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Body snatching is the illicit removal of
corpse A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stu ...
s from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of
grave robbery Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a grave, tomb or crypt to steal commodities. It is usually perpetrated to take and profit from valuable artefacts or personal property. A related act is body snatching, a term ...
as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from the burial site itself. The term 'body snatching' most commonly refers to the removal and sale of corpses primarily for the purpose of dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools. The term was coined primarily in regard to cases in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. However, there have been cases of body snatching ranging across a variety of countries, with the first recorded case dating back to 1319 in Bologna, Italy. Those who practiced the act of body snatching and sale of corpses during this period were commonly referred to as "resurrectionists" "resurrection men".
Resurrectionists in the United Kingdom Resurrectionists were body snatchers who were commonly employed by anatomists in the United Kingdom during the 18th and 19th centuries to exhume the bodies of the recently dead. Between 1506 and 1752 only a very few cadavers were available each ...
who often worked in teams and who primarily targeted more recently dug graves, would be hired in order to provide medical institutions and practitioners with a supply of fresh cadavers for the purpose of anatomical study. Despite a significant decline in body snatching as a practice, there do exist contemporary instances of body snatching cases occurring around the globe.


United Kingdom

Prior to the 18th century, the business of medicine was illegitimate. It was not down to an exact science, causing deaths to be equal to lives saved. However, doctors desired to learn more about the human body. Dissections, the main way doctors aimed to gain understanding, required fresh corpses. Before the Anatomy Act of 1832, the only legal supply of corpses for anatomical purposes in the UK were those condemned to death and dissection by the courts. Those who were sentenced to dissection by the courts were often guilty of capital crimes, such as murder, burglary, rape, and arson. However, in 1832, Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Anatomy Act of 1832, which gave doctors and medical students the right to dissect donated bodies for education and research purposes. Although this act was created to stop the illegal tradeoff of corpses, it did not provide near enough corpses needed by medical schools annually, which could be up to 500 in number. This led to increased numbers of body snatching in the United Kingdom. Interfering with a grave was a
misdemeanour A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
at
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
, not a
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
, and therefore only punishable with a fine and imprisonment rather than
transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
or execution.R v Lynn (1788) 100 All ER 395 made taking a body from a churchyard a misdemeanour However, dissection of these bodies and theft of items within the graves was illegal. This caused the body snatchers to only take the body and leave everything else behind in the grave. Medical students and staff did not ask where the bodies came from. The trade was a sufficiently lucrative business to run the risk of detection, particularly as the authorities tended to ignore what they considered a necessary evil. Body snatchers had a small time window where they could dig up bodies before they began decomposing, so that the body could be embalmed. They had to remain undetectable while digging up the bodies and transporting them from the gravesites to the medical facilities to be sold. There were a couple methods body snatchers went about digging up graves. One included digging a tunnel at the head of the coffin and breaking the top open, using a rope or hook to grab the body and hoist it out of the coffin. The body snatchers were very careful to put any clothing, jewelry, and personal belongings back into the coffin before filling the tunnel, and trying to smooth out the gravesite as much as possible to look undisturbed. What distinguished body snatching from grave robbing was the practice of returning belongings back into the gravesite before moving on. Body snatchers were sure to not take any belongings of the corpse, as it would lead them to more severe legal issues. ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...
'' reported another method. A
manhole A manhole (utility hole, maintenance hole, or sewer hole) is an opening to a confined space such as a shaft, utility vault, or large vessel. Manholes are often used as an access point for an underground public utility, allowing inspection, m ...
-sized square of turf was removed away from the head of the grave, and a tunnel dug to intercept the coffin, which would be about down. The end of the coffin would be pulled off, and the corpse pulled up through the tunnel. The turf was then replaced, and any relatives watching the graves would not notice the small, remote disturbance. The article suggests that the number of empty coffins that have been discovered "proves beyond a doubt that at this time body snatching was frequent". Body snatching became so prevalent in the UK that it was not unusual for relatives and friends of someone who had just died to watch over the body until burial, and then to keep watch over the grave ''after'' burial, to stop it being violated. Iron coffins, too, were used frequently, or the graves were protected by a framework of iron bars called ''
mortsafe A mortsafe or mortcage was a construction designed to protect graves from disturbance and used in the United Kingdom. Resurrectionists and Night Doctors had supplied schools of anatomy since the early 18th century. This was due to the necessity ...
s'', well-preserved examples of which may still be seen in Greyfriars churchyard,
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. In relation to body snatching, murder for the use of selling the corpses to medical schools also became a sightly occurrence. The term "burked" was coined after William Burke, an Irish man, was found guilty of murdering and selling the bodies of at least 16 people. Burke would pinch the nose of his victims and lay on their chest so that there was no physical damage to the bodies. Burke was hanged and dissected for his crimes in 1829. There were many laws passed by Parliament that covered body snatching, or that of similar. The Human Tissue Act of 2004 created the first overarching law that required informed personal consent to be needed for body or organ donation within medical facilities.


