Why is it called a Murphy bed?
As you might expect, the Murphy bed is named for its inventor. Around the turn of the 20th century, William L. Murphy designed a bed that would fold neatly into a closet, inspired by the lack of space in his small studio apartment (though, some sources suggest a more provocative reason). He went on to found the Murphy Wall Bed Company, patenting his product in 1911.
Are Murphy beds really dangerous?
There are actually several documented cases of Murphy beds springing up into the wall and killing their occupants. But you’re far more likely to die from simply falling out of a standard bed than being crushed to death by a Murphy bed—according to an infamous tweet by Kim Kardashian West, which cites CDC data, 737 Americans die from falling out of bed each year. Today, Murphy beds have much more effective locking mechanisms, so you really don’t have to worry about them folding you in half in the middle of the night. Just be careful getting out of bed in the morning!