What it feels like to be buried alive

  • 03/03/2017

A Dublin man has been buried alive - and now he' sharing his experience live on the internet.

John Edwards, 61, is a former drug addict and alcoholic, and says his grave mission is to bring a message of hope to others in despair.

He is taking calls, texts and emails from people seeking help, telling the Belfast Telegraph he wants to "speak to them from the grave before they get there".

Mr Edwards has been buried in an east Belfast church and will be there for three days and nights. He says the scariest part was hearing the earth being shovelled on top of the coffin.

"When the lid is closed and you're underground, and you hear the soil getting thrown on top of the coffin ... it is freaky."

However, he's got it a little easier than you might think: his extra-large coffin measures 2.4m long, 1m wide and 1.3m high - that's about 30cm longer and more than twice as high as an average coffin.

He also has air vents, food, water, a caravan toilet ... and internet access.

It's not Mr Edwards' first brush with death - the former drug addict says he has overdosed a number of times, survived cancer twice and needed a liver transplant after contracting Hepatitis C from a dirty needle.

When above ground, Mr Edwards runs a Christian rehabilitation centre and homeless shelters.

Newshub.