United States

In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, body snatchers generally worked in small groups, which scouted and pillaged fresh graves. Fresh graves were generally given preference since the earth had not yet settled, thus making digging easier work. The removed earth was often shoveled onto canvas tarp laid by the grave, so the nearby grounds were undisturbed. Digging commenced at the head of the grave, clear to the coffin. The remaining earth on the coffin provided a counterweight which snapped the partially covered coffin lid (which was covered in sacking to muffle noise) as crowbars or hooks pulled the lid free at the head of the coffin. Usually, the body would be disrobed–the garments thrown back into the coffin before the earth was put back into place. Resurrectionists have also been known to hire women to act the part of grieving relatives and to claim the bodies of dead at poorhouses. Women were also hired to attend funerals as grieving mourners; their purpose was to ascertain any hardships the body snatchers may later encounter during the disinterment. Bribed servants would sometimes offer body snatchers access to their dead master or mistress lying in state; the removed body would be replaced with weights. Although medical research and education lagged in the United States compared to medical colleges' European counterparts, the interest in anatomical dissection grew in the United States.
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
with several medical schools, were renowned for body snatching activity: all locales provided plenty of cadavers. Finding subjects for dissection proved to be "morally troubling" for students of anatomy. As late as the mid-19th century,
John Gorham Coffin John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...
, a prominent aptly named professor and medical physician wondered how any ethical physician could participate in the traffic of dead bodies.
Charles Knowlton Charles Knowlton (May 10, 1800 – February 20, 1850) was an American physician and writer. He was an atheist. Education Knowlton was born May 10, 1800 in Templeton, Massachusetts. His parents were Stephen and Comfort (White) Knowlton; his ...
(1800–1850) was imprisoned for two months in the Worcester (Massachusetts) County Jail for "illegal dissection" in 1824, a couple of months after graduating with distinction from Dartmouth Medical School. His thesis defended dissection on the rationalist basis that "value of any art or science should be determined by the tendency it has to increase the happiness, or to diminish the misery, of mankind." Knowlton called for doctors to relieve "public prejudice" by donating their own bodies for dissection. The body of
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
congressman
John Scott Harrison John Scott Harrison (October 4, 1804 – May 25, 1878) was an American farmer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He was a son of U.S. president William Henry Harrison and First Lady Ann ...
, son of
William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...
, was snatched in 1878 for Ohio Medical College, and discovered by his son John Harrison, brother of President
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
.Stephen J. Taylor,
Ghoul Busters: Indianapolis Guards its Dead: Or Does It?
, ''Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Newspaper Program'' (January 24, 2015).
Large, gated, centralized cemeteries, which sometimes employed armed guards, emerged as a response to grave-robbing fears. Gated, "high-security" cemeteries were also a response to the discovery that many old urban and rural burying grounds were found to be practically empty of their human contents when downtown areas were re-developed and old pioneer cemeteries moved, as in Indianapolis.


Use in medical schools

The demand for cadavers for human dissection grew as medical schools were established in the United States. This was due to the demand for students to have more first-hand experiences with multiple cadavers, rather than observing dissections on only one specimen. The sudden advances in surgery were what brought on this demand for cadavers for medical school students to learn more about internal anatomy. Between the years of 1758 and 1788, only 63 of the 3500 physicians in the
Colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
had studied abroad, namely at the
University of Edinburgh Medical School The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. It was esta ...
. Study of anatomy legitimized the medical field, setting it apart from homeopathic and botanical studies. Later, in 1847, physicians formed the
American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...
, in an effort to differentiate between the "true science" of medicine and "the assumptions of ignorance and empiricism" based on an education without the experience of human dissection. In addition, the medical community was wanting to grow medical student's knowledge and improve their education by creating a licensing system to terminate those who only went to medical school for pleasantry. By requiring training in anatomy as a prerequisite, this demanded the need for cadavers for medical school students for their graduation.


University of Pennsylvania Medical School

The University of Pennsylvania was the first medical school in America in the 18th century. In 1762, John Morgan and
William Shippen Jr. William Shippen Jr. (October 21, 1736 – July 11, 1808), was the first systematic teacher of anatomy, surgery and obstetrics in Colonial America and founded the first maternity hospital in America. He was the 3rd Surgeons General of the United ...
founded the medical department of
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
. Shippen put an advertisement in the
Pennsylvania Gazette ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the several years leading up to the American Revolution the paper served as a voice for colonial opposition to British colonial rule, ...
in November 1762 announcing his lectures about the "art of dissecting, injections, etc." The cost was "five pistoles." In 1765, his house was attacked by a mob, claiming the doctor had desecrated a church burying ground. The doctor denied this and made known that he only used bodies of "suicides, executed felons, and now and then one from the
Potter's Field A potter's field, paupers' grave or common grave is a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. "Potter's field" is of Biblical origin, referring to Akeldama (meaning ''field of blood'' in Aramaic), stated to have been pu ...
". Later in the 19th century, this school issued an anatomy law that would be state-wide, which was issued around the statement of grave-robbing. This was due to an organized group of grave robbers in Philadelphia. Senato
William James McKnight
was the person behind the upbringing of the state-wide anatomy law and was involved in grave-robbing himself after this act was finalized to the public.


Boston Medical School

In Boston, medical students faced similar issues with procuring subjects for dissection. In his biographical notes,
John Collins Warren Jr. John Collins Warren (May 4, 1842 – November 3, 1927) was an American surgeon and president of the American Surgical Association. Early life and education Warren was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 4, 1842 to Dr. Jonathan Mason Warren an ...
wrote, "No occurrences in the course of my life have given me more trouble and anxiety than the procuring of subjects for dissection." He continues to tell of the difficulty his father John Warren had finding subjects during the Revolutionary War: many soldiers who had died were without relation. These experiences gave
John Warren John Warren may refer to: Medicine * John Warren (surgeon) (1753–1815), American surgeon during the Revolutionary War * John Collins Warren (1778–1856), American surgeon * John Collins Warren Jr. (1842–1927), American surgeon, son of John C ...
the experience he needed to begin his lectures on anatomy in 1781. His advertisement in the local paper stated the following: "A Course of lectures will be delivered this Winter upon the several Branches of Physick, for the Improvement of all such as are desirous of obtaining medical Knowledge: Those who propose attending, are requested to make Application as soon as possible, as the Course will commence in a few days. It was dated and signed: Boston 01/01/1781 John Warren, Sec'y, Medical Society.


