Although fears of being buried alive have all but disappeared in the modern era, there is an interesting thing going on in a Turkish morgue where the space has been fitted with wireless alarm systems designed to make sure that any resurrections that occur are caught immediately. Although there have been cases where someone has been pronounced dead and then regains consciousness, it's a rare sight indeed to see a morgue be so concerned with this prospect that they would actually install a system specifically designed to guard against it and make sure that nobody is buried alive.

In colonial America there was not a lot of official security provided by the new government and often locals had to protect themselves from potential violence. Sometimes people were hired to patrol towns but they were often very poorly trained and would usually not be of the same caliber as today's Elk Grove private security firms. But it is likely that even the presence of untrained individuals guarding a particular town would provide some sort of mental security for residents who were very often living in a very remote area with few options for organized military or police protection.