1y ago

Would you be buried alive for 48hr for a million dollars?

You are buried in a coffin 6ft deep, with no light or cell phone. There is only a small tube connected to the coffin from outside that allows you to breathe (edit: you can breathe with no difficulty). After 48 hours, you are dug up and given 1 million dollars. Do you do it?

Edit: No food and water, no diaper, and no contact with the outside world. Once buried, they leave for 48hr and come back to dig you up. The coffin is only wide enough for you to lay on your back (no rolling around), and the inside is wood and not particularly comfortable. The only items you're allowed to bring with you are life sustaining medication (e.g. an asthma inhaler). No knocking yourself out with pills or anxiety meds. The money is a briefcase full of cash.

226 comments

You mean 48 hours of peace and quite AND I get a million‽ sigh me the fuck up.
- That's what I was thinking. Like, I have kids and a high stress job. This sounds like a vacation.

48 hours without water? Absolutely not. There is a high probability of exiting a cripple or dead, at least for me. Not to mention my medicine.
- Just drink a lot before and you'd be good to go IMO
  Edit: at a normal temperature of course.
  
  Then you'd drown in your own urine.
  
  OP said no diaper, which means you are pissing and shitting yourself, and you'll be soaking in it at ground temperature, around 55f. Might be a tad uncomfortable, lol.
  Unless you are God-tier at holding it....
- I've spent that much time without water without knowing it lol. It's not a long period of time without water.
  
  You probably ate or drank other stuff with water. The other person didn't mean "water" specifically, just some means of hydration.

48 hours without water is a no go.
- You can go 3 days, especially with no physical exertion
  
  Maybe you can. But the thing about statistics like that it’s that they avoid saying “the average person”, and problems with averages is that half of the people are under it.
  If it’s not just made up data in the first place.
  
  The rule of three (human male, optimum health)
  3 min sans air before brain damage/death 3 hrs in hostile environments before body succumbing 3 days without water before severe damage/death 3 weeks without food before death
  
  You may not die immediately but your chances of kidney damage are pretty high in this situation.

Could I hire a guy and pay him 48 hours of minimum wage to lay in the coffin for me and then collect the million dollars at the end? I think I just invented capitalism.
- What makes you think OP hasn't just been offered 10 million dollars to lay in a coffin for 48 hours?
  
  Trickle down economics.

I'd drink water until I was ready to explode, jump in that thing with an evil laugh and a wink, then emerge two days later as the world's most pee-drenched millionaire.
- Somehow I still doubt you're the most piss drenched rich guy 😂
  
  Tss, American politics Always get Everywhere!!
  :-D
  
  Peepee tape exists
  
  Speaking for a friend?...
- Probably would die of Water intoxication.

Guaranteed not to die?
It's certainly uncomfortable, but a million bucks for a weekend of laying in a box is a pretty good deal.
I'd be more worried about the dehydration and bodily functions than about being underground, assuming I am guaranteed to live.
- They bury you and come back 48hr later, so no guarantee.
  
  If there's no guarantee you won't die, I'm not too keen on it. The breathing tube scenario and no water situation is highly sus. And laying immobile for that long of a time frame puts you at a crazy high risk of blood clots and a resulting fatal stroke, heart attack, or pulmonary embolism. It's why people who are relatively immobilized in a hospital for any length of time are often given blood thinners. I'm pretty sure there have been cases of people dying playing video games too long without moving because of the resulting blood clots.

if I can sneak in some sleepy pills I'd do it. fall asleep and wake up two days later really hungry, stinky, sore, and rich as fuck.
if i can't I wouldn't. many people don't realize how dangerous sensory deprivation can be on larger scales than a couple hours. many people try to kill themselves to escape lighter/easier situations than you e described here
- Nope, no sleepy pills.
- A million dollars isn't rich as fuck, not in this economy

Is the air tube mechanically assisted? I'm not sure I could handle the effort of basically pumping air 6ft back and forth with my lungs for 48 hours.
- It allows enough air into the coffin to keep you alive and breathing without any difficulty.
  
  Then absolutely. Is this even a hard question for any rationale person?

I'm visualizing the experience, sitting in a 10'x12' room, and totally unconstrained. Just that makes me feel anxious.
I think that I'd have a mental break in less than a day. Probably in less than a few hours.
I couldn't do it.

As a parent, you had me at "no room to roll around". As long as I have a 100% guarantee that none of my kids will find me in there to ask for something, I'm in. I'm gonna get so much sleep.

So what you're saying is, would I lie in my own waste in the dark for 2 days tops for
maths
60+ years worth of my current wage? I'll go in right now

I know how this one went....

Think I'll pass!
- I don't understand Sadam's strategy with that hole. Was he planning on living there the rest of his life, or was he thinking the USA would get tired of looking for him and move on?
  
  I have no idea, but I assume it was a last-ditch effort to avoid getting capped. Excellent meme though.
- Spider hole!