Harvard Medical School

Ebenezer Hersey Ebenezer may refer to: Bible * Eben-Ezer, a place mentioned in the Books of Samuel People * Ebenezer (given name), a male given name Places Australia * Ebenezer, New South Wales * Ebenezer, Queensland, a locality in the City of Ipswich * Ebeneze ...
, a physician, left
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
£1,000 for the creation of a Professorship in Anatomy in 1770. A year earlier, John Warren and his friends had created a secret anatomic society. This society's purpose was to participate in anatomic dissection, using cadavers that they themselves procured. The group's name was the " Spunkers"; however, speaking or writing the name was prohibited. Often the group used shovels to obtain fresh corpses for its anatomical study.
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
was established on November 22, 1782; John Warren was elected Professor of Anatomy and Surgery. When his son was in the college in 1796, the peaceful times provided few subjects. John Collins Warren Jr. wrote: "Having understood that a man without relations was to be buried in the North Burying-Ground, I formed a party ... When my father came up in the morning to lecture, and found that I had been engaged in this scrape, he was very much alarmed." John Warren's quest for subjects led him to consult with his colleague, W.E. Horner, professor of anatomy at
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, who wrote back: "Since the opening of our lectures, the town has been so uncommonly healthy, that I have not been able to obtain a fourth part of subjects required for our dissecting rooms." Warren later enlisted the help of an old family friend, John Revere (son of
Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to ale ...
) to procure subjects for dissection. Revere called upon John Godman who suggested that Warren employ the services of James Henderson, "a trusty old friend and servant" who could "at any time, and almost to any number, obtain the articles you desire." During this time, there was an intense growth in New England of medical programs, which led to an increase in the need for anatomy cadavers. To keep a good supply of bodies became a difficult endeavor. Students were sent away to Boston to seek subjects by grave-robbing. This caused the public to get involved, and people began to set up grave watchers in graveyards to catch those who were snatching the bodies. This led the students to move to New York to find potential bodies for cadavers, which at this time wasn't the safest option. People were going to jail and were fined for disturbing the gravesites. Warren attempted to set up a cadaver provision system in Boston, similar to the systems already set up in New York and Philadelphia. Public officials and burial-ground employees were routinely bribed for entrance to Potter's Field to get bodies. Potter's Field was a public cemetery. These types of places were favored by medical doctors who were in search of bodies to use for their dissections. In New York, the bodies were divided into two groupings–one group contained the bodies of those "most entitled to respect, or most likely to be called for by friends;" the other bodies were not exempt from exhumation. In Philadelphia's two public burying grounds, anatomists claimed bodies regularly, without consideration. "If schools or physicians differed over who should get an allotment of bodies, the dispute was to be settled by the mayor–a high-reaching conspiracy that resulted in a harvest of about 450 bodies per school year." These medical colleges were targeted by the general public about body snatching people's loved ones, but the medical colleges fought back. One argument that was brought up was that the medical colleges tried to see them as doing a good thing for the body, since most of the bodies that were taken were ones who didn't have loved ones who grieved for them. Another argument was that these schools attempted to convince the public that the bodies were from a source on the outside, rather than making it look like they didn't get permission to take the body.


Race and body snatching

Public graveyards were not only arranged by social and economic standing, but also by race. New York was 15% black in the 1780s. "Bayley's dissecting tables, as well as those of Columbia College" often took bodies from the segregated section of Potter's field, the Negroes Burying Ground. Free blacks as well as slaves were buried there. In February 1787, a group of free blacks petitioned the city's common council about the medical students, who "under cover of night...dig up the bodies of the deceased, friends and relatives of the petitioners, carry them away without respect to age or sex, mangle their flesh out of wanton curiosity and then expose it to beasts and birds." In the
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ...
American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
, bodies of enslaved workers were routinely used for anatomical study; in one case that has been studied, 80% of the corpses dissected at
Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...
in the 1830s and 1840s were African American. the ready availability of such bodies was cited as an incentive to enroll by Southern medical schools such as the
Medical College of South Carolina The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in South Carolina. It opened in 1824 in Charleston as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities ac ...
. According to Hampden-Sydney, in
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
, "from the peculiarity of our institutions
lavery Lavery, also spelled Lowry, Lowrie, Lory, Lavoy and Lowery, is an Irish surname derived from the Gaelic ''Ó Labhradha'', meaning the "descendants of Labhradha". The Ó Labhradha descend from Labhradh, who was the father of Etru, chief of the Mona ...
materials natomical subjectscan be obtained in abundance, and we believe are not surpassed if equaled by any city in the country." In fact the ready availability of
lack Lack may refer to: Places * Lack, County Fermanagh, a townland in Northern Ireland * Lack, Poland * Łąck, Poland * Lack Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, US Other uses * Lack (surname) * Lack (manque), a term in Lacan's psychoanalyti ...
corpses was cited as a reason why Richmond would be a good place to found a medical school. The bodies of criminals about to be executed were routinely requested of authorities for this purpose. After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, the University of Virginia and Winchester Medical College both requested the cadavers of those about to be hanged. Four, three black (
Shields Green Shields Green (1836? – December 16, 1859), who also referred to himself as "'Emperor"', was, according to Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave from Charleston, South Carolina, and a leader in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, in October 185 ...
,
John Anthony Copeland Jr. John Anthony Copeland Jr. (August 15, 1834 – December 16, 1859) was born free in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of the eight children born to John Copeland Sr. and his wife Delilah Evans, free mulattos, who married in Raleigh in 1831. Delilah was ...
, and Jeremiah Anderson), and one white (
John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...
's son Watson Brown), were obtained by the latter college. In retaliation,
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
troops burned Winchester Medical College in 1862; it never reopened. In December 1882, it was discovered that six bodies had been disinterred from
Lebanon Cemetery Lebanon Cemetery was an African-American cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania established in 1849. It was one of only two private African-American cemeteries in Philadelphia at the time. Lebanon Cemetery was condemned in 1899. The bodies were r ...
and were en route to
Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...
for dissection. Philadelphia's African Americans were outraged, and a crowd assembled at the city morgue, where the discovered bodies had been sent. Reportedly, one of the crowd urged the group to swear that they would seek revenge for those who participated in desecration of the graves. Another man screamed when he discovered the body of his 29-year-old brother. The Philadelphia Press broke the story when a teary elderly woman identified her husband's body, whose burial she had afforded only by begging for the $22 at the wharves where he had been employed. Physician William S. Forbes was indicted, and the case led to passage of various Anatomical Acts. After the public hanging of 39 Dakota warriors in the aftermath of the
Dakota War of 1862 The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several ban ...
, a group of doctors removed the bodies under cover of darkness from their riverside grave, and each took some for himself. Doctor
William Worrall Mayo William Worrall Mayo (May 31, 1819 – March 6, 1911) was a British-American medical doctor and chemist. He is best known for establishing the private medical practice that later evolved into the Mayo Clinic. He was a descendant of a famous En ...
received the body of a warrior called "Cut Nose" and dissected it in the presence of other doctors. He then cleaned and articulated the skeleton and kept the bones in an iron kettle in his office. His sons received their first lessons in osteology from this skeleton. For many years Native American burial sites have been used as a place for body-snatching. The bodies would be removed from their graves in the name of science. Usually the bodies would be removed without consent from relatives and relatives were not attempted to be reached. When these bodies are removed they are given to museums to be put on display. Even if the tribe or relatives found out about the bodies being on display they did not have the authority to have the bodies removed and returned. In November 1990 the Native American Protection and Repatriation Act was signed. During the early 1800s in Michigan the first Indian graves were robbed. Even though it was known at the time that Indian burial sites were considered sacred and should not be tampered with, many still dug up skulls and skeletal remains. During this incident two Indian burial sites were tampered with. In the first site the entire body was taken while in the second the head was cut off. Robert McKain was seen carrying the head back into the barracks with it wrapped in a handkerchief. It was shown that Roberta had previously been accused of taking Indian heads from burial sites to give to paying surgeons.


