Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Anatomy Murderers” Burke and Hare Pt. 1

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

When a tenant at their boarding house died in 1827, William Burke and William Hare found a way to make some extra money: selling bodies to a medical school. But to keep it up, they’d need a fresh supply of dead bodies — and those were hard to come by. Naturally, at least.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of these killers' crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. William Hare paced the streets around Tanner's Close. He was a landlord at an Edinburgh lodging house, and one of his tenants, Joseph, was deliriously sick.

He coughed incessantly in his bed, drifting in and out of fevers. But while Hare cared for the man, sick guests were bad for business. If word got around that someone fell ill on his watch, Hare worried he'd have to close his doors for good. He needed to get Joseph out of his lodging house and fast. More importantly, Hare wanted to recoup his losses because Joseph had fallen behind on his rent.

So Hare enlisted the help of his friend, 36-year-old William Burke. The two men discussed their options. They could sneak Joseph to a hospital, but there was a good chance he might end up right back in the lodging house. They could try to help Joseph themselves, but they didn't know the first thing about what was ailing him or how to treat him. Ultimately, Burke and Hare decided the best thing to do was to end Joseph's suffering. So, hair laid on top of Joseph's frail body, and Burke covered the man's mouth and nose with the pillow. And as Joseph thrashed beneath them, fighting for his life, Burke and Hare told themselves that what they were doing was kind.

It was a mercy killing. And if they happened to make some money off his body, well, that would be pretty good too. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're taking a look at William Burke and William Hare, also known as The Anatomy Murderers. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson.

Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Today, we'll discuss the little we know of Burke and Hare's origins and take a look at how they started their very own Murder for Profit business. Next time, we'll detail the expansion. and subsequent implosion of their operation and the twisted fate that followed them. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

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you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances. chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. We like to believe that one has to have a certain kind of personality to commit murder. We tell ourselves, only a psychopath could do that. Or I'm just not capable of such senseless violence. But what about when the killing isn't senseless at all? What if it actually benefits you financially to take another human life? Does it still take a unique, person to carry out that murder? Or could anyone in need of some extra cash be persuaded to commit

homicide? William Burke and William Hare didn't demonstrate any of the typical qualities that we see in most serial killers. And yet they still manage to murder plenty of people. Their actions were the same as a serial killers, but their motivations were somewhat different. Does that make them more sinister? To help make up your mind, let's go back to the beginning of their story. William Burke was born in the north of Ireland around 1792. His parents were likely farmers and well-respected within their community. Although the Burke's fought a constant battle against poverty, they were a hard-working family doing their best under difficult circumstances.

Not much is known about Burke's childhood, which has led many biographers to assume there wasn't any trauma or neglect to speak of. And while it's unclear how many siblings Burke had in total, He was reportedly close with his older brother, Constantine. In about 1809, both brothers decided to join the army. They became members of the Donagall militia and fought on behalf of the British Crown during the Napoleonic Wars. Constantine quickly worked his way up the ranks

and is thought to have become a non-commissioned officer. Meanwhile, Burke made his contributions off the battlefield. Some have said that he was a drummer. Others have asserted that he played the fife. He may have also worked as an officer's servant. At some point during his service, Burke married a woman in the town of Balinac, Ireland, and fathered two children with her. But in 1818, when 26-year-old Burke left the army, he left his family as well. Some speculate that he departed after a tense argument with his father-in-law, but that theory was never proven.

Whatever the case, Burke clearly wanted to start over, and he decided to do so in Scotland. There, the Union Canal was being constructed to improve the transportation of goods between Falkirk and Edinburgh. As the two cities were roughly 25 miles apart, the project was considerable and jobs were plentiful. Eager to make some money, countless laborers trickled into town, including Burke. He settled in the village of Madison near Falkirk and spent the next four years working on the canal, making new friends and earning an honest living. But in 1822, construction finished, and 30-year-old Burke was forced to find new employment.

He reportedly found jobs as a baker, weaver, and cobbler. He also struck up a relationship with 27-year-old Helen McDougal, who some have suggested was a sex worker when the two met. Soon after they began dating, the couple moved in together. However, at this time, living with an unmarried partner, wasn't looked upon favorably by the law. This mild offense is the first known instance of Burke ever deviating from the legal codes of the time. But as far as we can tell, it didn't majorly affect the couple's lives, and at some point it seems that they entered into a common law marriage.

