Taphophobia

Taphophobia, from the Greek taphos, grave or tomb, and phobos, fear, is an abnormal, psychopathological fear of being buried alive after being incorrectly pronounced dead. The fear reflects a historical anxiety, common in earlier centuries before reliable methods existed for confirming death, that a person might be mistakenly declared deceased and interred while still alive. That historical concern shaped funerary customs such as waiting periods before burial, mortuary safety features and even patented burial-alarm coffins designed to let a live occupant signal for help. As a clinical phobia today, taphophobia can produce intense anxiety focused specifically on burial and premature interment, distinct from a more general fear of death or of cemeteries, and sufferers may go to considerable lengths, including cremation preferences or formal instructions to next of kin, to guard against the feared scenario.