The Story of Jackson, Michigan 7-Year-Old Who Was Allegedly Buried Alive

There's a haunted and terrifyingly crazy story of a poor unfortunate soul by the name of Mary McNaughton who passed away at the age of 7 in Jackson, MI. Obviously, anytime a child passes away it's a tragedy, but the manner of her death is something that nightmares are made of, as it's said she was buried alive.

Mary suffered from peritonitis after getting an infection and on July 18^th, 1892, her appendix ruptured and it was presumed she had died. That was until one night her screams woke her mother up from a dream. After she was buried her mother claimed she had a dream where Mary was screaming uncontrollably. When she and her husband went to dig up the grave, the worst of her fears were said to have been true:

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As the lid was removed, to their horror, there before them were deep and desperate scratch marks gouged into the lid of the coffin. Mary lie there in true rigor mortis with her face twisted in agony and little hands bloodied and worn raw proving that her mother’s worst fears were real. Little Mary had indeed been mistakenly buried alive and despite her feeble attempts to escape her fate, she had suffocated in that casket shortly after being put into the earth.

 

The family plot where little Mary is buried to this day is in a little-known small wooded section of land with footpaths and walkways between the back of Elm Street Cemetery entrance and behind the Blake Woods Medical Center. Although entry is forbidden, you may be able to convince groundskeepers to give you a tour to pay your respects.