Body Snatching in the 1800s
- Burk and Hare in Edinburgh
- "accidental" career
- murdered 15 people over the course of this career
- Hare gave evidence that Burke was guilty so that he wouldn't be prosecuted as well
- Burke had a gruesome death
Sources
History. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.
history.co.uk. No date. Web. 10/6/15
Hodgekiss. "Body Snatching...". dailymail.co.uk.
10/30/14. Web. 10/6/15.
PBS. "Body Snatching Around the World". pbs.org.
No date. Web. 10/7/15
Science Museum U.K. "William Burke and William Hare".
sciencemuseum.org.uk. No date. Web. 10/7/15
What is Body Snatching?
How Did it Work? What Was Involved?
What Happened Eventually?
- an illegal practice that involves taking a dead body from its grave
- common around 200 years ago
- done by resurrectionists hired by medical students or doctors for educational purposes
- first case was in 1319, in Italy
(Hodgekiss)
- the students and doctors would hire resurrectionists dig up the bodies
- would cut up and divide the body parts, putting all of the same body parts together
- done in the winter so the corpses wouldn't decompose as quickly
- would preserve them and later dissect them or practice things like amputations
- they would purposely not take jewelery or clothing so that they couldn't be accused of a felony
- people started to guard their family members' graves
- graves were made harder to get into
- later, there was a law made that allowed doctors/medical students to only take the bodies that hadn't been claimed by their relatives
Why Did It Happen?
- allowed medical students to learn about anatomy and how organs were made up in the body
- allowed doctors to practice and improve their skills
- some people stole the bodies to hold for ransom, and later sell to their families again
- Abe Lincoln