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-Burke and Hare, Burke and Hare,
up the close and down the stair!-_
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Portsburgh - Union Canal - Tanner's Close - Cardinal Beaton's Palace - High School Wynd - The Grassmarket - Leith Wynd - Stevenlaw's Close - West Port - Calton Hill - Libberton's Wynd - Fishmarket Close

William Burke and his partner-in-crime William Hare are two of the most famous bodysnatchers in history...despite the fact that not a shred of evidence exists that they actually dug freshly laid bodies up for sale to the anatomists. Burke and Hare didn't do that. They were murderers. This is their story.

This specialised Edinburgh guided tour takes you around locations forever linked to two Irishmen who would almost definitely have faded into obscurity had it not been for their murderous spree in 1828.

William Burke and William Hare, together with Nelly McDougal and Maggie Laird, preyed on some of the poor and unfortunate people who they encountered in and around Edinburgh's Old Town.

The site of their slum dwelling in Tanner's Close in the West Port, near to the Grassmarket features in our tour as does Stevenlaw's Close where 'Daft Jamie' Wilson spent his last night before he was murdered. We also take in the locations of some of the other murders.

Although much of Edinburgh's Old Town was swept away in the Improvement Acts of the Victorian period, the streets remain and it is possible to retrace the footsteps Burke and Hare would have taken, using a little imagination of course! We learn about the Christmas Eve to Christmas Day trial, and we head to the Lawnmarket for William Burke's date with destiny at the old execution spot at the head of Libberton's Wynd. No 'West Port Murderers' tour would dare to miss out on one little macabre extra...we even point out where you can visit to see William Burke...well, bits of him anyway...

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-Learn more about this tour-
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We're so glad you want to learn more about this exciting software! The following links will let you learn more about this innovative Bodysnatchers and Burke and Hare Interactive Guided Tour.

This tour has been split up into three sub-tours. Each of these take you around some of the most interesting locations in Edinburgh.

Click here to return to the Bodysnatchers and Burke and Hare tour main page.

You can try a scene from this Interactive Guided Tour.

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-Screenshot Gallery-
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We now come to Tanner's Close, home to Williams Burke and Hare, the two Irishmen who would go down in history as being the most famous bodysnatchers in British history. This title is erroneous however, there is no evidence that either Burke nor Hare ever dug up a body. They weren't grave robbers, they were serial killers.

Walking up High School Wynd is walking in the footsteps of Burke and Hare. The two Williams would undboutedly have come up this narrow little street with corpses to sell to Dr Robert Knox.

We pay a visit into part of Edinburgh University. At one time this was where the surgery of Dr Robert Knox stood. Knox bought the bodies which Burke and Hare brought to him. No questions asked.

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