BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

WHAT IS BODY SNATCHIG?

• The crime of disinterring a corpse
• Digging up a dead body

WHY SNATCH A BODY?
Medical students were interested in how the human body was composed and how it worked

THE RESSURECTIONISTS

• Resurrection-men
• Body-snatchers
• Break into church graveyards
• And steak the bodies
• Doctors pay generously for the bodies

THE DIFFICULTIES

• Many obstacles to get over
• Guards, family members, iron coffins
• Mortsafes, locked gates, stone walls
• Coffins were usually nailed shut
• Some set spring guns

HOW TO SNATCH A BODY

• Dig a hole at the head end
• Crowbar the lid open
• Weight of dirt would help
• Tie a rope around the body
• Hoist it out and strip it

SNATCHING CONTINUED

• Put body in a bag
• Refill hole with dirt
• Take it and run

HOW ELSE DID DOCTORS GET BODIES?

• Some murdered people
• Burke and Hare

PUNISHMENTS

• Fines or imprisonment
• Fines higher if you took the clothing

MURDER ACT OF 1752

• Docs could legally use the bodies
• of executed criminals

ANATOMY ACT OF 1832

• Donate bodies to science
• Docs could claim unclaimed bodies
• Anatomical teachers had to have a license.

IT'S NOT OVER

• People still illegally harvest organs and limbs today.
• Watch out.