Then in 1827, after five years together, Burke and Helen moved to the city of Edinburgh. It's possible that work opportunities had dried up for Burke in the rural areas around the city. Whatever the case, the couple packed up and headed to the immigrant area of Edinburgh called Westport. Burke knew of a tenement house nestled in an alleyway called Tanners Close. During prior trips to the city, he'd become acquainted with the building's landlords, James and Margaret Logue. But when Burke and Helen arrived at the lodging house, Burke was surprised to learn that Margaret had taken up with someone new. James had passed away, and Margaret was dating a man named William Hare. If there wasn't much information out there about Burke, there's even less about Hare.

Some speculate that he was born in the late 1700s. Others insist it was the early 1800s. In short, Hare's youth remains a complete mystery. It's only when he showed up in Scotland around 1818, that people took notice of him. Like Burke, Hare moved to Scotland and joined the Union Canal construction crew. And though it's very possible that Hare and Burke crossed paths at work, no reports ever linked them together at that time. Burke lived in Madison and Hare lived in Edinburgh, so at the end of the day, they went home in opposite directions. When the Union Canal was completed in 1822,

Hare remained in Edinburgh and may have worked as a peddler. This would have required him to travel around the city, interrupting conversations to hawk his goods, which could often result in tense confrontations. Luckily, Hare was no stranger to conflict. In addition to squabbling with men who wanted a better deal, Hare also attracted chaos in his romantic relationships. While renting a room at the lodging house in Tanner's Close,

he began an affair with his landlord, Margaret. This was particularly foolish, as Margaret's husband James had ties to Irish gangs. As soon as the affair was discovered, Hare was thrown out of his lodgings. No one knows where he lived in the immediate aftermath of the affair, But in 1826, when Margaret's husband passed away, Hare returned to Tanner's Close. He moved in with Margaret, and the two ran the boarding house together, living as though

they were husband and wife. The following year, 35-year-old William Burke and 32-year-old Helen McDougal came to town in search of a place to stay. Upon their arrival at Tanner's Close, the hares welcomed them in. Margaret took Helen aside to show her the bed sit and left Burke in the company of her husband, Hare. The two men hit it off instantly. Within weeks, they behaved like brothers, sharing everything and spending all of their time together.

And even though Hare was running the lodging house, and Burke found occasional work as a cobbler, they both struggled to make a living. Something else they bonded over. Perhaps they had both hoped that the Union Canal job would last longer, or at least lead to more lucrative opportunities. But when it didn't, Burke scrambled a fine client. and Hare harassed tenants to pay their rent. Ultimately, what little we know of their story comes from William Burke's confession to the authorities,

so the exact nature of the events that follow may never be fully known. One morning in late 1827, Hare was doing just that. He walked the halls of the tenement, knocking on doors and demanding rent. But when he got no response from a lodger named Donald, Hare led himself into the man's room. When Hare got inside, he was shocked to discover Donald's corpse lying on top of his bed. Donald had died of dropsy, and Hare was distraught, but not for the reasons you might expect. He was incensed because Donald still owed him four pounds in back rent, and now there was no way for him to collect.

Hare's unsympathetic reaction may have also been due to Donald's age. You see, in addition to being ill, Donald was elderly, and since he was seemingly close to the end of his life, it appears Hare didn't care about Donald at all. Vanessa is going to take over in the psychology here. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Numerous sociological studies have found that the majority of people in most Western societies

are agist, meaning that they carry negative perceptions of older adults as a group. Despite the fact that many senior citizens are of sound, mind, and health, They're often seen as mentally and physically impaired. These agist stereotypes often encourage discriminatory treatment against older people, mainly in the form of medical encounters. There are reports of depression going unnoticed, chronic pain being mistreated, and preventative measures being overlooked simply because of a patient's advanced age.

