In reading about the horrific Battle of Passchendaele during World War One, I came across an anecdotal account of a British officer sheltering in a shell hole in a rain storm. The narrator claims that this officer had no wounds, and had fallen asleep on the wall of the crater while the muddy water it contained was only a foot deep. The next morning, when the narrator awoke, the officer was still not physically wounded, but the muddy liquid had risen considerably overnight, covering the officer's face and drowning him in his sleep.
I have a hard time believing that an uninjured, healthy person with no neurological or physiological problems would be able to sleep through something like this. I'm sure many of you have experienced the acute physical discomfort and emotionally jarring panic of unintentionally inhaling water - failing to notice the sensations would be virtually impossible. If healthy people could sleep through drowning, the form of torture known as "waterboarding" would presumably be unremarkable rather than horrific.
And I know from experience that if you cover your big brother's mouth and nose while he's asleep, he wakes up very quickly (and punches you repeatedly).
