Burke and Hare

I ran across this photo from my Scotland trip and it reminded me of a peculiar song sung by children in the 1800's.
"Up the close and down the stair, Up and down with Burke and Hare.. Burke’s the butcher, Hare’s the thief, Knox the man who buys the beef." –anonymous children’s song.

Perhaps this post is more suited for Halloween, but allow me a bit of leeway, as it is a fascinating story, imho. Follow--if you dare...

The above photo (without the parking sign, obviously) is of an watch tower over a graveyard. In the early 1800's, guards were posted to protect those in residence from body snatchers.

Edinburgh at that time was renowned for its advances in knowledge in medical science. However, cadavers needed for research were not readily available, and body snatching from unprotected graveyards became widespread as payment was offered for illegally exhumed corpses. High walls and watch towers were build around many of the graveyards in Edinburgh, and often bodies were kept in a locked room before burial until such a time as the body was too ‘gone’ to be of use to the medical college.

Between 1827 and 1829, what became known as the ‘West Port Murders’, arose two of the most famous body snatchers Scotland has ever known. Two Irishmen named Burke and Hare.

When an old man who owed them money died in the same lodging house with Burke and Hare, they decided to sell his body to cover the debt. They took the body to Dr. Knox who paid them more than 7 pounds, a rather large sum at that time, thus starting the pair on a deadly hunt for more.

Not content to wait for their victims to die naturally, over the next several months, Burke and Hare murdered 15 more people. They preyed on the tenants of their lodging house,, seeking victims who were usually very poor and unlikely to be missed. Soon they began stalking the streets of Edinburgh for strangers, prostitutes, and the homeless.

Finally, a woman’s body was found hidden beneath a bed in a spare room, and Burke and Hare were arrested. Even though there were more than a dozen murders, there wasn’t much evidence, and after a month of questioning, Hare was offered a deal to testify against Burke in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

On January 28, 1829, Burke was hung. His body was turned over to the medical school for dissection, and his skeleton can be seen today at the Edinburgh University Museum.

Hare disappeared, and his date of death is not certain.

It could not be proven that Dr. Knox knew the corpses he purchased from Burke and Hare were murder victims, and he was cleared of wrongdoing. However, his reputation in ruins, he left Scotland shortly after the trial and lived the rest of his life in London.

There is a song sung by Alistair MacDonald that recounts their evil deeds. called, The Shadow of Burke and Hare:

Edinburgh, home of kings, is famous now for other things; For with the night the darkness brings the fear of Burke and Hare.

 Chorus:
Up and down and round the stair, mind your back from Burke and Hare.. Burke’s the killer and Hare’s the thief, and Knox the butcher that buys the beef.

The kirkyard once was where the blessed, thought to lie in peaceful rest, Til like two hoodies from out the nest came Godless Burke and Hare.

And if the Bobby on the beat should spoil the hunt for charnel meat, There’s fresher pickings in the street and they’re the boys to find it.

With ready will they did consign a score of bodies to the brine, These mauchtless souls before their time, they sent unto their Maker.

But catched they were at last by law; “Hang them high,” says one and all; “The devil they served can take the twa- if even he can thole them!”

Up and down and round the stair, mind your back from Burke and Hare.. Burke’s the killer and Hare’s the thief, and Knox the butcher that buys the beef.

From Alistair MacDonald’s CD, Heroes and Legends, Corban http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Corban-Recordings

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