31 Days of Hallowe'en: Day Twenty-Eight

 Day 28: Burke and Hare

  In the 19th Century, Edinburgh, Scotland was a leading European centre of anatomical study. One of the things medical students have done for centuries and still do today as part of their training, is to dissect the human body. These days people donate their bodies to medical science but in the 19th century, the only bodies allowed to be used for for study were criminals who had been executed or died in prison. The supply of cadavers could not keep up with demand which led to the gruesome business of bodysnatching.

  In the dead of night body snatchers would break into graveyards, dig up freshly buried corpses and sell them to medical schools. With such a high demand the trade flourished After a while families became concerned, patrols were set up and watchtowers and mortsafes were built. While this at first sight was a good thing as it made bodysnatching more difficult, it pushed up the prices body snatchers could charge for the bodies they stole. This made the trade even more profitable.

  William Burke and William Hare were friends, Hare ran a boarding house in which Burke and his wife rented living space. One morning Hare found one of his tenants dead with outstanding rent, he turned to Burke and the two of them concealed the body and put a heavy weight in a coffin to make it look like the lodger had received a proper burial, it was a risky move but they got away with it. They sold the body to Dr Knox for £7 10s. As they left they were told that the anatomists would be happy to see them again if they had another body to dispose of. They had found a willing buyer and so decided to go into the trade of selling bodies but instead of bodysnatching they decided it would be easier and more profitable to kill.

  Burke and Hare selected their victims from the poorest members of the city. Often homeless and with no-one to miss them if they disappeared.  They would befriend them, get them drunk and then, in the dead of night, kill them. Owning a boarding house was of benefit to Burke and Hare, the place would often house the poor and places like it often had a high turnover of guests and new faces coming in and out regularly, no-one would question any residents disappearing. Over a period of ten months in 1828, Burke and Hare murdered 16 people, men, women and children, and sold the bodies to Dr Knox. The murders were done with such efficiency and stealth that details of the victims is scarce and vague. The steady supply of cadavers made Dr Knox's lectures extremely popular, however things took a turn when the students started to recognise the bodies they were dissecting.

  Soon after the disappearance of Mary Docherty, an Irish beggar, one of Hare's tenants noticed Burke and Hare acting suspiciously. He saw the pair leaving the house carrying an unusually heavy tea chest, he immediately alerted the police. A couple at the boarding house also had apparently seen Mary Dochety and after seeing Burke acting oddly,  secretly entered his room and saw the body of Mary under the bed. By the time they had alerted the police however, the body had been sold to Dr Knox, so the police did not find a body at the boarding house. The police had been suspicious of Dr Knox's medical practices for quite some time, their inquiry and an anonymous tip off, possibly from one on Knox's medical students, took them to his medical school where they discovered the body of Mary Docherty, their investigations led them straight to Burke and Hare.

  There was a public outcry and a call for Burke, Hare and Dr Knox to be hanged. However forensic testing was still in it's infancy at the time and Burke and Hare's method of murder was to asphyxiate their victims leaving little to no marks and no proof of murder. It also meant it was difficult for cause of death to be determined.  The police had very little to hold them on as they had no evidence, then a deal was made with Hare. If he would turn king's evidence on Burke, he would be given immunity. The public were not happy with this nor were they happy with Hare's wife Margaret being acquitted as was Burke's wife. After giving evidence Hare, with the assistance of police,  fled the city. No-one is certain what became of him.

  There is much debate over how much Dr Knox really knew about Burke and Hare's activities, many surgeons at the time did not ask questions when being provided with bodies. How he responded to the concerns of his students suggests he didn't really care. When one of his subjects was identified with no room for error, he immediately detached the head and club foot to prevent further identification. He also never alerted the authorities, even though the identified body on his table had not been ill nor a criminal. He was never charged with a crime and never spoke of his involvement with the pair. However his reputation took a serious hit and his peers gradually excluded him from university life.

  With Hare's testimony against him Burke was found guilty of murder and hanged in front of 25,000 people for his crimes. His body ended up in the same place as his victims, on an operating table to be dissected. His skeleton was preserved and is still on display today at the Anatomical Museum at Edinburgh University. His skin was tanned and used as binding for a pocket book which is on display at nearby Edinburgh Surgeon's Hall Museum along with his death mask.

    The horrific revelations in the press and the public outrage and shock that followed the crimes led to Parliament bringing out The Anatomy Act in 1832. This legalised the use of dead bodies left unclaimed by family members. This act laid to rest the gruesome trade of body snatching. However the evil deeds of Burke and Hare still haunt the dark streets of Edinburgh.