Historical true crime, famous criminals and eerie historical events
After denying his involvement in the theft of 24-year-old Joanna Chinnery from St John’s churchyard in Little Leighs, it would be the smell emanating from this body snatchers cart that would eventually be his downfall.
Mention the watchtower and most people have probably finished with the graveyard’s darker links to the past, but there’s so much more than that if you care to step inside.
Time and stealth were of the essence when removing a cadaver, but just how did body snatchers do it with out being detected?
In 1826 thirty-three cadavers were found stuffed into barrels waiting to be shipped from Liverpool to Leith, Edinburgh. But what happened to the gang responsible for the snatchings?
Just how much money did Burke and Hare make on their ten month killing spree in Edinburgh? In this post, I’ve collected the figures together and taken a look.
No one knows what happened to William Hare following his release from custody in 1829. Put onto a mail coach to Dumfries, Hare disappeared after being recognised.
From the Borough Gang to the London Burkers, I take a look at some of the more famous body snatchers to have walked the streets of London.
Life for a body snatcher was a whirlwind of activity, especially during the traditional dissecting months of October to…
On 1 August 1832, Britain passed the Anatomy Act in an attempt to address the shortage of bodies available…
Body snatching prevention doesn’t come more sturdy than a mortsafe. Iron cages placed over graves to protect your loved ones from the resurrection men.
Burke & Hare’s last victim was Margaret Docherty, an old woman from Ireland who was in Edinburgh helplessly looking for her son, Michael when she met William Burke.
Burking is the murder method used by Edinburgh murderers Burke and Hare. It’s a term used to describe suffocation and was widely used by the press in the 19th century to describe all manner of attempted assaults.
Someone once said to me ” a season for body snatching, who knew”, and I agree, not many do,…
Before the demand from anatomy schools for fresh cadavers grew to such an extent that body snatching became a…
If you’re interested in the macabre story of the now infamous murderers Burke and Hare, you’ll know that William Burke…
Being a body snatcher came with a few fundamental rules. It wasn’t just about digging up a cadaver and…
Long before Burke and Hare had perfected the subtle art of Burking, two women from Edinburgh were doing just…
How and when did a body snatcher know that a cadaver for available for the taking? Covering the more usual methods of procurement, this post sheds some light on how body snatchers found their latest ‘subjects’.
The penalties for stealing a dead body in Britain in the mid-1800s varied dramatically.
Find out about the Top 5 punishments issued in Britain during the 1800s – ranging from imprisonment to full-blown transportation.
Notwithstanding an already arduous journey; one that involved jostling, the consistent rumbling of wheels, and the potential threat of…