This week, we tag along to the local cemetery with the resurrection men, men who dug up fresh corpses for the purposes of medical study. We’ll examine the history of body snatching, the purpose, and practice, and learn about Burke and Hare, two notorious murderers who were also body snatchers and grave robbers.
This episode contains a body under a bed, some wooden shovels, a waving corpse, and some crafty body snatchers.
The ODDentity Podcast has 12 episodes per season and the final episode for this season is fast approaching. Episode 12 features that unforgettable interview I mentioned at the start of this season and I think it’s a great note to end on. Season 6 will be a little delayed as I’ve got some other projects that need my attention, but I’m hoping the downtime will be no more than 6 weeks. I hope you’ll still continue to subscribe so you’ll know when the new episodes are available and that you’ll continue to follow me on social media as I’ll still be posting things that I hope will bring your odd little hearts much joy.
The ODDentity Podcast is brought to you on a weekly basis by host Janine Mercer.
The podcast is written, produced, and edited by Janine Mercer (unless otherwise stated), and the music is provided by Garage Band.
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SOURCES:
https://www.livescience.com/51591-gruesome-grave-robberies.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_snatching
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortsafe
https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/body-snatching-around-the-world/
https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/body-snatching-around-the-world/
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Burke-Hare-infamous-murderers-graverobbers/
Sappol, Michael (2002). A traffic of dead bodies: anatomy and embodied social identity in nineteenth-century America. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05925-X.
A little something extra:
“The Body Snatcher” is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). First published in the Pall Mall Christmas “Extra” in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert Knox (1791–1862) around the time of the notorious Burke and Hare murders (1828)”
A link to an audio download is below. Enjoy!