10 Chilling Stories Of People Who Were Buried Alive

Ursula Herrmann was just ten years old when she died, after she was kidnapped and buried alive while cycling through the woods close to her home.

In September 1981, the young girl was snatched by Werner Mazurek, her neighbour, who took her deep into the woods near Eching, Germany, in order to carry out his disturbing scheme.

Deep within the forest, the man had buried a small wooden box - roughly a metre in width - that was set up with a light source, bottles of water, biscuits, chocolate and comic books. He forced Herrmann to stay here while he demanded ransom money from her family.

Mazurek got in touch with her parents and reportedly requested two million deutschmarks if they wanted their daughter to be returned safely. If they went to the police or failed to meet his demands, they'd never see her again.

And sadly, that threat rang true. Shortly after she was buried, Herrmann suffocated when the box's air holes became clogged with dirt and stray leaves. It took 19 days for the authorities to find the girl's body, at which point, she was well beyond saving.

Just last year, Spiegel Online reported that Mazurek was approaching a possible retrial, 36 years after he committed the initial crime.