Street roots., December 08, 2017, Page 7, Image 7

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Street Roots • Dec 8-14, 2017
News
Page 7
P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F B IG ISS U E N O R T H
John Edwards, o f Halifax, England, spent three days and nights buried in a specially made coffin to discourage people from “going into a premature grave.
BY SOPHIE H AYDOCK
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
t’s most people’s worst nightmare -
being buried alive. But John Edwards did
it on purpose for three days and three
nights.
Edwards kissed his wife goodbye and took
a step into his specially made coffin. The lid
was lowered, everything went dark, and he
heard a layer of soil being scattered on top.
“That was really freaky,” he said. “I was
thinking, one day I’m going to be in one of
these coffins, and my body won’t come out
again.”
Edwards’ stunt in the grounds of a
Belfast, Northern Ireland, church was a bid
to stop people from losing their lives to
addiction. Edwards, who has been sober for
26 years after experiencing addiction and
homelessness, is the founder of Walking
Free, a faith-based charity that provides
support for people battling addiction. His
burial stunt in March was his way of
“speaking to people beyond the grave.”
And it’s not the first time he’s done
something like this. He also spent three
days buried underground in his adopted
town of Halifax, England, last year.
The 72-year-old wants to prevent people
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F O U N D E R O F W A L K IN G F R E E
who are lonely, depressed or addicted to
drugs and alcohol from “going into a
premature grave,” he said.
“I thought, if I want to stop people going
into a grave, I’ve got to go in before them
and talk to them from there.”
Edwards shared his experience on social
media, live-streaming his time underground
using #gravechat, so people could connect
from around the world.
“Technology can alienate people,” he
said, “but it can really connect people, too.”
The campaign, he said, reached
thousands of people. There was a huge
response on social media. The downside
was that it was very tiring.
“I barely got any sleep down there -
about six hours over three days. Lonely,
suicidal people contacted me from all over
the world - Mexico, Albania, Australia -
calling at all hours of the day and night. I
acted as a counselor to them. It was very
tiring, but very rewarding, too.”
The custom-made coffin was bigger than
average - 8 feet long, 3V2 feet high and 4
feet wide. And unlike most coffins, his came
equipped with modern conveniences.
“It was quite comfortable down there,” he
said. “I had a duvet and a memory foam
mattress, a light, and fiber-optic broadband.
I took a thermos flask in, so my wife,
Trisha, kept me supplied with hot drinks. I
had a little shelf for tea. It wasn’t meant to
be an endurance test.”
Edwards’ intentions may have been
altruistic, but the first question people have
isn’t about the charitable side of things but
how he dealt with calls of nature.
“For a start,” he said, “I didn’t eat much
before I went in, so luckily, I didn’t have to
do a No. 2. There was a camper-style toilet,
and the coffin was designed with tubes out
the top - food came in one, and I sent waste
See BURIED, page 12