Is it possible for a person buried up to their neck to escape on their own? 0 8

Such experiments have been conducted repeatedly. In the case of regular dry sand, many participants were able to free one arm by actively moving their shoulders, and then use that arm to dig out the rest of their body. In some cases, this took only a few minutes. If several people were buried up to their necks nearby, the process of freeing themselves was faster: by acting simultaneously, they helped each other to 'loosen' the sand around the upper parts of their bodies more quickly.

However, if the sand is saturated with water, it becomes nearly impossible to escape on one’s own. Water fills the voids and makes the sand significantly heavier. A person feels as if they have been poured into concrete and cannot move. The same applies to compacted soil: if it is packed down rather than loose, it is likely that a buried person will not be able to free themselves without assistance.

There was a form of execution in the past where a criminal was buried up to their neck, with the soil carefully packed around them, and no sympathetic passersby were allowed to feed or water the condemned. For example, in Russia, this method of punishment was used in the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily for women who had killed their husbands. The Cathedral Code of 1649 states: '…if a wife commits murder against her husband or poisons him, she shall be executed — buried alive in the ground until she dies.'