On December 14, 1650, a 22-year-old woman named Anne Greene was executed. She was pronounced dead. Her body was placed in a coffin and sent to a physician’s house for dissection. However, Anne miraculously survived her execution.
According to historical accounts, Anne Greene was a 22-year-old maid in Oxfordshire who worked for Sir Thomas Read. In the summer of 1650, she was seduced by Sir Thomas’ teenage grandson, Jeffrey Read, at the manor house in Duns Tew where she worked.
She became pregnant but didn’t know it until she had a miscarriage about six months later. While mixing a vat of grain to turn it into malt, she began experiencing pain.
She went to an outhouse and gave birth prematurely to a stillborn child. She was horrified and buried the baby near a cesspit, but it was soon discovered after a fellow servant reported it.
Anne was accused of murdering the child. Her master, Sir Thomas, was a justice of the peace and had her arrested. She was sent to prison, and her punishment would be public execution by hanging.
On the morning of December 14, 1650, Anne was hanged on the gallows at Oxford Castle. Before the mid-19th century, hangings were often longer and more drawn out, lasting at least 10 to 20 minutes before the victim actually died.
It was standard practice for friends and relatives of the condemned to pull down on their bodies to speed up the process of dying.
That’s what Anne’s friends did for her. A soldier even struck her four or five times with the end of a musket to try to put her out of her misery.
Half an hour later, Anne was pronounced dead. She was taken down from the gallows, placed in a coffin, and delivered to two physicians from Oxford University.
Dr. William Petty, a professor of anatomy, was supposed to give a lecture while her body was dissected. But the next day, when Anne’s coffin was opened, they found that she was still alive. She was breathing faintly and had a weak pulse.
The doctors immediately began trying to revive her. Their treatments involved stomping on her chest, pouring hot liquid down her throat, tickling her throat with a feather, massaging her limbs with scented oils and herbal poultices, and drawing her blood. Another woman was convinced to get into bed with Anne to keep her warm.
After 14 hours, Anne was able to speak again. She couldn’t remember anything between the time she woke up and her last hours in prison. When she recovered, she went to live in Steeple Barton and took her coffin with her as a morbid memento.
Her survival was viewed as divine intervention. She was declared innocent by God himself. She drew in crowds who were eager to witness a living miracle.
Three days after her failed execution, Sir Thomas Read passed away. Anne died five to 10 years later during childbirth. She had three children.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
