From Wikipedia:

The middle of the 18th century was marked by an unprecedented spread of taphophobia - the pathological fear of burial alive, - accompanied by fierce medical polemics about the "reliability" of certain signs of death. Various methods were offered to identify cases of imaginary death immediately before the burial: from pouring vinegar with pepper into the mouth of the deceased to applying a boiled roast to the feet (and even introducing it into the rectum) of the deceased.

XJIOP
And if I really survived, could I bring them to court?

Feynman
It was the 18th century when there was no democracy.

XJIOP
You wake up, and yourself in the grave, all around in black, and you have a hot pit in your ass.

Feynman
And half a liter of vinegar with pepper in the stomach

XJIOP
And so "Yes, you fuck it!" and died.