In the nineteenth century, being declared dead was not a certainty. It was a judgment shaped by limited medical knowledge, social status, and fear.

This episode of the Asphodel Archives examines taphophobia, the widespread fear of premature burial, and the conditions that made it plausible in Victorian England. We trace how uncertainty gave rise to safety coffins, signaling systems, and paid vigilance, turning the grave into a site of experimentation and commerce. What emerges is not just a story of fear, but of how societies try to impose order on the unknowable.

The episode closes by looking at why these practices disappeared and what replaced them. While the bells and breathing tubes are gone, the underlying concern remains: how to make death legible, documented, and survivable for those left behind.

Further reading and resources:

Many listeners ask how modern families reduce the administrative uncertainty that follows a death. Today, this is handled less through devices and more through documentation. For those interested in wills and basic estate planning, an optional affiliate link to Trust & Will is included. Using it supports the podcast at no additional cost to you and is not legal advice.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Gary Laderman (Emory University) about how death shapes culture, religion, and power. We discuss why the sacred is double-edged, how the U.S. funeral industry grew out of the Civil War and the rise of embalming, and why modern life has not become less religious, but differently religious. We dig into true crime and horror as cultural rituals, the death penalty as a story America tells itself about justice, sacrifice, and national identity, and the uncomfortable ways social media and AI are transforming grief and our relationship to the dead. This conversation does not sanitize death, and it does not treat these questions as abstract.

Dr. Gary Laderman is a "misfit" scholar and Emory University professor who explores the hidden side of American spirituality. He is a leading expert on the culture of death, celebrity worship, and the religious history of psychoactive drugs. Rather than looking at traditional churches, he focuses on how we find the "sacred" in modern life, from funeral homes to pop culture.

His instagram and website (both personal and professional) should be regularly checked for the next big thing- in the meantime his newest book " Scared Drugs" can be bought and (hopefully) read here.*

*Disclosure: Links below may contain affiliate tracking. Purchases made through these links help support the podcast at no additional cost to you.

In this episode of When Cerberus Is Asleep, we travel to Noble, Georgia, where a trusted crematory operated for years without oversight, inspection, or verification.

Between 1996 and 2002, hundreds of bodies sent to the Tri-State Crematory were never cremated. Funeral homes received paperwork. Families received urns. Regulators never looked. What was eventually discovered in the woods behind the facility would later be described as a mass grave hidden in plain sight.

This episode examines how the scandal unfolded, the surrounding community, and the people involved, including families, funeral directors, and investigators who were left to confront the consequences. More than a crime, this is a case study in what happens when deathcare relies on trust alone, and when silence is mistaken for dignity.

When Cerberus Fell Asleep is a true crime series from Across the River, exploring real cases where systems designed to protect the dead quietly failed.

Sponsored by Pantheon Platforms.