The Miraculous Resurrection of Anne Greene

Anne Greene is one of the reasons why some people used to have a morbid fear of premature burial . In December 1650, Anne Green, an English servant girl, was hanged for the infanticide of her unborn child. Because she was a convicted criminal, Greene’s body was not buried but sent to the University of Oxford for dissection where physicians discovered that she was not dead. A day later she was revived. Greene’s remarkable recovery was made even more incredible by the court’s decision to exonerate her and let Greene live. A woodcut from 1651 depicting the hanging of Anne Greene. Anne Greene was a maid employed in the house of Sir Thomas Read, a justice of the peace who lived in the village of Duns Tew in Oxfordshire. She was born at Steeple Barton and, at the time of this incident, was 22 years of age. Greene claimed that Sir Thomas's grandson, Geoffrey Read, who was 16 or 17 years old, often seduced her by solicitating “faire promises and other amorous enticements.” Greene became pregnant and subsequently gave birth to a premature stillborn child. The poor girl tried to conceal the remains of the fetus, but was discovered and was suspected of infanticide. In those times, unmarried mothers who lost their child at birth were presumed guilty of murder unless they could provide a witness that the child died of natural causes. Several servants who worked with Greene came in support of her, testifying that she had issues before she miscarried, and that she had worked too hard at the skreening of malt which caused her to miscarry. A midwife also testified that the fetus was too underdeveloped to have ever been alive. In spite of the testimonies, Greene was found guilty of murder, and under the Infanticide Act of 1624, she was sentenced to death. On 14 December 1650, Greene was taken to the Oxford Castle and executed by hanging.