In Joplin, Missouri, word spread of a death so strange and gruesome that it seems almost impossible: a young woman reportedly died of fright while sitting up overnight with the corpse of a friend.
The body, stiffened and bent from years of illness, had been tied down so it could be straightened for burial. Then, in the middle of the night, one careless step snapped the rope.
The corpse sat upright.
What happened next sent the room into panic and, according to the report, cost Miss Mary Garling her life.
Corpse Sat Up
JOPLIN, Mo. — Word was received in this city of the death of Miss Mary Garling from fright, at Garton, as the result of sitting up with the corpse of a friend.
An undertaker, in order to get the body of Thomas Sharon, a cripple, of that place, straightened out sufficiently to get it into a casket, laid it out on a cooling board with ropes tied to nails driven into the floor. Sharon had died of rheumatism and was so stooped in life that when he walked, his hands touched the ground.
Neighbors were sitting up with the corpse during the night, among them being Miss Garling, when one of the watchers stumbled over the rope that passed across the body of the corpse. The rope broke and the corpse sat up, facing Mary Garling.
The watchers fled from the room except the Garling woman, who uttered a shriek and fell to the floor in a dead swoon. When the watchers returned they found the corpse in a sitting position, its glassy eyes wide open, while Miss Garling lay upon the floor unconscious. She died in a short time.
Source: The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas. February 27, 1902.