Public outcry

On February 21, 1788, a body of a woman was taken from Trinity Church. A hundred-dollar reward was offered by the rector of the church for information leading to the arrest of grave robbers. In the ''Daily Advertiser'', many editorial letters were written about the incident: one such writer named Humanio warned that "lives may be forfeit ... should
he body snatchers He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
persist." There was cause for concern: body snatching was perceived to be "a daily occurrence." To assuage the outraged public, legislation was enacted to thwart the activities of the body snatchers; eventually, anatomy acts, such as Massachusetts Anatomy Act of 1831, allowed for the legalization of anatomy studies. Prior to these measures allowing for more subjects, many tactics were employed to protect the bodies of relatives. Police were engaged to watch the burying grounds but were often bribed or made drunk. Spring guns were set in the coffins, and poorer families would leave items like a stone or a blade of grass or a shell to show whether the grave was tampered with or not. In his collection of Boston police force details, Edward Savage made notes of a reward offer on April 13, 1814: "The selectmen offer $100 reward for arrest of grave-robbers at South Burying-Ground". Iron fences were constructed around many burying grounds as well as a deterrent to body snatchers. "Burglar proof grave vaults made of steel" were sold with the promise that loved ones' remains would not be one of the 40,000 bodies "mutilated every year on dissecting tables in medical colleges in the United States." The medical appropriation of bodies aroused much popular resentment. Between 1765 and 1884, there were at least 25 documented crowd actions against American medical schools. Despite these efforts, body snatchers persisted. At City Hospital in New York, on April 13, 1788, a group of boys playing near the dissection room window peered in. Accounts vary, but one of the boys saw what he thought were his mother's remains or that one of the students shook a dismembered arm at the boys. The boy, whose mother had recently died, told his father of the occurrence; the father, a mason, led a group of laborers in an attack on the hospital, known as the Doctors' Riot. In order to control the destruction of private property, the authorities participated in searches of local physicians' houses for medical students, professors, and stolen corpses. The mob was satisfied. Later, the mob reassembled to attack the jail where some of the medical students were being held for their safety. The militia was called, but few showed; this was perhaps due to the militia sharing the public's outrage. One small troop was harassed and quickly withdrew. Several prominent citizens–including Governor George Clinton; General Baron von Steuben, and John Jay–participated in the ranks of the militia protecting the doctors at the jail. Three rioters were killed when the embattled militia opened fire on the mob, and when militia members from the countryside joined the defense, the mob threat quickly dissipated.


Other countries


Australia

In
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
, the bodies of
William Lanne William Lanne (1835 – 3 March 1869), also spelt William Lanné and also known as King Billy or William Laney, was an Aboriginal Tasmanian man, known for being the last " full-blooded" Aboriginal man in the colony of Tasmania. Early lif ...
(1835–1869) and
Truganini Truganini (also known as Lallah Rookh; c. 1812 – 8 May 1876) was an Aboriginal Tasmanian woman. She was one of the last native speakers of the Tasmanian languages and one of the last individuals solely of Aboriginal Tasmanian descent. Trug ...
(1812–1876), considered at the time to be the last
Aboriginal Tasmanians The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...
(Palawa), were both exhumed from their graves. Lanne's head, hands and feet were removed illegally by surgeon William Crowther and members of the
Royal Society of Tasmania The Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) was formed in 1843. It was the first Royal Society outside the United Kingdom, and its mission is the advancement of knowledge. The work of the Royal Society of Tasmania includes: * Promoting Tasmanian historic ...
before he was buried, and the rest of his body was stolen after his burial. Truganini, who outlived Lanne by several years, had wished to avoid his fate and expressly asked to be cremated, but was buried anyway. The Royal Society of Tasmania exhumed her body and put it on display. 100 years after Truganini's death, aboriginal descendants finally won the rights to their bodies following many years of petitioning the government, and their remains were able to be laid to rest after being cremated and spread in the ocean. Unfortunately, these two instances were not isolated. With the aboriginal Tasmanians being wiped out, other native Australians still faced the same threat of body snatching due to continued intrigue from the colonial British presence. In 1910, 12 aboriginal bodies were stolen from their place of rest along the coast, where the natives were forced to settle after being driven away from their ancestral land. The leader of this heist was W.E.L.H. Crowther, an 18-year-old medical student simply seeking the favor of one of his professors. After obtaining the bodies, Crowther and his cohorts took them back to Melbourne in order to undergo further examination.


Project Sunshine

Project Sunshine Project SUNSHINE was a series of research studies that began in 1953 to ascertain the impact of radioactive fallout on the world's population. The project was initially kept secret, and only became known publicly in 1956. Commissioned jointly by ...
was launched during the height of the Cold War as a series of multinational studies concerning the danger posed to humans by radioactive isotopes as a result of nuclear fallout. The Australian government became involved in the program during the mid-1950s, and began collecting body parts from citizens during autopsies, including many children, most often without their next of kin consenting or even being made aware. By the time the program ended in the early 1980s, the Australian government had stolen thousands upon thousands of body parts from deceased Australians to be used for research in
Project Sunshine Project SUNSHINE was a series of research studies that began in 1953 to ascertain the impact of radioactive fallout on the world's population. The project was initially kept secret, and only became known publicly in 1956. Commissioned jointly by ...
.


