DiggingUp1800: The Podcast
12 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsJoin me as I venture deep into the history of Edinburgh's Royal Mile and explore some of Scotland's darker tourist locations. From 19th century anatomy and body snatching to Burke and Hare and haunted graveyards, I explore tales from a darker side of history, a side that the macabre travellers will enjoy.
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Episodes
009: Life of a Surgeon - Apothecary 1750-1850: Guest Interview with Suzie Grogan
August 08, 2021 15:00 - 50 minutes - 34.6 MBSuzie Grogan The Glamorous Life of a Surgeon Apothecary 1750-1850 My guest today is fellow Pen & Sword author, Suzie Grogan. Suzie’s written three books now but it is her second book, Death, Disease and Dissection that we’re really focusing on in this episode. Join me as our chat turns to the world of medical history and the life of a surgeon-apothecary in the mid 18th and 19th Century. We don't forget the body snatching in this episode and look at it from a slightly different angle t...
Body Snatching In America: Guest Interview with Chris Woodyard
July 17, 2021 08:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MBIn this episode, I’m joined by fellow body snatching enthusiast Chris Woodyard, author of the popular series Haunted Ohio as well as the fabulous ‘The Victorian Book of the Dead’. We get down to the basics of body snatching and compare the practice between Britain and America and for us two, nothing is off limits! From repurposing clothes from cadavers to the 'Coffin Torpedo' and everything in between! All the gory details can be found at: 2:37 How to take a body out of the grave 4:...
008: Body Snatching In America: Guest Interview with Chris Woodyard
July 17, 2021 08:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MBIn this episode, I’m joined by fellow body snatching enthusiast Chris Woodyard, author of the popular series Haunted Ohio as well as the fabulous ‘The Victorian Book of the Dead’. We get down to the basics of body snatching and compare the practice between Britain and America and for us two, nothing is off limits! From repurposing clothes from cadavers to the 'Coffin Torpedo' and everything in between! All the gory details can be found at: 2:37 How to take a body out of the grave 4:...
007: Helen Miller & A Body Snatching Tale From Lasswade, Midlothian
July 10, 2021 04:00 - 11 minutes - 7.78 MBThis episode is slightly different as I take a look at the story of a female body snatcher based just outside of Edinburgh. Women didn't often get as involved in the body snatching trade, and so it's quite unusual to find a case where the woman has carried out such a prominent role. Our story today takes us back to 1829 and to the parish of Lasswade in Midlothian, where Helen Miller, a lady once married to a body snatcher, turned informant and started offering a helping hand to the bod...
06: Digging Deeper: The World of 19th Century Anatomy
June 26, 2021 18:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBIn this episode I’m joined by Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall Museum in Edinburgh. We step into the world of the 19th-century anatomists and look at how the body snatcher would have delivered a cadaver to the back door of Surgeons’ Hall. We talk about the state of the cadaver after it had been packed into barrels and boxes and there’s also a little bit of dissection talk in there along with some basic anatomy to help set the scene. All gruesome stuff, but not too...
006: Digging Deeper: The World of 19th Century Anatomy: Guest Interview with Cat Irving
June 26, 2021 18:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBIn this episode I’m joined by Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall Museum in Edinburgh. We step into the world of the 19th-century anatomists and look at how the body snatcher would have delivered a cadaver to the back door of Surgeons’ Hall. We talk about the state of the cadaver after it had been packed into barrels and boxes and there’s also a little bit of dissection talk in there along with some basic anatomy to help set the scene. All gruesome stuff, but not too...
005: Eckford Watch Tower & The Tale Of Dandy Jim
June 11, 2021 18:00 - 6 minutes - 4.43 MBIn This Episode: We travel to the Scottish Borders, to a small village called Eckford and hear a short tale from 1829 that inspired the inhabitants of the parish to build a watchtower in the graveyard in an attempt to keep their loved ones safe. If you'd like to see this episode on my blog so that you can read it instead, you can find it on my website here Although there are specific books for Eckford, this and other stories can be found in the following books, all of which are great ...
004: Making A Killing: How Much Money Did Burke & Hare Make?
June 04, 2021 16:00 - 23 minutes - 15.9 MBIn This Episode: Notorious murderers Burke and Hare made money from their killing spree by selling the bodies of their victims to anatomist Dr Robert Knox. But how much money did they actually make during their ten-month killing period? Join me in this episode where I take a closer look at the prices paid for the corpses and tally the final total made by the pair before their murders were discovered just after Halloween 1828. Taking Things Further & Recommended Reading You can read my ...
003: The Legend Of Half Hangit Maggie Dickson
May 28, 2021 20:00 - 15 minutes - 11 MBIn This Episode: The story of Half Hangit Maggie is legendary in Edinburgh's Grassmarket and is a story universally known about the woman who survived a date with the hangman. Having come across Maggie's story many times while researching body snatching, I decided to take in more detail at this remarkable woman and retell her story, one more time. From her time in Musselburgh when her husband deserted her, to the moment she wakes up in her coffin, join me as I look again at this legenda...
002 The Hope Street Body Snatching Scandal : Liverpool
May 14, 2021 16:00 - 13 minutes - 9.1 MBIn This Episode: In 1826 one of the biggest discoveries of cadavers awaiting shipment to the anatomy schools of Scotland was made at George Dock in Liverpool. In this episode, I take a look at the case in more detail, from the bodysnatchers involved to the total body count and even the types of barrels used. In the years before murderers Burke and Hare and the discovery of the Italian Boy Murderers in London, the discovery of 33 cadavers at George Dock that day in October 1826, would shak...
001 Why Did Anatomists Hire Body Snatchers
April 18, 2021 20:00 - 17 minutes - 12.3 MBIn this episode: I look at events before the rise of the professional body snatcher, when students and anatomists carried out their own midnight raids in graveyards to get cadavers for the dissecting table. I also look briefly at the most famous body snatching case of them all, the snatching of ‘The Irish Giant’ Charles Byrne in 1783 and then look at how a change in the law in 1788 was the turning point for the anatomists and medical students to head out of the graveyard and back into th...
DiggingUp1800: The Trailer
April 15, 2021 19:00 - 2 minutes - 1.91 MBLet me take you back to Georgian Britain, to an underworld where the goods bartered were human bodies and discover a darker side to medical history ‘Body Snatching’ - a subject that only makes it into the history books, if you’re lucky. From anatomy riots, and bodies being hidden in dung heaps, to finding cadavers stuffed into barrels and being transported throughout Britain, this is a true-crime podcast with a difference. Forget the murderers' Burke and Hare, in this podcast, I’m goin...