From great fires ravaging the
streets of Edinburgh to the horrific and often fatal plague that struck its
people down, Scotland’s capital city isn’t short of a gruesome story or two. In
fact, one of its most famous tales is the story of a murder mystery in
Edinburgh, or several murders as you’ll eventually find out.
The story of the world’s most
famous body snatchers, Burke and Hare, has achieved cult status – and has since
been portrayed in several films – including a Hollywood blockbuster and other
modern media. The story is documented to have begun 1827, after the pair had
originally met and began to lodge together, along with Burke’s wife, Helen
McDougal.
As was typical in those times,
money was in short supply and poverty was high. In 1827, a lodger at their
accommodation passed away while owing an outstanding balance of £4 to Hare.
Seeking an opportunity to recoup his money, Hare tapped into his
“entrepreneurial spirit” and turned to the demand of fresh bodies for anatomical
studies. Justifying his plans as payment in return for the outstanding debt,
Hare enlisted the help of Burke to swap the deceased lodger’s body out of his
coffin, and placed heavy, cheap tanning bark in place for the funeral. The duo
then delivered the lodger’s body to a professor called Knox at Surgeon Square.
Accepting the body on a “no questions asked” basis, the professor paid the pair
seven pounds and ten shillings for their efforts.
It was an easy opportunity to
make money, but when they ran out of bodies from naturally occurring deaths, it
didn’t take long for Burke and Hare to resort to murder. Their first victim was
a fellow lodger, already in a poor and sickly way. Suffocating their victims in
the hope they would appear dead from natural causes, the pair had quickly
racked up a total of up to thirty bodies delivered to the attentive surgical
students, but their downfall came when they targeted victims well-known to the
public, including two prostitutes and a children’s entertainer.
Suspicious fellow lodgers, James
and Ann Gray, eventually confirmed the pair were up to no good and alerted the
authorities. Burke and Hare were arrested and questioned, and in order to
secure a conviction, the Lord Advocate offered Hare the opportunity to testify
against his partner and his wife, and save his own skin. Hare jumped at the
chance and took to the stand, convincing the jury to reach a guilty verdict.
Burke was hung for his crimes and, in a fitting nod to his life of crime; his
body was donated to medical practices and anatomical study.
Looking For a Modern Murder Mystery in Edinburgh?
Burke and Hare might have been
responsible for the most famous murder mystery in Edinburgh, but there are
plenty more tales to be told. Why not try one for yourself by booking a unique
murder mystery event with Real Mary King’s Close and unveil your own mystery
beneath the cobbled streets of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
