Actual Education Interactive Guided Tours

The Bodysnatchers and Burke and Hare
Screenshot Gallery

The pictures on this page were taken from the 360 degree panoramic photos used in this CD-ROM. These simple little stills show the level of detail you will enjoy in our "Bodysnatchers and Burke and Hare Interactive Guided Tour". Remember, what you see here is a tiny part of each scene and that there are far more scenes than the few shown below. This page acts as a screenshot tour rather than the glorious virtual tour which acts as your guide around Edinburgh.

Visit our "Bodysnatchers and Burke and Hare Interactive Guided Tour" page to experience the real thing!

We take a quick visit to Greyfriars Kirkyard to learn about bodysnatchers in Edinburgh. The demand for corpses by anatomists like Borthwick of Stow (whose marker can be seen above) far outstripped supply. Greyfriars Kirkyard was where one of the earliest cases of bodysnatching took place.

One of the legal sources of bodies was the town executions. Hangings took place here in the Grassmarket. We learn about the unusual case of Maggie Dickson. She was hanged and then her body was fought over by anatomists and her family. Fortunately the family won because, as it turned out, Maggie hadn't actually been killed at her hanging!

Edinburgh residents went to enormous lengths to ensure that the bodies of their loved ones wouldn't fall into the hands of bodysnatchers and anatomists.

Whilst bodysnatching might have been legal, and we lean what was legal and what was not in your tour, the bodysnatchers always ran the risk of people finding out. The Edinburgh mob had a reputation of giving rough justice to anyone who riled them enough. Niddry's Wynd was visited by one Edinburgh mob, furious at rumours of bodysnatchers at work.

The mob might have hated bodysnatchers but the people of Edinburgh were soon to find that ther were worse ways to acquire bodies... The two Irishmen Burke and Hare brought their recently murdered victims up High School Wynd on their way to Dr Robert Knox.

Dr Knox was never charged with receiving murdered bodies but his career never recovered. This space here is where his place of work was located. In our full tour you will learn much more about the Bodysnatchers and Burke and Hare.