 The fear of being buried alive peaked during the cholera epidemics of the 18th and 19th centuries, but accounts of unintentional live burial have been recorded even earlier.The fears of being buried alive were heightened by reports of doctors and accounts in literature and the newspapers.As well as dealing with the subject in "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Premature Burial", which was published in 1844.