16 Items Tagged

Body Snatching

Warblington, England

Gravewatcher's Huts

These unassuming buildings in the tranquil churchyard of rural Warblington are in fact grave watchers’ huts.

Eyemouth, Scotland

Cholera Monument

A watchhouse constructed from tombstones, to make way for a burial pit, for the victims succumbing to a deadly disease.

Fruiting bodies of the parasitic fungus <em>Ophiocordyceps</em> emerge from the body of a fly in Tambopata National Reserve, Peru. This photo won top prize in the 2022 <em>BMC Ecology and Evolution</em> image competition.

Real Zombies and Body Snatchers Live Among Us

A creepy form of parasitism is one of evolution's favorite strategies, and scientists are starting to figure out how it works.

Gemma Tarlach October 20, 2022

The New Calton Burial Ground watchtower.

Edinburgh, Scotland

New Calton Cemetery Watchtower

Overlooking the burial ground is a tower designed to prevent thieves from snatching the recently deceased.

Resurrectionist.

Stirling, Scotland

Grave Robbing Headstone

A grave marker depicting a body snatching tableau on a 19th-century tombstone.

The Receiving Vault

Springfield, Illinois

Abraham Lincoln's Receiving Vault

The original vault that held the president's remains still stands, empty, not far from where he was finally buried.

A skeleton awakens! (1779)

31 days of halloween

The Gruesome History of Making Human Skeletons

From quicklime to boiling to bugs.

Sarah Laskow October 3, 2017

The first floor amphitheater of Davidge Hall.

Baltimore, Maryland

Davidge Hall

One of the oldest anatomical theaters in the U.S. still in use was once the site of an infamous cadaver riot.

"The Anatomist overtaken by the Watch carry'ng off Miss W in a hamper." William Austin, 1773.

A Beginner's Guide to Body Snatching

Where to go for an education in grave robbery, the grisliest chapter in medical history.

Molly McBride Jacobson January 26, 2017

How The Medical Cadaver Finally Got the Respect it Deserves

The rise and fall of medical cadaver ceremonies.

Natalie Zarrelli May 26, 2016

A collection of 8 coffins with their lids and carved figures, found in a rocky niche on the north-eastern slopes of Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, in June 1836. © National Museums Scotland (used with permission)

Edinburgh, Scotland

Burke & Hare Murder Dolls

Tiny effigies of the victims of Edinburgh's famous Anatomy Murders.

Mortsafe at Greyfriars Cemetery

Edinburgh, Scotland

Greyfriars Cemetery Mortsafes

Protecting the dead from opportunistic body snatchers.

The Cemetery Gun of Museum of Mourning Art

Morbid Monday : Corpse traffic and cemetery guns in the Golden Era of Body Snatching

Laetitia Barbier March 11, 2013

Objects of Intrigue: Diary of a Body Snatcher

Annetta Black January 17, 2013

31 Days of Halloween

Veronique Greenwood October 31, 2011

Inside the Surgeon's Hall Museum

Edinburgh, Scotland

Surgeons' Hall Museums

A book bound in the skin of an infamous criminal, along with countless other specimens.