The epilepsy connection in the Dunbar story is one of the elements that makes it medically plausible in principle, even while the specific claim that an examining physician in 1915 would have missed a heartbeat and breathing in a living patient remains a significant — though not impossible — professional failure.

The story also has a later connection to epilepsy: Essie Dunbar appears to have continued to live with the condition that had allegedly caused the crisis in 1915.

References in the accounts of her life suggest that she was not cured or transformed by her experience but continued to deal with the epileptic condition throughout her long life.

The Three Preachers

Among the most colorful and specific details of the Essie Dunbar story is the account of the three ministers who fell backward into the grave when the coffin was opened and Essie sat up.