I recently typed something for someone who included an article about life in 1400s and early 1500s in England. It also reveals the true source of a lot of common expressions, which was very interesting. The others are completely OT, but if anyone is interested, I could send it in a PM, or if the moderators think it's suitable, add it here.
Anyway, as to the burial alive (which also explains a couple of common expressions), it said:
"England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realised they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus someone could be saved by the bell, or was considered a ¢â‚¬Ëœdead ringer'."