Burke and Hare Murder Tours in Edinburgh — Body Snatchers of the Old Town

# Burke and Hare Murder Tours in Edinburgh — Body Snatchers of the Old Town

In 1828, William Burke and William Hare murdered 16 people across Edinburgh's Old Town, selling the bodies to anatomist Dr. Robert Knox — and today, their story draws true crime travellers from around the world to the cobblestoned closes and candlelit wynds where the killings took place.

The Crime That Defined a City

Burke and Hare did not dig up graves. That distinction matters. While body snatching was rampant across Britain during the early 19th century, Burke and Hare went further — they created fresh corpses on demand. Their method became so notorious it entered the English language: *burking*, meaning suffocation that leaves no visible marks on the body, making victims appear to have died of natural causes.

Over the course of a single year, the two Irish immigrants lured vulnerable people — lodgers, prostitutes, the destitute — to Tanner's Close lodging house in Edinburgh's West Port district. Once dead, the bodies were transported along High School Wynd to Dr. Knox's Anatomy School, where no inconvenient questions were asked. Knox paid well, and the operation ran smoothly until the autumn of 1828, when lodgers at Tanner's Close discovered the body of a woman named Marjory Docherty hidden under a bed.

William Hare turned King's evidence and received immunity from prosecution. William Burke was hanged on 28 January 1829 before a crowd estimated in the tens of thousands. In a fitting irony, Burke's own body was handed over to the Edinburgh Medical College for public dissection.

Where to Walk the Trail

Three main operators currently run dedicated Burke and Hare experiences in Edinburgh.

West Port Tours