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Dr. Luis Aronson acknowledged the pervasiveness of ageism within our history and culture, and worried about its harmful effects. She wrote that when we accept the second-class citizenship of an entire category of human being, we set a precedent for treating others with the same disregard. William Hare likely made light of Donald's demise due to his age. Unfortunately, this point of view was a grim hint at things to come.

To him, a dead body was just a dead body, one he was eager to get rid of. But as Hare waited for the local parish to retrieve Donald's body, he wasn't thinking about the future. His main concern was the amount of money he was losing on the empty room. When no one came to collect the corpse after two days, Hair was even more frustrated. Not only was he down four pounds, but he was losing money by the day. Unable to rent out the room, Hair needed to dispose of the rotting corpse fast. Luckily, the two friends had an idea.

They'd heard about a man who might be willing to pay for Donald's corpse. Dr. Alexander Monroe was a respected professor at the nearby Royal College of Surgeons. He made a name for himself in the field of anatomy and had been granted permission to take cadavers from criminal executions for use in class dissections. So it was suggested they find Dr. Monroe and ask him if he wanted to buy a dead body. But when the two men arrived at Surgeons Square, Dr. Monroe was a good man. nowhere to be found. A student noticed the duo and asked what they wanted. Hair and Burke hesitated for a moment, then said that they had, quote, a subject to dispose of. The student nodded, then pointed them in the direction of another anatomy professor, 36-year-old Dr. Robert Knox. At Dr. Knox's office,

Burke and Hare told his assistants what they had to offer. The young men surreptitiously glanced around the room, then whispered that they could bring the body back later that night. Dr. Knox would inspect it, and then tell them what it might be worth. Heron Burke went back to Tanner's close and stuffed Donald into a large sack. When darkness fell over the city, they loaded the remains onto a cart and wheeled it over to Dr. Knox's office. There they were greeted by the same assistants, who asked Burke and Hare to bring the cadaver inside. Burke and Hare did as requested and fidgeted nervously as the assistants examined Donald's body.

Then the medical assistants left the room to retrieve Dr. Knox. If Burke and Hare were nervous before, they were petrified now. It was one thing to make a nefarious deal with a couple of students, but a professor might have more qualms about accepting a dead body from two strangers. What if Dr. Knox asked where they'd gotten it? What if he reported? them to the authorities. Burke and Hare were suddenly overcome with doubt. They couldn't escape the sinking feeling that they were about to be accused of a crime, but there was no time for them to run.

They could hear Dr. Knox's footsteps approaching. Coming up, Dr. Knox decides what to do with Burke and Hare. Wayne Simmons spent 27 years undercover for the CIA. When he retired from spy work, he got a big break. Terrorism Analyst on Fox News. Then he met Kent Clisby. So I'm a real CIA guy. This is total nonsense.

I'm Alex French, and I'm here to figure out who's telling the truth. Was Wayne Simmons a spy, or was he nothing but a con man? Impostors is a Spotify original from Parcast, follow and listen exclusively on Spotify. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and in increased physical activity to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is

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scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-9-9-9 or visit Zepbounds.lily.com. Now back to the story. In November of 1827, 35-year-old William Burke and his friend William Hare attempted to sell the dead body of a man named Donald. He was a former tenant of Hares who had passed away before paying his rent. So Hare hoped he could pawn the cadaver to cover his losses.

You see, anatomy professors at the Royal College of Surgeons needed dissection subjects for their classes. And while the much-esteem Dr. Alexander Monroe had a monopoly on the corpses of all legally executed persons, other professors were largely left to fend for themselves, including 36-year-old Dr. Robert Knox. When a medical student heard that Burke and Hare had a body to get rid of, he pointed them to Dr. Knox. But after the men brought Donald's body into his office,

they began to have second thoughts. They worried he might ask how they came across a dead man. Then again, he might not ask at all and just accuse them of grave-robbing. And if Dr. Knox reported them to the police, they could end up in prison. Unbeknownst to the nervous friends, Dr. Knox was used to acquiring subjects in rather scandalous ways. To him, it appears grave-ropping was hardly an issue. Under the cover of darkness, Dr. Knox and his assistants had likely snuck into the nearby

cemetery and dug up graves. Then they would have hauled maggot-ridden corpses back to his office for dissection. So when Dr. Knox had the opportunity to purchase a relatively clean, barely decomposed cadaver. He was thrilled. He glanced over Donald's body, then offered Birkenhair seven pounds, ten shillings. The men could hardly contain their excitement. That was nearly twice the amount Donald owed in back rent. They happily accepted the money and ran all the way back to Tanner's clothes. When they told their common law wives, 32-year-old Helen McDougal and Margaret Hare what they'd done, the women were shocked. They couldn't understand why no one had how they'd gotten a corpse in the first place.

