the open grave.
Still dressed in her burial clothes and covered with earth, Marjorie managed to climb out and make her way home.
What happened next became an even darker part of the legend. John opened the door and found his supposedly dead wife standing before him. The shock was reportedly so great that he collapsed and died.
VIDEO. Lived Once – Buried Twice – The True Story Of Marjorie Mccall. YouTube Channel Grave Visitations.
The strange story behind the famous gravestone
John was eventually buried in the grave that had originally been prepared for Marjorie. She survived the ordeal and later rebuilt her life, marrying again and having several children.
Years later, Marjorie died for real. She was buried at Shankill Cemetery in Lurgan, where a gravestone is traditionally associated with her remarkable story.
Its famous inscription reads: “Lived once, buried twice.”
The tale is often presented as a documented historical event, although some details have also been repeated as local legend over the centuries. Stories of people being mistakenly declared dead were particularly powerful in earlier periods, when medical methods for confirming death were far less reliable than they are today.
Whether every detail of the Marjorie McColl story happened exactly as later accounts describe remains difficult to establish. Yet the inscription connected with her name has helped preserve one of Lurgan’s strangest historical tales.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about it:Wikipedia — Lady with the Ring. Wikipedia — Lurgan.
A shocking story was previously reported in India. There, a man dug up and brought the remains of his sister to a bank after being asked to provide her death certificate.