Canada

The practice was also common in other parts of the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, such as
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, where religious customs as well as the lack of means of preservation made it hard for medical students to obtain a steady supply of fresh bodies. In many instances the students had to resort to fairly regular body snatching. The first medical school established in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
was 1822 in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. Body-snatching tended to vary between English and French speaking students. The French speaking students would steal bodies to pay for their schooling while the English speaking students stole bodies for fun and were usually caught. The students who stole the bodies for medical use would use elaborate measures to make sure the bodies could not be identified or found if a search was conducted at their residence. Facial identifiers and scars would be removed from the body so that they could not be identified. Students would make elaborate hiding places for the bodies such as using pulley systems to pull bodies up into chimneys or hide bodies under trap doors so that the bodies would not be found. When trying to find a body the robbers would be selective in that they would choose
negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...
es. In
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
during the winter of 1875,
typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
struck at a
convent school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
. The corpses of the victims were stolen by body snatchers before relatives arrived from the United States, causing an international scandal. Rewards were offered which students collected to return bodies to the families. Eventually the Anatomy Act of Quebec was amended to prevent a recurrence, effectively ending medical body snatching in Quebec.


China

Burial customs were regulated in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
as a part of the
Great Qing Legal Code The Great Qing Legal Code (or Great Ching Legal Code), also known as the Qing Code (Ching Code) or, in Hong Kong law, as the ''Ta Tsing Leu Lee'' (大清律例), was the legal code of the Qing empire (1644–1912). The code was based on the Ming ...
in an attempt to mitigate illicit burial practices. These regulations criminalized the mishandling of corpses, including the removal of a corpse. The term 'body snatching' as it regards China specifically can refer to a variety of rationales and specific cases of corpse removal which range from political to spiritual in motivation:


Ghost Marriages

A Ghost marriage (
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
: 冥婚;
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: ''mínghūn''; lit. 'spirit marriage') is a practice originating in China in which either one or neither of the partners in the marriage is alive. The original purpose of ghost marriages is unclear but it has been utilized as a means of maintaining a family's honor and legacy in the event that their unwed relative is deceased. The practice has led to the theft of female corpses in order to arrange illicit ghost marriages and relocate the body. In 2006 there were reports of a resurgence in the northern coal-mining regions of
Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
,
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
and
Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
. Although the practice has long been abandoned in modern China, some superstitious families in isolated rural areas still pay very high prices for the procurement of female corpses for deceased unmarried male relatives. It is speculated that the very high death toll among young male miners in these areas has led more and more entrepreneurial body snatchers to steal female cadavers from graves and then resell them through the black market to families of the deceased. In 2007, a previously convicted grave robber, Song Tiantang, was arrested by Chinese authorities for murdering six women and selling their bodies as "ghost brides".


Cremation Quotas

The
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
in China included a push for funeral reform which mandated the cremation of corpses. The enforcement of this mandate has varied, but there have been instances of body snatching for the purpose of meeting state-mandated quotas for cremation funeral practices. The act of body snatching for the purposes of meeting such quotas has become a lucrative business in China. In 2014 two local funerary practice officials in the
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province of China were arrested for hiring body snatchers to acquire corpses in order to meet cremation quotas.


Red Market

The Red Market, also known as the
Organ Trade Organ trade (also known as Red market) is the trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation.(Carney, Scott. 2011. "The Red Market." Wired 19, no. 2: 112–1. Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts.) Accor ...
refers to the trade of human organs or other body parts with the primary purpose being transplantation.In China the illicit trading of human body parts has led to instances of body snatching for use in the Red Market. In order to meet the demand for transplantations China authorized the use of executed prisoners' organs.Prizzi, Michelle. "Body Brokerage: Inside the Trafficking of Human Materials." ''Locus: The Seton Hall Journal of Undergraduate Research'' 2.1 (2019): 5. Consent of prisoners or prisoners' families, though required, has often been unverified in cases of executed prisoners' organs being harvested leading to accusations of illicit harvesting of corpses and transplantations.


Cyprus

In
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, the former President
Tassos Papadopoulos Efstathios "Tassos" Nikolaou Papadopoulos ( el, Ευστάθιος (Τάσσος) Νικολάου Παπαδόπουλος; 7 January 1934 – 12 December 2008) was a Cypriot politician and barrister who served as the fifth president of Cyp ...
's body was stolen from his grave on 11 December 2009.


India

For over 200 years, the city of
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, in the north-eastern region of India, has been known to be the center of a network of bone traders who remove skeletons from graveyards in order to sell them to universities and hospitals abroad. In colonial times, British doctors used to hire thieves to dig up bodies from Indian cemeteries. Despite changes in laws, a similar process is going strong today. According to journalist
Scott Carney Scott Carney (born July 9, 1978) is an American investigative journalist, author and anthropologist. He's the author of five books: ''The Red Market, The Enlightenment Trap, What Doesn't Kill Us', The Wedge'' and'' The Vortex. ''Carney contributes ...
, historically members of the Domar caste, who traditionally performed cremations, were pressed into service processing bones; skeletons were exported from India to be used in anatomy classes worldwide. In the 1850s, Calcutta Medical College processed 900 skeletons a year, but mostly for shipment abroad. A century later, a newly independent India dominated the world market for human bones. At their height, in the early 1980s, Calcutta's bone factories took in an estimated $1 million a year by digging the graveyards of West Bengal after the mourners had left. In 1985 the Indian government banned the export of human bones after human rights groups raised questions about how the bones were being collected and pointed towards the greater need for institutions to obtain
informed consent Informed consent is a principle in medical ethics and medical law, that a patient must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about their medical care. Pertinent information may include risks and benefits of treatme ...
before remains were used for medical research. However, the human
organ trade Organ trade (also known as Red market) is the trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation.(Carney, Scott. 2011. "The Red Market." Wired 19, no. 2: 112–1. Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts.) Accor ...
was only forced underground. The Indian government banned the export of human remains in the mid-1980s, but body snatching is still thriving, even if secretly, in many parts of the country as a result of ineffective laws and poverty.


Ireland

In
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the medical schools of the 18th and 19th centuries were on a constant hunt for bodies. The Bullys' Acre or Hospital Fields at
Kilmainham Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum. History In t ...
was a rich source of anatomical material as it was a communal burial ground and easily accessed. Soldiers attached to the nearby Royal Hospital were always on the alert for grave robbers mainly because many of their comrades were buried there. In November 1825 a sentry captured Thomas Tuite, a known resurrectionist, in possession of five bodies. When searched his pockets were found to be full of teeth–in those days a set of teeth fetched £1 (about £50 in 2011). Many other graveyards were targets of the medical students or those who made robbing graves their profession. The largest cemetery in Ireland,
Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Ghlas Naíon) is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum. Location The cemetery is located in Glasne ...
, laid out in the 18th century, had a high wall with strategically placed watch-towers as well as blood-hounds to deter body snatchers.


