Indiana Man Feared Being Buried Alive Haunts Cemetery by Phone

Ok, for the record, I consider ANY cemetery spooky, but experts in all things haunted, seem to think that this one in Terre Haute is extremely spooky. According to HauntedPlaces.Org, there are a couple of legendary ghosts that haunt the Highland Lawn Cemetery.

Stiffy Green

The first one is about a dog. Well, a phantom bulldog. The legend says that there was a nice older man that had a dog named Stiffy Green. When Stiffy's owner passed away, he refused to leave the cemetery. Even though visitors to the cemetery brought him food and water, Stiffy Green eventually died in the mausoleum. Someone had him stuffed and put in the mausoleum with his owner. People say they have heard him barking, some have seen their ghosts and smelled the owner's pipe.

As Michael Scott says, 'Nope. Don't like that!'

via GIPHY

 The Man Who Feared Being Buried Alive: The Unusual Tale of Martin Sheets

For most of us, the thought of being buried alive is a nightmarish scenario that rarely crosses our minds. However, for one man by the name of Martin Sheets, this fear was so profound that he took extraordinary measures to ensure it would never happen to him. In a story that blends the bizarre with the macabre, Martin Sheets's obsession with escaping this terrifying fate led to a unique and somewhat eerie chapter in his life.

He commissioned the construction of a custom coffin, but it wasn't your typical burial vessel. This coffin came equipped with latches on the inside, a peculiar feature intended to provide an escape route if the unthinkable ever occurred. For Martin, it was a matter of life and death, quite literally.

Ring, Ring...

But that's not all. Martin Sheets was adamant that he would not rest in peace beneath the earth's surface like most of the departed. Instead, he had a specific final resting place in mind—a mausoleum. To make his afterlife accommodations even more distinctive, he had a phone installed inside the mausoleum. Not just any phone, mind you, but one that he ensured would remain operational for several years after his passing.

Fears Come to Life, After Death

As fate would have it, Martin Sheets's preoccupation with avoiding a premature burial took a strange turn after his wife's demise. In a somewhat eerie twist, she was found holding the phone inside the mausoleum when they came to lay her to rest. It's believed she was desperately trying to call for help in the afterlife, perhaps mirroring her husband's own fears.

It Gets Weirder

Yet, the strangest part of this peculiar tale is what happened next. When Martin's wife was discovered with the phone in hand, the unexpected occurred. His phone, which had been carefully set up to remain connected, was inexplicably off the hook. So, if you ever happen to find yourself near a mausoleum and hear the faint ringing of a phone within, you might want to think twice before answering.

Private property should be respected at all times, as should all posted signs concerning trespassing, hours of operation, and other local regulations.