3 days poopless 2.0?
- Ever been to a multi-day music festival?
- 48/24 =/= 3

I currently don't have a problem with small spaces but I think this would give it to me. I was okay up until the part where I can't roll around. I was imagining it and that would be so uncomfortable to stay in the same position for 48 hours. I think I'll pass. I don't need a million that badly and I don't want PTSD.
- This is what I alway told myself. "I have no problem with small spaces"
  Until I went a day of cave exploring in the Ardennes. You are sent through a cave, without any light. At some points there are small beams of sun poking through holes, or at some there is a small ledlight indicating a step down/up Halfway you're going to reach an intersection, left for 'normal' right for adventure, we picked adventure ... This entailed a narrow pasthrough, barely wide enough for me, and a few climbs up and down. Your track is monitored, and you have max. 20 minutes before they come and get you, but still at some point I felt real anxiety of being stuck.
  Since I KNOW I'm getting older, and admitting fear is nothing to be ashamed for ;)
- Yeah, at first I was like sure I can just sit still/sleep for 2 days but then I remembered how I start to panic a little bit when I have trouble taking a shirt off sometimes and that only takes a second to fix.

Assuming I could be confident the coffin would hold up against the weight of the dirt, I would do it. I remember the Mythbusters tested a myth related to being buried alive. To test it, they buried Jamie in a coffin and ended up having to pull the plug because the dirt was crushing the coffin.
- I didn't see that one! I'll have to check it out. Assume that the coffin used is sturdy enough to hold up to the dirt.
  So wait... Does that mean coffins all just cave in after burial?
  
  Pretty much. 6ft of dirt is no joke, stuff's heavy.
  
  I think it was in the first season before the show got popular.
  I doubt all coffins get crushed, but the one they bought was definitely having problems. As I recall they bought a steel coffin because they thought it would be stronger than wood.
- And that it would keep out the ants.

Nope. I’d freak out before the first shovelful of dirt hit the coffin lid.
I’m not generally claustrophobic, but that level of confinement would be unbearable.

If I can stop whenever (without payment), sign me up. It will be boring tho.. Very boring. Probably will need to keep my mind occupied because that situation can make you go crazy.
- No stopping. Once you commit, they bury you, leave, and come back 48hr later to dig you up.

Are you Mr Beast's content brainstomer or something?

I’d sleep so good. I think this is going to be answered one way by youths and another way by old people who would pay for 48h of peace and quiet.

Given people have died during these buried alive challenges, that will be a resounding no from me. There's also a small chance that something happens to the people that bury you and you die slowly in the dark, never knowing what transpired and why you're still there. Not worth the risk.
- There's also a small chance that something happens to the people that bury you and you die slowly in the dark, never knowing what transpired and why you're still there. Not worth the risk.
  That's a horrifying thought. I recall an episode of some show where someone tried to escape prison by being put in a coffin with someone who died so that she could be dug up outside, but when she woke up and checked to see who she was buried with it was the guy who was supposed to dig her up.
  
  That's an old Alfred Hitchcock episode iirc

I'd rather die to give a million dollars to my family than do this.
Yeah, that got way too dark way too quickly.
- I'm sure they'd rather have you than a million dollars
  
  I've probably spent enough time with my family anyway.

Nope. They have a million reasons to figure out a way for me not to collect. I have faith in thier engenuity.
- Hopefully this is like “squid game” “bumfights” with enough folks watching to make sure everything is on the up and up.

Man, just trying to imagine it, I wouldn't be able to do it. It's one thing to be confined to a small space, but a small space where you can't roll around? I'd need at least enough room to roll over or stretch out my limbs. Also, I'd have no concept of the passage of time, so it's very likely that I would go insane in there within the span of 48 hours. Sure, you could try and sleep a bit, but after 8-10 hours of that you'd be wide awake and have no idea how much time went by, with 40+ more to go.
I'm sure some people have probably done this for a lot less, though. I'm thinking of stowaways on cargo ships or airplanes who sealed themselves in a crate or something to get somewhere else, but I think in that case they at least had a little more space and hopefully a way to pass the time while voyaging.

Anyone who thinks this is a good deal doesn't know what they're talking about. Experiments involving similar conditions have been done before, and it's never really a pleasant experience. Solitary confinement is fucking tough.
Take this for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqKdEhx-dD4 3 days in a small room alone with no real entertainment. Even that had significant effect on Michael's wellbeing.
Keep in mind usually you can still move around and exercise in solitary confinement to keep you relatively sane. In a coffin? Have a look at sensory deprivation tanks. That's the closest thing to this hypothetical situation, and the people who sell the experience recommend you don't spend more than an hour in there.

Risk too high for reward. Maybe with water? Definitely would need an emergency end to the whole thing.

Is it a comfortable coffin? And can I wear fake fangs and pretend I'm doing vampire cosplay?
- No, just wood. But yes, sure!

Nah. I wouldn't be able to enjoy the money dealing with the ptsd this would likely cause.

