Career
He is best known for having survived a premature burial for two days. Hays was involved in a motorcycle accident in which he was thrown from his vehicle headfirst into a brick wall. The doctors were unable to find a pulse and Hays was declared dead.
He was buried three days later in the village of Saint Quentin de Chalais
Two days after the funeral, when Hays was exhumed for the purposes of an insurance investigation, forensic examiners were surprised to find that the body was still warm.
They found that Hays had been in a coma resulting from his head injury. His body’s diminished need for oxygen had allowed him to survive for two days underground.
Following several surgeries and rehabilitation, Hays made a complete recovery and went on to became a minor French celebrity: People traveled from afar to speak with him, and in the 1970s he went on tour with a security coffin he invented, which featuring thick upholstery, a food locker, chemical toilet, library, and radio transmitter.