Essie Dunbar is believed to have died in 1915 after she suffered from an epileptic seizure. According to legend, Essie was discovered to be alive in the middle of her funeral! The details of how the events occurred are truly shocking.
DK Briggs, a doctor from Blackville, South Carolina, visited Essie during the summer of 1915. Briggs is the one who examined Essie and was also the one who determined she was dead.
The funeral for Essie was delayed because her sister had to travel to be there. By the time her sister arrived, Essie was already buried. Even though it was frowned upon by authorities, they allowed Essie’s remains to be dug up so her sister could say her farewells.
Once they dug Essie up and removed the nails from the coffin, they were not expecting to see a woman full of life and smiling back at them, but that is exactly what they saw.
It is said that the three ministers fell backward into the grave, and one of them had three fractured ribs from the other two stomping on him in their attempts to climb out of the grave they fell in. Even her sister ran away screaming, thinking Essie was a ghost.
Many thought that Essie was a zombie, and others thought she was a ghost. The people in town feared Essie for years because they still thought she was a walking zombie. The narrator states, “As far as we can tell there are no first-person contemporaneously published testimonies that support this story.”
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It seems that newspaper articles from decades later are the most reliable source of information about this story and its existence. It is said that Essie’s story was improved upon the more it was told and retold.
Her story was then brought back to life in the newspapers after DK Briggs died in 1955. Essie died for the second and final time on May 22, 1962.
To view Essie’s full story, click the video!
