Burke & Hare

Amidst the grandeur of early 19th century Edinburgh, between the heights of the Castle, and royal palace at Holyrood, lay a grimmer reality, of body snatching and murder.

With times hard in the capital and many living in squalor, body snatching, digging up the bodies of those buried in the capital was rife. Bodies were snatched from graveyards across the city and sold to the medical school to make a quick buck.

William Burke and William Hare, whilst known as ‘the body snatchers’ did not dig bodies from the graveyards, they wanted a fresher sample, as the fresher the body, the more money they could command for it. So…they turned to murder.

Lulling unsuspecting victims back to their boardings, and plying them with whisky, the two would smother them, with one holding the victim down, and the other holding their mouth and nose closed. A technique that became known as ‘Burking’. A grim death by asphyxiation and leaving no marks on the body. A perfect sample to be sold to the medical school.  

Burke and Hare eventually faced their crimes in 1828 after murdering at least 16 people over a span of 11 months. Both were charged with murder, but Hare turned king’s evidence, testifying against Burke and eventually released, disappearing, never to be heard of again.

Burke met a grislier end, hanged, and in a true case of irony, his body was given to the medical school and dissected. A bound book made from his skin an eerie reminder of their tale.

Caroline - Heritage Guides