Burke and Hare glanced at each other, perplexed. The women were right, but after a moment of reflection, they began to suspect that Dr. Knox didn't care how he acquired his cadavers at all. He needed them for his research, and he was willing to pay good money. Right then and there, Burke and Hare saw an opportunity unfold right in front of them, one that was more lucrative than either of their current jobs. They excused themselves from the company of their wives and started to draft a business plan. For the next few weeks, Burke and Hare discussed their options.

At first, Burke suggested that they prowl Edinburgh for homeless youths. He reasoned that these waifs wouldn't be missed and could therefore disappear without conflict. But after a fair amount of back and forth, Hare and Burke decided that delivering too many young bodies might arouse suspicion. They needed to find more people like Donald. Elderly are sick individuals who could have reasonably passed away from natural causes. Hare considered his list of tenants and remembered that one of them had recently fallen ill. His name was Joseph and he worked as a miller. He was far from death, but he did have a stubborn cough and a fever that sometimes dragged him into delirium.

Burke and Hare hoped that his end was near. But by February of 1828, Joseph remained very much alive, and Burke and Hare grew impatient. They'd blown through all the money they'd made from Donald and needed to make more. So instead of waiting for Joseph to die, they decided to take action. One afternoon, the men went up to Joseph's room and pretended to check in on him. They chatted with him for hours, flying Joseph with plenty of cheap whiskey until Joseph finally fell asleep. Then, Burke placed a small pillow over Joseph's nose and mouth.

Meanwhile, Hare laid on top of his body, ensuring that Joseph couldn't thrash himself free. But it seems the extra precautions were unnecessary. The combination of illness and alcohol had sufficiently knocked Joseph out, so he didn't put up much of a fight. Shortly after the pillow was placed over his face, Joseph died. Burke and Hare had just committed their first murder. But unlike most serial killers, it seems these men didn't feel any sort of rush or thrill from the act, nor do they experience a come down afterwards. As far as we know, Burke and Hare felt nothing at all.

They were detached from their actions, behaving more like hitmen than sadistic killers. And that detachment helped in their new business venture. In 2015, criminologist David Wilson and Mohamed Rahman published a paper on the psychology of hitmen in the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice. In it, they discussed the phenomenon of contract killing and explored how individuals can compartmentalize their feelings and convince themselves to murder. According to Wilson and Rahman,

hit men often have to teach themselves to mentally reframe homicide as nothing more than a business transaction. By doing so, they completely depersonalize their victims and learn to think of them as targets rather than people. The reframing process can be somewhat difficult. However, Wilson and Raman assert that people who already have a criminal past or who have military training may find the act of murder much easier. This is because they already had to restructure their concepts of right and wrong

in order to commit a crime or kill on the battlefield. But it's important to note that reframing is an ongoing process for most hitmen. In order to rationalize their heinous crimes, they must consistently They instantly remind themselves that the act of murder is nothing more than a job. The minute they start to personalize their victims, they often get sloppy, and that's when they get caught. Burkin Hare likely viewed their exploits through a business lens. And like any successful operation, they knew when to get their hands dirty and when to give it a rest. After murdering Joseph, they found a local porter and paid him to transport Joseph's corpse from Tanner's Close to Dr. Knox's office.

Of course, it's possible the porter didn't know what he was hauling. The body was wrapped in sacks and heading to the prestigious Royal College of Surgeons. After their unwitting accomplice dropped off the cadaver, Burke and Hare strolled into Dr. Knox's office and helped his assistants carry the body into the dissection room. But while Burke and Hare couldn't care less about committing murder, it seems they were still racked with anxiety. When Dr. Knox's assistant examined the body,

they waited with... breath, desperately hoping they wouldn't discover Joseph's real cause of death. Eventually, one of the assistants determined that, based on the pale pallor of the corpse and the strong scent of alcohol wafting off of it, Joseph had likely died from illness, too much drink, or both. Afterwards, Dr. Knox arrived to complete the sale. And this time, because the body was so fresh, he paid Birkenhair a whopping 10 pounds. He also made sure to mention that he welcomed more merchandise.