Italy

The first recorded case of body snatching is attributed to four medical students from
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
in 1319. At this time, studying the anatomy of a human cadaver was not particularly favored once Rome fell, and it became prohibited by the Church. What was favored was animal dissections at this time. Until the 15th century, it had become legal in Italy to conduct up to two dissections in public per year after the first body-snatching in the 14th century.


The Netherlands

In
The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, poorhouses were accustomed to receiving a small fee by undertakers who paid a ''fine'' for ignoring burial laws and resold the bodies (especially those with no family) to doctors. During the 17th century, the period of the
Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
, medicine in Great Britain and the Netherlands was at the root of body-snatching with the goal of using the corpses to be used for anatomical and physiological learning. Among 17th-century medicine educators at universities the desire to educate the public, in particular, took place in the Dutch Republic of the Netherlands. The Dutch Province of
South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...
was home to the Leiden Anatomical Theatre. Leiden Anatomical Theatre was amongst other theatres which was centers of arts and sciences, meeting places for artists and scientists, and places of public function. Leiden's contribution represented the model of the innovative academy and it's clinical course, inaugurated in 1638, was widely seen as a center of excellence. At Leiden University Peter Paauw (1564-1617) and Francisus dele Boё Sylvius (1614-1672), who were medical professors who used practical skills which became an integral basic part of the academic curriculum under the direction of Otho Heurnius (1577-1652) The anatomical theater developed into a place of universal knowledge and a representation of the macrocosmos as opposed to the microcosmos of the human body. After the death of Heurnius, Joannes van Horne (1621-1670) became the next caretaker for the anatomical theater.


Contemporary body snatching


Argentina

In 1974, former ''de facto'' President
Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Pedro Eugenio Aramburu Silveti (May 21, 1903 – June 1, 1970) was an Argentine Army general. He was a major figure behind the '' Revolución Libertadora'', the military coup against Juan Perón in 1955. He became dictator of Argentina, serving ...
's body was stolen by
Montoneros Montoneros ( es, link=no, Movimiento Peronista Montonero-MPM) was an Argentine left-wing Peronist guerrilla organization, active throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The name is an allusion to the 19th-century cavalry militias called Montoner ...
. The organization had already kidnapped and murdered Aramburu in 1970. The corpse was to be held until President
Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas, 4 February 1931), also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine politician who served as President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads ...
brought back
Eva Peron Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in ...
's body from Italy. It was also an act of revenge for the previous removal of Evita's body. Once Evita's body arrived in Argentina, Montoneros gave up Aramburu's corpse and abandoned it in a street in Buenos Aires. In 1986, the hands of
Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...
were stolen from his grave by unknown persons.


Hungary

The grave of Communist leader
János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989), born János József Czermanik, was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health le ...
(1912–1989) at the
Kerepesi Cemetery Kerepesi Cemetery (Hungarian: ''Kerepesi úti temető'' or ''Kerepesi temető'', official name: ''Fiumei úti nemzeti sírkert'', i.e. "Fiume Road National Graveyard") is the most famous cemetery in Budapest. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in ...
in Budapest was desecrated in early 2007. His skull has been stolen along with some of his other bones and his wife Mária Tamáska's urn. The act was politically motivated, as a message reading "murderers and traitors cannot rest in sacred ground 1956–2006" (taken from a song by far-right rock band ''Kárpátia'') was left nearby. The two dates refer to the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
(Kádár played a major role in the suppresion of the revolution), and the
2006 protests in Hungary The 2006 protests in Hungary were a series of anti-government protests triggered by the release of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's private speech in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 200 ...
(a scandal involving a party widely held to be the ideological successor to that of Kádár). As of 2022, the bones and the perpetrators haven't been found.


India

Though it banned the export of human remains in the mid-1980s, India continues to maintain a robust, if under the table, international trade in human skeletons, as journalist
Scott Carney Scott Carney (born July 9, 1978) is an American investigative journalist, author and anthropologist. He's the author of five books: ''The Red Market, The Enlightenment Trap, What Doesn't Kill Us', The Wedge'' and'' The Vortex. ''Carney contributes ...
indicates In 2007, the Indian police discovered a stash of hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones and arrested a gang for allegedly carrying out the practice of body snatching and indulging in bone
trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
. This gang was arrested after they exhumed dozens of graves from Muslim
cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
in
Burdwan Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...
district, and smuggled the skeletons not just to medical institutions in need of cadavers across the world, but also to the Himalayan kingdom of
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
for use in
Buddhist monasteries Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
. Kamal Sah was caught carrying 67 human skulls and 10 bones on a bus in
Chhapra Chhapra is a city and headquarters of the Saran district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara River and the Ganges River. Chhapra grew in importance as a river-based market in the 18th century when th ...
, in the state of
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
, by fellow passengers who had noticed a jagged bone sticking out of a bag beneath his seat. The investigating officer of the incident, Ravinder Nalwa, reported to a
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
journalist that, "during the interrogation the gang members confessed that the hollow human thigh bones were in great demand in monasteries and were used as blow-horns, and the skulls as vessels to drink from at religious ceremonies." Buddhist monks in India likewise admitted that human thigh bones and skulls were used by followers of a Tibetan school of Buddhism. A 2009 report from The National stated that alleged bone smuggler Kamal Sah was identified by civilians in Bihar state and handed over to police with two bags of human skulls and bones. When questioned on the subject, the police refused to acknowledge the authorities failure to stamp out the practice and simply claimed that the police lacked "equipment, manpower and expertise to stop this practice". The criminal lawyer, Majid Menon, acknowledges that the dire economic conditions for vast numbers of people living in such states as Bihar,
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
,
Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...
and some parts of
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, have favored the practice of body snatching till date and given room for bone smugglers to flourish. According to estimates, 20,000-25,000 human skeletons are smuggled out of India every year through Nepal, China, and Bangladesh. The skeletons reach markets in the US, Japan, Europe and the Middle East, mostly for medical institutions. The price for a complete the skeleton in these markets ranges from $700 to $1500 depending on the quality and size. In India, a full skeleton costs around $350 in the open market. Young Brothers, a Calcutta-based bone dealer, sells a human skeleton for $300. While the complete skeletons mostly find their way to medical laboratories mostly in the West, the assorted bones and skulls are used for religious rituals mostly in Hindu and Buddhist-dominated areas. As part of their tantric rituals, many tantrics drink wine in human skulls in places such as
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
and the state of
Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
in India. And even though till date police have been unable to unearth any irregularity in the skeleton trade, the exporter-turned-moralist, Sanker Narayan Sen, maintains that the people from the Domar caste are often responsible for body snatching and later process the procured cadavers for export.The Government of India had twice earlier banned exports, only to revoke its decision on each occasion. According to the Exporters Association, the CBI, in 2014 had once again recently concluded its investigations and submitted a report exonerating such body snatchers and exporters.


