On 27 March 1634, John Bartendale stood on the scaffold outside Micklegate Bar, York with a noose around his neck. Bartendale was a piper, a wandering musician who had turned to crime and been convicted of a felony. It seemed his piping days were over.
The hangman pulled the lever, and Bartendale dropped through the trapdoor. The last thing he saw were flashes of fire that seemed to dart into his eyes, followed by darkness and nothingness. The gathered crowds saw the unfortunate musician dance his last jig. He was left dangling for three quarters of an hour before being cut down, stripped of his clothes and buried nearby.
Some hours later, Bartendale became aware of being encased in dark and clammy earth. He began to struggle with such violence that the earth on top of his grave undulated, attracting the attention of a passing eminent gentleman, Mr Vavasour of Hazlewood Castle.
Vavasour and his servant got a spade and began digging into the strangely moving dirt and soon uncovered a naked man. John Bartendale opened his eyes, sat up and asked where he was and how he’d got there. He was helped from the grave and Vavasour covered his nakedness with his cloak. Soon word spread and crowds gathered to witness the seeming miracle of a dead man sitting on the side of his grave back from his journey to the other side.
Bartendale was taken back to York Castle and was soon in front of the judge who had already executed him once before. There was a great deal of public sympathy for the piper who came back from the dead, and Mr Vavasour appealed on his behalf. The judge, unwilling to go against providence, gave Bartendale a full reprieve to great celebration.
Of course, he was asked what he had seen as the hangman had sent him hurtling into the next world, though the flashes of fire in his eyes were all he could recall.
We’re told he became an honest man.
For more weird tales of premature burials, see here:
Paul Weatherhead 