The first body that Burke and Hare sold to the doctor was a tenant of Mrs. Hare’s lodging house who had died while still owing rent. To recoup their losses, Burke and Hare filled the man’s coffin with bark and took his body to Edinburgh University. According to Burke’s testimony, they asked to see Professor Munro, but were directed instead to Surgeon’s Square, where they met Dr. Knox. The not-so-good doctor happily paid to take the body off their hands, no questions asked.

The first real victim of the men was a feverish lodger named Joseph. Hare feared that having a sick person in the house would drive business away. Their twisted solution was to kill off the unsuspecting lodger and sell his corpse to Dr. Knox. Thus began the pair’s murder spree, as they realized the prosperous opportunity they had on their hands.

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Excited by the prospect of fattening their wallets, Burke and Hare set out to find more bodies to render lifeless. Most of their victims were female lodgers or guests at Mrs. Hare’s lodging house. Others were acquaintances of the pair, or people who lived on the street.

Burke and Hare settled on a method for disposing of their victims: The majority of them were plied with alcohol before being smothered to death. One chilling slaying, however, involved Burke murdering a 12-year-old boy—the mute grandson of an old woman whom they also killed—by breaking his back. The bodies were then loaded into tea chests or herring barrels for transportation to the anatomy theaters of Dr. Knox.

Burke and Hare: The Anatomy Murderers of Edinburgh

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