The special method of 'stealing corpses' in history

Quan coffers, houses decomposing bodies, safety cages . are methods to protect corpses that ancient nobles used.

In the eighteenth century, with the development of the anatomy industry, the UK passed a law that allowed medical facilities to dissect or use corpses of criminals who were executed for research.

However, due to the rapid growth of this industry, the criminal corpse is not enough to provide. From this situation of "distress" has appeared a new profession is the profession . theft.

This profession was abetted and favored by "underground laws", so if the thieves were arrested, they would only be punished lightly, as long as they did not steal wealth in the grave.

Faced with this extremely dangerous situation, the nobles have found a few special methods to protect their bodies after death.

1. Hire people to look after the grave

This is the simplest, cheapest and most dangerous method. All this noble family had to do was hire a watchman to keep the grave until the corpse was destroyed, so it would no longer worry about the theft.

However, corpse thieves can completely bribe the grave man. During the nineteenth century, robbery was a highly profitable industry - a 'fresh' corpse costing around £ 25 (about 840,000 VND at current exchange rates).

Another way is that the family members look after them, but the results are not much better. There have been cases where the thief has dug a secret tunnel to the grave and carried the body while the victim's family has discovered it for a while.

2. Iron coffin

In 1818, Edward Bridgman created a useful invention, which was an iron coffin. Wealthy aristocrats will be buried in an iron casket instead of a common wooden coffin.

This iron casket has an elastic inner latch system, capable of returning to the original position immediately after the thief relies on the lid of the coffin - making it impossible to turn on the lid of the coffin.

3. Safe cage

So far, if you go through cemeteries in Scotland, you can still see images of 'zombie cages', with the explanation being to prevent the dead corpses from running out. But in fact, this is a method to prevent theft of the time.

It was like a metal box, made entirely of iron frames and used to cover the coffin. A coffin can be surrounded by many safety cages, on the top of the cage there will be large pieces of iron to hold the heavy rock.

This is quite effective to prevent thieves from opening cages from above but cannot prevent them from stealing from the sides. After a while, the family members will dig up the grave to check, remove these iron cages and they will be 'reused' for other corpses.

4. Iron collar

If you want to sell the price, it is important for the thief that the corpses must be intact. The iron collar used to make the thief's headaches.

Accordingly, the dead will be given a special outfit, in which the collar of this costume is made of iron. After placing it in the vest, the collar will be screwed straight to the bottom of the coffin, keeping the corpse fixed at the neck.

Usually, the robbers will dig a tunnel to the grave and pull the corpse to the side of the coffin. But because the iron collar was closed to the bottom, pulling the corpse was extremely difficult. If too strong, it can break the body and sell it no longer. The solution used is to break down the wood in the serial but this is very difficult.

5. Coffin exploded

There are many people who believe that the best way to not be stolen is not to set up an anti-theft safety system but to make them afraid to come any closer. In 1878, Phil Clover introduced his explosion coffin invention.

The mechanism of this coffin is simple: a casket is normally attached to gunpowder and detonators around. Like mines, anyone who steps on them causes them to explode. Just one shovel is enough to 'Boom' and the grave thief will have to pay a high price or even a life-threatening risk.

In addition, some bombs were placed right under the lid of the coffin with the intention of sacrificing their bodies rather than being dissected. Although effective, this method is like a double-edged sword, which can harm one's loved ones later, if it is intended to rebuild or transfer ancestral graves.

6. The house decomposes

The corpses were only good for surgery when they were still 'fresh' and to prevent their bodies from being stolen, some people accepted 'registration' at home to decompose. This is simply a normal house built by village people but it will be a place to store corpses, waiting for decomposition before being buried.

(Illustration)

The corpses will be kept in this building for several weeks, until the robbers are no longer interested in them. This type of morgue has the advantage of being easier to look after than the individual grave and everyone in the village can take turns watching.

However, bribing keepers, or intruding here still happens because many people feel unwell when they have to breathe in this unhealthy atmosphere.