Who were the Resurrection Men?

The Infamous Resurrection Men

Resurrection men were individuals who supplied doctors with research specimens by stealing body parts from local cemeteries. This gruesome practice was prevalent in the 19th century and was driven by the high demand for cadavers for human dissection in medical schools.

Around the 19th century, the government played a negative role in science by allowing "body snatching" as a common practice in medical education. This led to an epidemic of grave thefts, with individuals resorting to stealing corpses from local cemeteries to supply anatomy schools for dissection lectures.

These individuals involved in body snatching were known as resurrectionists or Resurrection-Men. They would secretly exhume bodies from graves under the cover of darkness and sell them to medical practitioners for research purposes.

This dark chapter in medical history shines a light on the unethical practices that were prevalent during that time, highlighting the desperate measures some were willing to take in the pursuit of advancing medical knowledge.

Who were the Resurrection Men and what was their role in supplying doctors with research specimens?

The Resurrection Men were individuals who stole body parts from local cemeteries and supplied them to doctors for research purposes. They played a crucial role in meeting the high demand for cadavers for human dissection in medical schools during the 19th century.