On a dark gray background sprinkled with dirt, a skeletal hand reaches upward, a string tied to its finger. That string reaches to a bell above. Green and white text around this image reads: Funeral fun fact - Coffin bells were real! In 1829, Dr. Johann Gottfried Taberger designed a bell system. He attached strings to corpses' heads, hands, and feet. The strings attached to bells to alert the cemetery watchman. deadparentswhatnow.com

Dr. Taberger's wasn't the only coffin bell system. And it wasn't perfect. As the corpse decayed, it moved, causing the bell to ring even though the person inside the grave was extremely dead.

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