The History of Burke and Hare and of the Resurrectionist Times
A lengthy collection, published in 1884, of biographical and local color stories concerning Burke and Hare and the increase of body-snatching scandals in Scotland. Excerpted here are key stories about Burke and Hare's trial, other copy-cat killers, and the public obsession with body-snatching. My focus here is placed on the public spectacle surrounding the trial and execution of Burke--his name then becoming synonymous with the act of body-snatching. Less concerned with the murders, the public unrest seems to be particularly violent against the pair of laborers. The dead, curiously, fall out of view of the general population as seen when the dead are objectified by mourners.