# Is this another UL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287 "2000-03-27T19:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/1 "2000-03-27T19:10:00Z")
When you’re listening to rock radio in Parkersburg, WV at 1:30 in the morning, you’re bound to hear something interesting. Whether or not it’s true is another thing entirely. The jock told a little tale about the origin of a common phrase. Apparently, people back in the Middle Ages were really freaked out about being buried alive, so much so that the more paranoid among them would tie small bells to their pinkie fingers. If they were buried alive, they could ring the bell from their coffins. Of course, someone had to be around to listen for the bells in the graveyard overnight. This guy’s unfortunate job led to the coining of the phrase “graveyard shift.” Now, forgive me for being skeptical, but my first reaction upon hearing this was to scream “BULLSHIT” at the top of my lungs. Am I right, or should I recalibrate my BS detector? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/2 "2000-03-27T19:19:00Z")
In victorian times there were many, many different devices to help the unfortunate people who were buried alive. It seems that an urban legend at the time held that people could appear dead and come back to life later. “the great train Robbery” deals with this practice. There is a better explanation for the origin of “graveyard shift” , but I can’t recall. I will go look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/3 "2000-03-27T20:16:00Z")
I visited New Orleans a few years ago, and the only super-touristy thing we did was go on a “haunted history” tour. The guide told us the same thing about some graves there, only in this case it was during the plague. Apparently there was fear that some people were buried alive because they only _appeared_ to be dead, but were actually deeply unconcious. So some people were buried with bells, and some were buried with a tube that lead up to the surface, so that if they called out, they would be heard. Of course, this was a haunted history tour, so who knows how true all that was. * * * “It says, I choo-choo-choose you. And it’s got a picture of a train.” – Ralph Wiggum ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/4 "2000-03-27T20:45:00Z")
From the [Take Our Word For It](http://www.takeourword.com/Issue039.html) site. > [@](#): > > They started opening these coffins and found some had scratch marks on the inside. One out of 25 coffins were that way and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. > Actually, this bell contraption was sometimes (but very, very rarely) prepared for eccentric rich people who had a morbid fear of being buried alive. The few instances we know of where this was done happened in the 18th and 19th centuries, not the 16th. > Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. That is how the saying “graveyard shift” was made. > [@](#): > > The graveyard shift is, again, a peculiarly American expression and is unknown in the UK. The earliest documented use of the phrase (1907) is in Collier’s Magazine. It is thought to have arisen because it begins at midnight, “the witching hour”. I dunno if this helps. * * * “Penises don’t belong in the mouth, girls and boys. You’ve got the wrong hole there. Just like you wouldn’t shove pizza up your nose.” -From the **Brother Jed** flyer- ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/5 "2000-03-27T20:53:00Z")
Doh! I screwed up the quotes and omitted explanations… Um… check out the site. But it basically states that tying a bell to ones corpse was not the norm, so the story is basically untrue. Sorry for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/6 "2000-03-27T21:07:00Z")
Someone sent me a whole e-mail of this sort of crap, they also claimed this was the source of the term “Dead Ringer” (ohhhhhhhh! It all makes sense now!) :rolleyes: ALso included were terms like “sleep tight” etc. I rolled my eyes and deleted the whole thing, because even if it were true, who cares? * * * Adrock, light up the place And if you pull my card you pull the ace And if you ask me turn up the bass And if you play Defender I could be your hyperspace ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/7 "2000-03-27T21:30:00Z")
The whole thing doesn’t connect the _nightness_of a graveyard shift to the job. What, is the guy in the coffin only going to ring the bell at night? How does he know what time it is? Shouldn’t the graveyard shift be 24/7? Or was it expected that family members and the like would be hanging around the grave all day soon after burial, and they could listen for the bell? I always assumed that the term graveyard shift came from kind of the same lines as “they [freaks] only come out at night,” i.e., on the 11 pm-7 am shift, you’d be dealing with some pretty strange customers/zombies. * * * ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/8 "2000-03-27T21:52:00Z")
I don’t know about its accuracy, but I recently read [Mary Higgins Clark’s _Moonlight Becomes You_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684810387/qid=954193366/sr=1-45/102-3687037-8751253), and it has that exact theme as the basis for the mystery. I know that authors will often research historical information and then create a fictional story about it, so perhaps it _is_ true. It was pretty good for that type of book, too. Jill (hoping I got the UBB code right) * * * “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/9 "2000-03-28T12:09:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 1927 G. Bradford _Gloss. Sea Terms_ 76/1 Graveyard watch, the middle watch or 12 to 4 a.m., because of the number of disasters that occur at this time. > > 1928 _Papers Mich. Acad. Sci. & Arts_ X. 297 Graveyard watch, the watch from midnight till 4 a.m., so called on account of the silence throughout the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-another-ul/9287/10 "2000-03-28T12:13:00Z")
Sorry, boys and girls, they are all ULs. This site - [http://www.quinion.com/words/](http://www.quinion.com/words/) - deals with this very subject this week. (I have no idea if this is going to make a link or not…if not, just type the URL in, it’s a site well worth a visit)