The Curious Grave Of Dr Timothy Clark Smith

Evergreen Cemetery is placed within the West River neighborhood of New Haven, Vermont, and at this cemetery you will find the very odd, yet very intriguing grave stone of Doctor Timothy Clark Smith.

Prior to ‘death’, Dr. Timothy Clark Smith was very concerned about being accidentally buried alive, so much that he had a very unique crypt created as his final resting place. You see, Dr. Smith was deeply afraid of contracting sleeping sickness, a disease that gave the illusion of death until the unfortunate individual woke up buried alive.

Upon his death on on ‘All Hallows Eve’ in 1893, Dr Smith was placed into the Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, Vermont within the confines of his unique crypt. The crypt had a very odd slab of granite, which was placed upon a grassy mound. This granite marker was fixed with a small 14″x14″ window that he had installed at the surface of his grave, six feet above his tomb. The small window was fixed squarely on Dr. Smith’s face so that people could check on him to ensure that he himself had not been buried alive.

Cemetery records show that there is a second room within the burial crypt which houses Timothy’s wife. A set of stairs lead into the crypt, capped by the stone in the lower front of the mound.

The marker’s glass window is now weathered, stained and typically hazy with condensation, which makes it essentially impossible to see Dr. Smith’s remains. However some people in the past have claimed to have seen the skeletal face of the Doctor looming just beneath the surface, along with a hammer and chisel lying on his chest to aid in his escape in the event of him being buried alive. There is also a breathing tube that flows to the surface and a bell, just in case the Doctor happens to wake up.