Body Snatching: Resurrection Men, the 1788 Doctors' Riot and PVC Bones

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Body snatchers did not steal watches or rings. They stole the corpse and tossed the burial clothes back into the grave, because under common law a body was not property and taking one was only a misdemeanor, while stealing a shroud was a felony. This episode explains how the UK's Murder Act of 1752 allowed dissection only of executed murderers while London medical schools may have needed up to 500 bodies a year. Resurrection men dug a small diagonal tunnel to the head of the coffin, snapped the lid, and shipped bodies folded in tea chests. In Scotland, William Burke and William Hare skipped the graveyard and murdered at least 16 people.

The burden fell on the poor: potter's fields, free Black communities, enslaved people, and Indigenous graves. Records from Transylvania University in Kentucky indicate up to 80 percent of corpses dissected there in the 1830s and 1840s were African American. Anger erupted in New York's 1788 Doctors' Riot, and in 1878 the body of John Scott Harrison was found hanging on a rope in a Cincinnati medical college. The episode extends to ghost marriages in China, Australia's Project Sunshine, and Michael Mastromarino's tissue scheme that took the bones of broadcaster Alistair Cooke.

Burking, the suffocation method that left no marks for anatomists to notice
Harvard's secret student society of grave robbers known as the Spunkers
Guangdong officials stealing corpses in 2014 to meet cremation quotas
Kolkata's bone trade, which went underground after India banned exports
PVC pipes sewn into bodies in place of harvested bones before cremation

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(16184)

The Art of Adult Friendship: Why Quality Matters More Than Quantity

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore how our understanding of friendship changes as we grow old...

9 Nov 18min

Summer Explained: The Science, History, and Traditions of the Warmest Season

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore summer, the season most closely associated with sunshine, ...

7 Nov 18min

Sir Patrick Stewart: From Shakespeare to Star Trek, the Life and Legacy of a Legend

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the extraordinary life of Sir Patrick Stewart, the acclaim...

7 Nov 49min

Larry David: The Genius of Social Awkwardness, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and career of Larry David, the comedian, writer, ...

6 Nov 38min

Why Australian Shepherds Aren't From Australia

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the history of the Australian Shepherd, an intelligent, en...

5 Nov 45min

Labrador Retriever: From Newfoundland Fishing Dogs to Modern-Day Heroes

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the remarkable history of the Labrador Retriever, one of t...

4 Nov 53min

Discovering Ireland: A Journey Through History, Culture, and the Wild Atlantic Way

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore Ireland through the philosophy of slow travel: go slower, ...

3 Nov 48min

Willie Hutch: An Overnight I'll Be There Lyric and The Mack's Soundtrack

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!William McKinley Hutchins was born in Los Angeles in December 1944 and raised in Dallas, where h...

2 Nov 21min