Spain

In April 2000, the skull of
antipope Benedict XIII Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor (25 November 1328 – 23 May 1423), known as in Spanish and Pope Luna in English, was an Aragonese nobleman who, as Benedict XIII, is considered an antipope (see Western Schism) by the Catholic Church ...
was stolen from the ruined palace of Argillo in
Sabiñán Sabiñán is a municipality located in the Zaragoza (province), province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain), INE), the municipality has a population of 809 inhabitants. References< ...
, Spain. The thieves sent an anonymous letter to the mayor of
Illueca Illueca is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 3,396 inhabitants. Antipope Benedict XIII Pedro Martínez de Luna y Pérez de Gotor (25 ...
asking for (). The
Spanish Civil Guard The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the au ...
recovered the skull in September 2000 and found that the thieves were two local brothers who were sentenced in November 2006 to 6-month prison, substituted with .


United Kingdom

Rare reports of body snatching continue to occur. One notorious case in the United Kingdom involved the removal of the remains of Gladys Hammond from
Yoxall Yoxall is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Swarbourn on the A515 road north of Lichfield and south west of Burton upon Trent. South of the village, Yoxall Bridge crosses the River Trent. The ...
Churchyard near
Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
in south
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. Mrs Hammond's remains were taken by
animal rights activist The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals ...
s who were campaigning against
Darley Oaks Farm Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs (SNGP) was a six-year campaign by British animal rights activists to close a farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire that bred guinea pigs for animal research. The owners, three brothers trading as David Hall and Partne ...
, a licensed facility that bred
guinea pigs The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the a ...
for scientific research. Mrs Hammond was the mother in law of one of the farm's owners. After a four-year investigation by
Staffordshire Police Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authorit ...
four leaders of the
Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs (SNGP) was a six-year campaign by British animal rights activists to close a farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire that bred guinea pigs for animal research. The owners, three brothers trading as David Hall and Partne ...
campaign group (three men: Kerry Whitburn of Edgbaston, John Smith of Wolverhampton, John Ablewhite of Manchester; and one woman: Josephine Mayo of Staffordshire) were jailed for conspiracy to blackmail. The men received 12 years each and the woman received four years. The police said the conspiracy included the removal of Mrs Hammond's remains, which were recovered by police following information given by one of the four.


United States

In February 2006, Michael Mastromarino, then a 42-year-old former New Jersey-based oral surgeon and CEO and executive director of operations at
Biomedical Tissue Services Biomedical Tissue Services (BTS) was a Fort Lee, New Jersey, human tissue recovery firm that was shut down by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Holtzclaw, D; Toscano, N; Eisenlohr, L; Callan, D (2008)"The Safety of Bone Allografts Used in D ...
, was convicted along with three employees of illegally harvesting human bones, organs, tissue and other cadaver parts from individuals awaiting cremation, for forging numerous consent forms, and for selling the illegally obtained body parts to medical companies without consent of their families, and then sentenced to long prison terms. BTS sold its products to five companies, including Life Cell Corporation, of New Jersey, and Regeneration Technologies, of Florida. There is still a demand for corpses for transplantation surgery in the form of
allograft Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Greek) is the transplantation of cells, tissues, or organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of the same species. The transplant is called an allograft, allogeneic transplant, o ...
s. Modern body snatchers feed this demand. Tissue gained in this way is medically unsafe and unusable. The broadcaster
Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.PVC pipe Plastic pipe is a tubular section, or hollow cylinder, made of plastic. It is usually, but not necessarily, of circular cross-section, used mainly to convey substances which can flow—liquids and gases (fluids), slurries, powders and masses of sm ...
before his cremation. The director Toby Dye made a documentary titled ''Body Snatcher of New York'' about this case in 2010.


In popular culture


Appearances in film

The 1956 film
Invasion of the Body Snatchers ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film was shot in Superscope and in the film ...
is an American science-fiction film, was directed by
Don Siegel Donald Siegel ( ; October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an American film and television director and producer. Siegel was described by ''The New York Times'' as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut ...
and demonstrates body-snatching as a loss of personal autonomy where aliens take over the bodies of the main characters loved ones. This allowed for publicity of body snatching and interest in the history of its uses outside a science-fiction context. Body snatching was portrayed in a new way of the moral consequences and surrounding effect it has on the stolen body's loved ones. In the film
The Doctor and the Devils ''The Doctor and The Devils'' is a 1985 British gothic horror film directed by Freddie Francis, and produced by Mel Brooks, through his production company Brooksfilms. It is based upon the true story of Burke and Hare, who in 1828 Edinburgh, ...
,
Timothy Dalton Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (; born 21 March 1946) is a British actor. Beginning his career on stage, he made his film debut as Philip II of France in the 1968 historical drama ''The Lion in Winter''. He gained international prominence as ...
plays an anatomist who runs Edinburgh's School of Anatomy in the 19th century. The characters in this film steal corpses after murdering locals and use them for their medical school: this is the practice of body snatching. In another film involving stealing corpses, I Sell the Dead,
Dominic Monaghan Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan (born 8 December 1976) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck in Peter Jackson's film trilogy ''The Lord of the Rings'' (2001–2003), and Charlie Pace on J. J. Abram ...
and
Larry Fessenden Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer. He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits inclu ...
play two men who make a living stealing and selling corpses.


