Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Body Snatching
This selection was mostly about different ways grave robbers carried out their crimes. It explains different ways to dig up a body, what times of the year were best so the bodies were better preserved, which class and graveyards were best, and what time of night was ideal.
One thing that stood out to me most was when Merry Andrew (a grave robber) dug up his own sister after hearing of her death and later sold her to surgeons. It shows to me a lack of emotions, it is one thing to dig up random people for money, but it is disturbing to me he could go through it with his own sister.
It is also interesting to me how much the doctors play a part in keeping the trafficking of bodies alive. They play a big part in the crimes by paying people money for bodies they most likely knew were illegally dug up to help their expand their knowledge.
Overall it was very interesting to read the different notes and stories on body snatching showing how big of a problem it was and how far some went to obtain bodies and in some cases leading to their own personal corruption.
Brittany F.
(posted by Dr. Renzi on her behalf)
1 comment:
Though I do find it slightly disturbing that a man was willing to sell his own sister to the surgeons, I also find it very interesting. It allows us a glimpse into the mind of the man (men) that commit these crimes. I think one of the biggest things to take away from that part of the story isn't so much a lack of emotion as it is a statement on what these men think of the corpses. I take it as a statement that the corpses are viewed as just that: corpses stripped of all of their previous ties to the world.
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