In response, Burke and Hare assured Dr. Knox that they would have more available very soon. It seems the healthy influx of cash stirred the men to expand their business venture. After all, their method of murder had fooled the brightest of mines. If they kept this up, they could make some serious money. They promptly returned to Tanner's Close and discussed their options. But this time around, Hare was hesitant about targeting his tenants. If people started disappearing from his lodgings, he worried that rumors would spread, and business would plummet. So Burke suggested that they venture into town.

They could meet unsuspecting victims in pubs, get them good and drunk, and bring them back to Tanner's close to kill them. No one would ever have to know that the target had even been there. The only hitch in their plan was that they'd have to inform their wives about what they were doing. Margaret and Helen would certainly want to know where they were all night, and why they were bringing strangers back to the tenement house. But as it turned out, Margaret and Helen were hardly faced by the proposal. Of course, the women didn't want to participate in the actual act of murder, but they were fine with Burke and Hare doing it. They even offered to lure potential victims to the lodging house and get them drunk. It seems they were just as motivated by money as their husbands.

So when Burke and Hare decided to head out into town on or about February 11, 1828, Margaret and Helen bid them well. Burke and Hare set up in a nearby pub and began searching for the perfect victim. At some point, they zeroed in on an older woman named Abigail Simpson. She was a salt peddler from Gilmerton, who had traveled about five miles to collect a pension. But it seems the journey made her a little thirsty. By the time Burke and Hare introduced themselves, Abigail was already buzzed. Sensing an easy target, the men plied her with more and more alcohol as the night went on. In her drunken stupor, Abigail waxed poetic about her beautiful daughter back in Gilmerton.

Hare told her he'd love to meet the young lady and even mentioned marriage. Needless to say, Abigail found the men charming. When Hare asked if she'd like to keep drinking over at his tenement house, she happily agreed. The men walked Abigail to Tanner's close, where Helen and Margaret joined the group. The four of them tried their best to get Abigail as drunk as possible. Unfortunately, Burke, Hare, and their wives didn't consider how much they'd imbibed throughout the night.

When Abigail got up to leave, the men were too wasted to go through with their plan. However, Burke and Hare figured they could take care of Abigail the next day, so Hare convinced her to stay the night. He told her that it was unsafe for her to venture back to her own lodgings alone, and that he was happy to offer her a free room at his place. She gladly accepted and took herself to bed. The next morning, Burke and Hare sobered up and refocused on their mission. They, along with Helen and Margaret, went to visit Abigail under the pretense of checking if she was all right.

The woman insisted she was fine, but she did have a nasty hangover. So her host offered her some whiskey to take the edge off. It didn't take long before the group got her drunk again. However, this time around, Burke and Hare monitored their own intake. Eventually, Abigail passed out on the bed thoroughly sauced. Then Helen and Margaret gave each other a knowing look. It was time for the women to leave. The men had business to take care of.

Coming up, Burke and Hare claimed their nought. Next victim. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activia yogurt today for two weeks and see if you feel a difference. With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual. Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle

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You in? Must be 21 to enter. Now back to the story. On the morning of February 12, 1828, 36-year-old William Burke and his partner in crime William Hare plied a woman named Abigail Simpson with alcohol until she passed out. They wanted to kill her and sell her body to an anatomy professor at the Royal College of Surgeons. But unlike their previous victim, Burke and Hare decided not to use a pillow to smother Abigail. Perhaps they'd watched Dr. Robert Knox and his team of medical assistants perform an autopsy, and it made them realize how little they knew of forensic science.