Literature

A famous
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
by
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
is "
The Body Snatcher "The Body Snatcher" is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). First published in ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert K ...
", adapted into a film starring
Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...
and
Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
. This story accurately portrayed the act of body snatching and common uses in its background while adding a fictional plot of using murder to obtain the bodies for educational purposes. This story and film showed how body snatching was viewed as a dark practice with disturbing elements. Another novel mentioning the idea of robbing a grave is the series by H. P. Lovecraft called
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' is a short horror novel (51,500 words) by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927, but not published during the author's lifetime. Set in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, it w ...
and
Herbert West–Reanimator "Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication ''Home Brew''. The stor ...
. One of the main characters Joseph Curwen is a merchant and slave trader who steals corpses of well-known individuals around the world and brings them to Providence to torture them until they share their secrets. This reflects the concept of body snatching as this character secretly removed a corpse from grave sites proving it as an unethical act. In the 1985 novel
City of Joy ''City of Joy'' (french: La Cité de la joie) is a 1985 novel by Dominique Lapierre. It was adapted as a film by Roland Joffé in 1992. Calcutta is nicknamed "the City of Joy" after this novel, although the slum was based on an area in its twi ...
written by French Author and Fulbright Scholar,
Dominique Lapierre Dominique Lapierre (30 July 1931 – 2 December 2022) was a French author. Life Dominique Lapierre was born in Châtelaillon-Plage, Charente-Maritime, France. At the age of thirteen, he travelled to the U.S. with his father who was a diploma ...
, one sees how in order to pay for his daughter's wedding, the dying rickshaw driver sells his bones for science. Hours after demise and before properly mourned, bone traders come to collect his bones. This provides the metaphorical practice of body snatching where a body is surrender, or stolen, and used for science such as in medical schools. In
Tess Gerritsen Tess Gerritsen (born Terry Tom; June 12, 1953) is the pseudonym of Terry Gerritsen, an American novelist and retired general physician. Early life Tess Gerritsen is the child of a Chinese immigrant and a Chinese-American seafood chef. While grow ...
's 2007 novel
The Bone Garden ''The Bone Garden'' is a 2007 novel written by Tess Gerritsen, loosely part of the Jane Rizzoli / Maura Isles series. Plot summary The book delves into Boston's past (1830), with Maura Isles playing a cameo role in present-day Boston. In the prese ...
, set in Boston in 1830, the protagonist Norris Marshall, a talented but poor medical student, attempts to pay his college tuition by working as a "resurrectionist". The main character
Injun Joe Mark Twain's series of books featuring the fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn include: #''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) #''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) #''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894) #''Tom Sawyer, Detective'' ...
in the popular literature work
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the nov ...
, takes the opportunity to murder Dr. Robinson when he and Muff Potter are hired by him for body snatching. In
Jonathan L. Howard Jonathan L. Howard is a British writer and game designer, known mainly for his novels about Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. He lives with his wife and daughter near Bristol. Work Howard worked as scriptwriter and video game writer since the earl ...
s novel
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer ''Johannes Cabal the Necromancer'' is a 2009 supernatural fiction and black comedy novel written by Jonathan L. Howard. It is the first book of an ongoing series chronicling the ventures of Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy. Sum ...
, the eponymous protagonist practices body snatching. In
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
's novel,
A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the ...
, Jerry Cruncher works as a "resurrection man" stealing bodies to resurrect them in addition to his work as a porter and messenger at Tellson's Bank.


Music

In popular culture, music referencing the act of body snatching includes the
Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
' song "The Resurrectionist" which appeared as a bonus track on "I'm with Stupid", the first single from their 2006 album
Fundamental Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...
. The track is inspired by the book The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London by Sarah Wise. (See
London Burkers The London Burkers were a group of body snatchers operating in London, England, who apparently modeled their activities on the notorious Burke and Hare murders. They came to prominence in 1831 for murdering victims to sell to anatomists, by luring ...
.) The 9th track of leATHERMØUTH's album is titled "Bodysnatchers 4 Ever", and it talks about a man and his lover taking fresh bodies and somehow using them to live forever. The second track on
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
's 2007 album
In Rainbows ''In Rainbows'' is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed by a physical release internationally through XL Recordings and in North America ...
is titled Bodysnatchers (song), "Bodysnatchers".


See also

*1788 Doctors' riot *Anatomy Act 1832 *Anatomy murder *Eloise Cemetery *''Frankenstein'' *Ed Gein *Anatoly Moskvin *Murder Act 1751 *Night Doctors * *Thomas Sewall * *Wardsend Cemetery#1862 riot, 1862 Wardsend Cemetery riot


References


Further reading

*J B Bailey, editor (1896). ''The Diary of a Resurrectionist''. London. Contains a full bibliography and the regulations in force in foreign countries for the supply of bodies for anatomical purposes, as of its date of publish. *Vieux Doc (docteur Edmond Grignon) (1930).
En guettant les ours : mémoires d'un médecin des Laurentides
'. Montréal : Éditions Édouard Garand. Digitized by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, National Library of Quebec. French language. *Burch, Druin (2007). ''Digging up the Dead: The Life and Times of Astley Cooper, an Extraordinary Surgeon''. Chatto & Windus, London. *C W Herr, editor (1799). ''The Horrors of Oakendale Abbey''. Mrs Carver. Gothic novel about the terror inflicted upon a young woman when she is locked inside a crumbling Abbey used by resurrection men and body snatchers. Published by Zittaw Press. * *Richardson, Ruth (2001). ''Death, Dissection, and the Destitute''. Contains excellent information regarding the Anatomy Act and the Resurrectionist's influence upon the urban poor. *Roach, Mary (2003). ''Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers''. Contains humorous information regarding the study of anatomy before the Anatomy Act. * *Sappol, Michael (2002). ''"A traffic of dead bodies": Anatomy and embodied social identity in 19th-century America.'' Discusses death practices, role of dissection in medical professionalization and science, changes in the law concerning the disposition of bodies, riots against medical schools, popular anatomical texts, popular anatomical museums. Princeton: Princeton University Press. . * *In the collection of the Wellcome Library: ''Thomas Williams, John Bishop and James May, murderers: miscellaneous papers relating to murder of persons in Smithfield area and sale of corpses for dissection.'' 1831. (MS.7058).


External links


Injunction: Stolen body burial blocked by executor of will
March 6, 2008, New Zealand Herald
Echoes of the Scottish Resurrection MenRichmond, Virginia's Resurrection Man
a
Virginia MemoryVideo footage of precautions against body snatching
{{DEFAULTSORT:Body Snatching Body snatching, Cultural aspects of death History of anatomy Crimes Human body