48 hours without water can put you at risk for death, I wouldn't recommend trying.

Usually I don’t have a problem with narrow spaces, but being unable to move at all is a deal breaker for me. I feel like that would be seriously painful after a few hours, mentally AND physically.

A quick run to DDG for casket dimensions, along with some poking at my calculator tells me that if you were buried, you and your casket or coffin would have approximately 5,100 kg of soil on top of it. Caskets have thin steel in them, coffins are typically wood. I feel like any dead body containment device one could buy wouldn't be able to hold that weight.
Let me design the coffin and I'd consider it.
- bruh you know you'd design a full on panic room with airconditioning, a flatscreen and a PS5
  
  Obviously I would.

A million bucks wouldn't even cover the average home in my city. No deal.

No, I would die of being panic long before being dig up.

I feel like $1 million is more than enough to pay for any therapy necessary to patch up any possible resulting breaks in my psyche with plenty to spare.
I'm pretty sure many years worth of my salary for 48 hours of extreme stress is worth it given parenthood and career already yield moderate to high stress regularly; investing the $1 million well could push up retirement quite a bit.
Plus, let's be real - I get at least some legit rest in there.
- Preparation is key here. Given a heads up and prep time, I’d go for it full stop.

Make it also no oxygen, and you got yourself a deal.
- Suicide by words

Some magician tried this at a local children's theme park when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, he was supposed to escape or something. He miscalculated the weight of the soil and was crushed to death.
- Ugh 😔

Having been in a MRI machine several times, absolutely fucking not. Maybe for 8hrs.

How much of that million do I lose to tax afterward?
- It's a briefcase full of cash.
  
  It’s a briefcase full of cash.
  I'm pretty sure you could just say "It's tax free" or even double the amount to $2 million and it wouldn't really change which people would do it and which wouldn't.
  I'd do it, as long as I was really convinced that the only danger was mental, not physical.
- After all the taxes and other fees, you have to pay $117.56 /j
  
  It’s not cheap to keep a coffin air tube running for two straight days
- Apparently you'd owe around $350,000 in taxes if the IRS found out, but I don't know if there's anything you can do to reduce that. Even after that, I'd do it for $650,000. That's still over 40 years of my current minimum wage job

Inb4 this is a MrBeast staff looking for ideas...

With how shitty my job is, I'd do this in heart beat. Just suffer for 48 hours and I'm well off for the rest of my life. I'll prob still need to work but I could buy a house and all. The just work same shitty job to just pay the bills. Or since I'll have some cushion, I could try and look for other jobs.
Sign me up.
- I'd do it too. Here I am working my ass off for the next 30 years to save maybe $1m for retirement and someone's willing to just give it to me after 48hrs of suffering? No brainer. I'd ask questions about the plan to keep it safe of course, but if I was satisfied that they knew what they were doing, I'd do it no question. I'm surprised that most are saying no to this. I mean shit, at least try.

Ive already slept for 33 hours straight... Without drugs or anything... I guess that sounds like a good sleep (as long as its one of the comfy coffins and not just a wooden box)
I'd do it.
- Yeah I'm just so damn tired all the time, I'd be okay. As long as I don't eat beforehand, I can go a couple of days without pooping too, probably. It's the dehydration that worries me, but with sleeping at least the first 24 hours straight I hope my bodily functions will be reduced enough that I'm alright after the 2nd day.
  My first day off after work I always sleep at least 12 hours, sometimes up to 18. I've slept 30+ with just breaks for food, water, and bathroom before (after a couple of 20 hour shifts).

that's 27x my annual salary, sign me up
- Wait, you guys have a salary?

No. There's not a thing that exists in the known or unknown universe that could convince me to go through with that.

No way. Imagine being stuck in complete darkness unable to move your body for that amount of time. I'd lose my mind and probably have a panic attack thinking to myself what if they don't dig me up?. The money isn't worth the mental trauma that would cause me.

Fuck no. Just reading this post gave me the chills. No way I’d do it for real by choice.
- Oh you heard about the inlet of spiders at 24h?
  
  And now I'm out

Sounds great. I can do several days without food

What's the oxygen situation like?
- 100% able to breathe with no issues.
  
  Would that include my reflux going straight into my throat from laying on my back with my head down? Serious question...

If there isn't enough room to roll around, it's going to be essentially impossible for a diabetic to administer what they need.
- Insulin pump?
- Yeah, it would just be a no go for some people, for sure.

Never mind the issues with dehydration, I could not be alone with my thoughts for that long.

not for a billion.

Yes as long as I'm certain that I'll get the 1 million dollars after the end. But if allowed by the rules I'd prepare myself some time before being buried. Mostly to make sure that I'm hydrated and fed just enough to endure it, but not enough to shit/piss in the coffin.

No. Money is not that important, by far. I'd play you for 10k, holdem or Omaha, anytime, though. Send me location.

226 comments