They didn't know if using tools would make them more likely to get caught. What if a pillow left distinct marks on the face or a feather escaped into their clothes? The men agreed it was better to suffocate Abigail without any aid. So hair clamped his hand over Abigail's nose and mouth, and Burke laid himself across her body. And because she was so intoxicated, Abigail didn't struggle or thrash as much as she would have sober.

and she died relatively quickly. Once she was still, Burke and Hare stuffed Abigail's body into a large tea chest. Then they waited until nightfall to ask a porter to deliver their merchandise. As predicted, Dr. Knox was extremely pleased. He paid 10 pounds for the fresh cadaver, then reminded the men that he was always happy to take on more subjects. At that time, demand for corpses at the Royal College of Surgeons was high. Around 500 medical students attended Dr. Knox's lectures, and they all wanted a chance to study the dissection of a human body.

Of course, this education wasn't free, and the good doctor received a healthy sum of money for his well-attended classes. At first, it seemed unfair that his colleague, Dr. Alexander Monroe, had control over all legally executed bodies, but Dr. Knox quickly discovered that his illicit methods of acquiring corpses were extremely profitable. So he never asked Burke, Hare, or any of the other men who brought him bodies how they obtained them. Most of his deliveries were clearly stolen from graves, which was the general practice. But Dr. Knox had to recognize that the fresh cadaverice he got from Burke and Hare were procured in a different manner. And yet, he chose not to ask where they came from. Today, we recognized Dr. Knox's behavior as an effort to maintain plausible deniability,

or the ability to deny something, especially on the basis of being officially uninformed. According to psychologist Robert Kurzban, humans have evolved to understand that being knowledgeable isn't always an advantage. Because of this, we've created several strategic games to ensure we stay ignorant in the right ways. Plausible deniability, similar to what Kurzban describes as strategic ignorance, is an example of one of those games. Kurzban asserts that it developed in response to the general idea that if you know someone is doing something wrong, it's your duty to try and stop them. But the truth is, sometimes we simply don't want to prevent bad things from happening.

So instead of admitting that we're part of the problem, we try to stay ignorant of the possibility that there was a problem in the first place. Birkenhair likely understood Dr. Knox's tactic. As such, they apparently never questioned his decision. or forced him to admit knowledge of their wrongdoings. They played a strategic game just as much as Dr. Knox, because everyone involved benefited from their crimes. While Dr. Knox got fresh cadavers to dissect,

Burke and Hare got more money than they'd ever dreamed of. It might not sound like much, but 10 pounds in 1828 is the rough equivalent of $1,500 today. At the time, that was about the same amount as three years of work for a laborer, in the fields. Needless to say, Burke and Hare were eager to live it up. They were suddenly seen out and about wearing fancier clothes and eating at nicer places, and the people of Edinburgh took notice. But the men were prepared. They told anyone to ask that they both received inheritances from

recently deceased family members. This was a common enough occurrence that it didn't invite further probing. They also kept up their other jobs. Burke continued working as a cobbler, and In addition to running the lodging house, Hare occasionally did some labor on boats. Out of the two, Hair was particularly flush with cash. Because they were committing the murders at his lodging, he reasoned that he deserved a bigger cut. His wife, Margaret Hare, also got a small percentage because she was at risk as the other landlord. However, Burke refused to give his wife Helen McDougal any money. He likely wanted to give her the gift of plausible deniability, should the worst ever happen.

But as time went by, the prospect of getting caught seemed less and less likely. So Burke and Hare looked for their next victim. In late February or March of 1828, an English match seller checked into Hare's tenements and fell ill, reportedly displaying signs of jaundice. After a night or two, the man was so sick that he couldn't leave his bed. The decision to kill him was easy to make. Hare felt that if word got around that a tenant had died of illness, it would be bad for business. Even though the man didn't seem to have a contagious disease, Hare's lodgings weren't exactly

the cleanest. If people thought they might contract a serious illness there, they'd stop coming. Burke agreed, and also reasoned that they'd be putting the Englishman out of his misery. So they snuck into his room and murdered him in the same manner as the others. Hair laid down on the man's body while Burke covered his nose and mouth with his hands. The tenant struggled a bit, but within a few minutes, they'd suffocated him to death. They stuffed his body into a sack and arranged for a porter to take it to Dr. Knox's office, possibly that same night. When they met the professor's assistant there, he was pleased with the condition of the cadaver

and paid them another 10 pounds. At some point shortly after the death of the match cellar, Dr. Knox may have mentioned that he was also on the lookout for more female subjects, as he hadn't had many opportunities to lecture about their anatomy. Burke figured this was a job for him. He'd been known to spend some of his earnings on sex workers. So one morning in early April of 1828, the 36-year-old went out of the town in search of some fun.

