A Month of Scottish Gravestones - Body Snatchers

In the early days of medical learning, the only way to "see" the inside of a body was to open it up. There were no xrays, CT scans, 3d replicas or simulators. And of course, there was a far greater demand for bodies than bodies available. 

Although the Anatomy Act allowed for the bodies of hanged criminals or the homeless to be used for dissection, there were still not enough bodies to go around. So, digging up bodies became quite a lucrative business. 

When we think of Scotland and body snatchers, most think of Burke and Hare. However, Burke and Hare were not grave robbers but rather serial killers. Their bodies were incredibly "fresh" because they never actually made it to the grave. 

However, while they were famous, others worked in the depth of night, digging next to the freshly interred bodies, slipped the bodies out of a tunnel beside the grave and made their way to the anatomy dept at the University of Edinburgh (or Glasgow or Aberdeen). This became such a lucrative job that folk were feared for the safety and souls of their loved ones. 

Some kirkyards, like St Cuthberts or New Calton in Edinburgh installed watch towers where guards would keep watch at night. 

Other families paid handsomely for mortsafes to put over the graves. 

Poorer families would sit vigil at the graveside for three or four days, until the bodies were no longer useful to the anatomists. 

What signs have you encountered that are evidence of this dastardly time in Scottish history?

Mort Safes, Mort Houses and Watch Towers

Mum was a nurse in Edinburgh before emigrating to Canada. I grew up listening to stories of body snatchers, anatomists and the most infamous, Burke and Hare. As such, I find the signs of this rich past in Edinburgh's cemeteries to be quite fascinating. And, perhaps, oddly comforting, in that mum wasn't just making it all up to terrify the hell out of me.

The Anatomy Act granted permission to the anatomy department of the University of Edinburgh's Medical School to be allowed to use the bodies of criminals who had been hanged or otherwise executed for the purposes of learning about anatomy. It also allowed for the homeless who had no one claim their bodies, and who then became the property of the Council, to be given over to the anatomy department.

To prevent their loved ones from being disinterred, family members of the poorer of the city's populace would take turns sitting vigil at the graveside of their dearly departed for three to five days, thinking that after this length of time, the bodies would be of no value to the grave-robbers.

The more well-heeled would pay for mortsafes to keep their loved ones safely in the ground. These two are at Greyfriar's Cemetery in Edinburgh's Old Town:

Some cemeteries such as St Cuthbert's and New Calton have watch towers, where someone would sit guard through the night, which is when the bodysnatchers would be busy plying their trade. 

Another oddity in some of the older cemeteries in Scotland are Mort Houses. These buildings housed bodies when the ground was frozen until such a time as the grounds could be worked and the graves dug.