Maybe you think you have some neurotic or hyper-sensitive feelings about death and dying.

But it can't possible eclipse those of the late Timothy Clark Smith, who was so scared of waking up six feet underground that he built a nice little viewing-pane so he could be rescued in case it really happened:

Evergreen Cemetery, just off of Town Hill Road in New Haven, VT, is generally unremarkable as far as cemeteries go, except for one fascinating interment. His name was Timothy Clark Smith, and he was a 19th century doctor who suffered from taphephobia, the fear of being buried alive.

This personal fact is made apparent by his unusual grave design. He designed and rigged his own tomb in an attempt to prevent his nightmare of an undesirable outcome. He installed a set of stairs underneath a large square capstone beside his burial mound, and is said to have been buried with a bell in his hand and a breathing tube.

My goodness. If the dude were alive today — er, or if he were dead today, I guess? — he'd probably insist on being buried with a SCUBA tank.

Being buried with your own personal set of corpse stairs and a breathing tube is odd enough. But Mr. Clark really went the extra mile here:

Most noticeably, however, is the horizontal window he installed at the surface of his grave, six feet above him and centered squarely on his face so that people could check on him to ensure that a mistake wasn't made. He died in 1893, and to all accounts it went smoothly.

As Atlas Obscura notes, "today, the window's visibility only extends a few inches down the six-foot-long cement shaft due to moisture and the age of the glass:"

Shoot. I hope he can still see enough to find his way out if he wakes up.

P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