Scottish Bodysnatchers: A Gazetteer

Geoff Holder

oct 2010 · The History Press

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Graverobbing was a dark but profitable industry in pre-Victorian Scotland – criminals, gravediggers and middle-class medical students alike abstracted newly-buried corpses to send to the anatomy schools. Only after the trials of the infamous murderers Burke and Hare and the passing of the Anatomy Act of 1832 did the grisly trade end. From burial grounds in the heart of Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh to quiet country graveyards in the Scottish Borders and Aberdeenshire, this book takes you to every cemetery ever raided, and reveals where you can find extant pieces of anti-resurrectionist graveyard furniture, from mortsafes, coffin cages and underground vaults to watchtowers and morthouses. Richly illustrated, filled with hundreds of stories of ‘reanimated’ corpses, daring thefts, black-hearted murders and children sold to the slaughter by their own mothers, and with Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic short story The Body Snatcher at the end, this macabre guide will delight everyone who loves Scotland's dark past.

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Geoff Holder is a full-time author who specializes in Scotland's dark side. A former television/video producer and scriptwriter, his credits include Mysterious Scotland, and he is the author of all nine volumes of The Guide to Mysterious series. He gives talks throughout the year on topics including historical witchcraft, holy wells, Aleister Crowley, ghosts, big cats, bodysnatching, myths and legends, and the mysterious in general.