Send us a text We explore the notorious tale of body snatchers William Burke and William Hare, who murdered 17 people in 1820s Edinburgh to sell their bodies to medical schools. Their gruesome business emerged from a shortage of legal cadavers when only executed criminals' bodies could be used for dissection. • Edinburgh was a center for medical science in the 1800s with "operating theaters" designed for students to observe procedures • Families used creative methods to protect graves includ...