How Long Can You Live If You Get Buried Alive?

Being buried alive generally doesn't end well for people who aren't named Beatrix Kiddo or Harry Houdini, and even Houdini nearly dug his own grave in 1915. As author J.D. Rockefeller describes, this was Houdini's first at-bat for the burial routine. He may have struck out due to a distinct lack of casket. After trapping his casketless body six feet under, he tried and failed to dig himself out of the literal hole he created. He lost consciousness and needed to be rescued. After surviving an actual dirt nap Houdini would later perform modified versions of the escape in which he encased himself in a casket "buried" under water or sand inside a tank. In those cases he lasted at least an hour. 

However, future illusionists would attempt to succeed where Houdini failed. Per The Guardian, in 1940, the lazily named escapologist Alan Alan pulled a Houdini in that he needed to be saved after burying himself. In 2015, magician Antony Britton almost had an impromptu funeral of his own. Handcuffed and buried without a casket, Britton passed out underground, and his unconscious body was exhumed after nine minutes of failure. Obviously, you shouldn't try this at home or at your local cemetery. But you might wonder how long you might survive underground before a sorcerer or well-trained paramedic has to raise you from the dead.

Between a rot and a hard place

According to Popular Science, experts provide very different estimates of how long it would take before your burial to become timely. Some say you'd die in 10 minutes while others give you between 6 and 36 hours to live. Obviously, whether you're buried in a casket makes a significant difference. Inverse writes that someone buried without a barrier between them and the dirt at a depth of six feet will have about 3697 pounds of soil on top of them. That crushing weight would compress your chest as dirt fills your mouth and nostrils. Considering that brain damage begins after 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation, you'd probably be a goner in a heartbeat.

By contrast, if you find yourself in a coffin prematurely — as in so prematurely you haven't died yet — you may have several hours to live. The duration depends in part on how large you are. Inverse says that the average adult uses 550 liters of oxygen a day, which would give that person roughly seven hours before oxygen runs out. Of course, since you'd have nowhere to run, your fate, much like your casket, would be sealed.