Burke and Hare murders
Burke and Hare murders.
The Burke and Hare murders were a series of 16 killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke (pictured, left) and William Hare (pictured, right), who sold the corpses to Doctor Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures. Edinburgh was a leading European centre of anatomical study in the early 19th century, in a time when the demand for cadavers exceeded the legal supply. When a lodger in Hare's house died, he turned to his friend Burke for advice and they sold the body to Knox. They then began their murder spree, which was uncovered after other lodgers discovered their last victim, Margaret Docherty, and called the police. Hare provided the details of Docherty's murder and confessed to all 16 deaths. Burke was found guilty of one murder, sentenced to death and hanged. His corpse was dissected and his skeleton displayed at the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh Medical School, where it remains.
The Burke and Hare murders were a series of 16 killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke (pictured, left) and William Hare (pictured, right), who sold the corpses to Doctor Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures. Edinburgh was a leading European centre of anatomical study in the early 19th century, in a time when the demand for cadavers exceeded the legal supply. When a lodger in Hare's house died, he turned to his friend Burke for advice and they sold the body to Knox. They then began their murder spree, which was uncovered after other lodgers discovered their last victim, Margaret Docherty, and called the police. Hare provided the details of Docherty's murder and confessed to all 16 deaths. Burke was found guilty of one murder, sentenced to death and hanged. His corpse was dissected and his skeleton displayed at the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh Medical School, where it remains.
