Resurectionist

Wikimedia CommonsA nightwatchman disturbs a body-snatcher who has dropped the stolen corpse he had been carrying in a hamper.

Medical students are required to practice procedures on human cadavers before they can graduate to working on live people. Back in the 19th century, the concept of organ donation and donating your body to science after passing was as far-fetched as you can get.

So what did medical students and faculty do at the time? They enlisted the help of a resurrectionist. Also referred to as a body snatcher, resurrectionists stole dead bodies from graves and sold them to anyone that needed them.

Wikimedia Commons

At the time, the only legal way to obtain a dead body was after a criminal execution, but they weren’t held as frequently as was necessary to meet the supply demands of medical schools. The popularity of medical schools was increasing, and as more opened up, crime seemed to be decreasing at the time. As a result, the resurrectionist role was born.

For obvious reasons, resurrectionists mainly worked at night. They were able to get a nice chunk of money for their line of work, seeing as it was dangerous for both legal and spiritual reasons.

Legally speaking, stealing a dead body only constituted a misdemeanor. But religiously, it was a grave sin to dig up a dead body.

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