For most of us, being buried alive is a nightmare scenario. But not for performers who were billed as “burial artists.” They did it countless times. On purpose.
The king was “Country” Bill White who held the Guinness Record for longest period of time voluntarily buried underground.
Beginning in the mid-1960s until 1987, the Texan regularly performed the bizarre publicity stunt and billed himself as the ‘Living Corpse.’
Initially, White did it for kicks just to see if he could withstand the stress. He emulated another burial artist he’d met, and Country Bill broke that man’s underground record, which in 1964 was 49 days.
White allowed himself to be buried in a plywood box that usually measured 3’ x 3’ x 6’ - as claustrophobically confining as any ordinary coffin.
His custom-made box had modifications, however, such as a clear plastic window through which visitors could view White. Ventilation tubes for oxygen were necessary, of course. Sometimes, White was buried with a working telephone so he could communicate with people above ground.
Eventually, Bill White was hired to help promote new businesses. He would be buried alive at the grand opening of a drive-in movie theater or a new country western music bar or a car dealership or a strip club.
White doubled as a musician and used the burials to promote and sell his own country records.
The stunts had plenty of near disasters over the years. Rain would sometimes seep his coffin and he would need to be dug out. Bugs and snakes and mice would burrow inside. White claimed to thwart the critters with spray deodorant.
Visitors came from far and wide to see the man in the coffin, including adoring women. One such admirer was Lottie Howard. She got White’s underground telephone number and called him throughout one extremely long burial stunt. While still below ground, he proposed to her. She accepted.
The wedding ceremony took place while Lottie was performing her own burial stunt. They were officially married while Bill was above ground and she was below. She reached her hand through a specially created opening so Bill could place a ring on her finger.
Lottie then got in on the act and billed herself as ‘Mrs. Living Corpse.’ However, she never could last underground as long as Bill. They eventually divorced.
1978: A radio station in Massachusetts hired Country Bill White and he broke his own record - 134 days of burial. He claimed to have been underground throughout the entirety of the state’s worst blizzard.
1981: White broke his own record again in Texas at a country bar - 140 consecutive days. That’s over four and a half months!
By 1987, however, the Guinness Book of World Records stopped recording the feats of burial artists because they didn’t want to promote something so dangerous.
White was in his mid-50s by then and had been through enough, so he retired from his strange career.
All of the days he spent below ground during his lifetime cumulatively added up to roughly two years.
Country Bill White died and was buried - for good - in 2006.
top of page
Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page
Comments