Burke and Hare: Murderers at the Service of Science
Burke and Hare: Murderers at the Service of Science Ladies and gentlemen, hold on to your seats, and enjoy the real story of Burke and Hare in five acts Act 1: A Cry in the Night October, 1828. It is another night at the Hare’s lodging house, located in Tanner’s Close, Edinburgh. Except that this very night everything will change at the capital, who will be taken aback by the headlines some days later William Burke and William Hare, tenant and owner respectively of the lodging house, are killing Marjorie Campbell Docherty, using the technique known as “burking” in their honor: one of them sits on the victim’s chest, while the other suffocates him (or her) with his hand. It leaves no signs of a violent death, and it allows them to live confortably enough to not work But this night, neighbours could hear Mary Campbell’s cry for help: “Murder!”, and became suspicious. The other tenants at the lodging house, the Grays, had the chance to look under Burke’s bed the next day, wher...