When a tenant at their boarding house died in 1827, William Burke and William Hare found a way to make some extra money: selling bodies to a medical school. But to keep it up, they’d need a fresh supply of dead bodies — and those were hard to come by. Naturally, at least.
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Aug 24
The Greek Robin Hood Who Kidnapped Billionaires and Escaped Prison in a Helicopter
In the craggy peaks of Greece, a modern outlaw proves that you can rob a bank, kidnap a billionaire, and still be the most beloved man in the mountains. This is the story of Vassilis Paleokostas: the 'Robin Hood' who treats his hostages like guests and uses a helicopter as his pr ... Show More
40m 36s
Aug 17
Stanley Alpert, the Kidnapping Victim Who Outsmarted his Captors
Kidnapped on his 38th birthday by criminals who think every federal prosecutor is secretly wealthy, a calm-under-pressure lawyer survives a chaotic 25-hour ordeal—part hostage crisis, part absurd comedy—by befriending his captors. Sources for this episode include: The Birthday Pa ... Show More
30m 57s
Oct 2024
The Edinburgh Body Snatchers: Murder at Halloween
In 1827, Edinburgh, Scotland was a world centre for anatomical study, but there was a shortage of cadavers for medical students to dissect. Two men, William Burke and William Hare, spotted a grim business opportunity. They began sourcing bodies - by any means possible... In this ... Show More
41m 47s
Feb 2021
“Killing for Corpses" William Burke and William Hare Pt. 1
In 19th-century Edinburgh, two men on the hunt for money found a lucrative industry: grave robbing. But the infamous Burke and Hare didn’t want to dig up corpses. Instead, they delivered death to the gullible, and brought the bodies to one high-paying professor. Learn more about ... Show More
46m 55s
Feb 2024
Grave Robbers Turned Murderers: The Sinister Story of Burke and Hare
The Burke and Hare case was a scandalous episode in 19th-century Edinburgh where William Burke and William Hare, two Irish immigrants, resorted to murder to supply fresh corpses to medical schools. Operating in the early 1820s, they targeted vulnerable individuals, including trav ... Show More
35m 34s
Jun 2025
Ep.130 - Burke & Hare, Serial Killers That Sold Their Victims
Burke and Hare were two of the maddest lads you'll ever hear of. Two Irish fellas who moved to bonnie Scotland, they were real bastards. At first selling the body of a man who died for some sweet moola, then the moola was so good, why not make a few dead bodies of their own? Rese ... Show More
1h 4m
Jul 2023
27: Harvard’s Dirty Secret: Bejeweled Skulls and Grave Robbing
The manager of Harvard's Medical school was just indicted for selling human remains to oddities shops, but the history of Harvard's involvement in black market corpse dealings goes back over 250 years. Let's travel through the morgue, past the skeletons found in Harvard's walls, ... Show More
27m 23s
<p>In the first of two episodes, Zachary Crockett digs into the strange and discomfiting history of cadavers, and the industry that has emerged around them.</p><p> </p><p>RESOURCES:</p><ul><li>"<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/grave-robbing-giving-own-body-134022080.html">From ... Show More
