In territories of total terror...
Thorndike the undertaker seemed intent on doing his professional duty in magnificent style. Those who saw Tom Sprague's body were most startled by its utter life-likeness, and the mortuary virtuoso made double sure of his job by repeating certain injections at stated intervals. Thorndike almost wrung a sort of reluctant admiration from the townsfolk and visitors, though he tended to spoil that impression by his boastful and tasteless talk. Whenever he administered to his silent charge he would repeat that eternal rambling about the good luck of having a first class undertaker. "What" - he would say as if directly addressing the body - "if Tom had had one of those careless fellows who bury their subjects alive?" The way he harped on the horrors of premature burial was truly barbarous and sickening...
from *The Horror in the Burying Ground*
Cover Illustration: Bob Fowke