He stopped at a pub at the Cannon Gate District of Edinburgh and sparked a conversation with two young women. At around 18 years old, Mary Patterson and Janet Brown were younger than Burke and Hare's usual victims, and both were known to occasionally earn money through sex work. They were more than happy to accept free drinks from this generous stranger. The three drank the morning away, and Burke eventually offered to buy the women some breakfast. He also wanted to enlist their services before he killed them. However, he couldn't bring the women back to Tanner's Close.

His wife Helen would surely find out what he was up to and might object. As luck would have it, Burke's brother Constantine recently moved to Edinburgh with his wife Elizabeth. So he brought Mary and Janet to Constantine's lodgings, and the five of them had something to eat and drink. Burke continued to ply them with more alcohol, and sometime around late morning, Mary passed out. Burke placed Mary in a bed, then went to another tavern with Janet. But no matter how hard he tried to get her to drink, she insisted on taking it slow. So he figured that, at the very least, he could have sex with Janet while she was still conscious.

After Constantine left for work, Burke took Janet back to his brother's home. With Mary still asleep in one of the beds and Elizabeth roaming the halls, Burke and Janet began to fool around. But before they could really get going, Helen burst in. While Helen didn't seem to have a problem with Burke killing people for money, she definitely took issue with him cheating on her. When he didn't come home that morning, she went out looking for her husband. Unfortunately for Burke, she also knew where his brother lived.

When she arrived at Constantine's lodgings, Elizabeth tried to keep Helen from going into their room, but it was no use. She pushed past Elizabeth and barged in to see Burke with another woman. Needless to say, she was furious. Burke and Helen started fighting, hurling insults and glassware at each other. But despite all the noise, Mary never once woke up. Meanwhile, Janet cowered in the corner, too afraid to leave. Eventually, Burke managed to get Helen out of the room.

Afterwards, he desperately tried to convince Janet to stay. He still wanted to sleep with her. Janet was conflicted. She was scared, but she needed the money. sex work was her trade, and here was a man of means who was clearly willing to pay. She told him she was too uncomfortable, but promised to come back later when they might have more privacy. At some point, Janet left Constantine's home, leaving her friend Mary behind. That's when Burke decided it was time to kill Mary and get rid of her body.

He figured that when Janet returned, he could tell her that Mary had left on her own accord. But he couldn't do it alone, and he sent Elizabeth to return. retrieve hair. When Hare arrived, the two murdered the 18-year-old using their tried and true method. Then they stripped her naked and stuffed her body into a tea chest. However, because Janet was expected to return, they couldn't wait for nightfall to deliver this body. They had to transport the body now, in broad daylight, right past Burke's sister-in-law, Elizabeth. Fortunately for Burke and Hare, Elizabeth wanted to avoid them at all costs. After witnessing the nasty brawl, between Burke and Helen, she thought it was best not to get involved with any of his affairs,

so she didn't stop Bergen-Hare when they wheeled the large tea chest out of the building. Nor did she question them when she realized Mary was no longer in her room. Despite the tense morning, Burke and Hare made it to Dr. Knox's office without incident. They laid Mary's body out on the dissection table, eager for Dr. Knox to see their extraordinary find. If he had, in fact, asked for women, they'd certainly answered his call, bringing him an incredibly fresh female corpse. But before Dr. Knox entered the room,

one of his assistants stepped forward and leaned in close, examining Mary's face. He frowned, then looked up at Burke and Hare with suspicion. The assistant told the men that he recognized the body. He knew Mary, and he wanted to know how she died. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with Part 2 of William Burke and William Hare. We'll explore how the men continued killing for profit

and watch as the people of Edinburgh finally catch on. For more information on William Burke and William Hare, amongst the many sources we used, we found the infamous Burke and Hair by R. Michael Gordon extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.

We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler, sound design by Jay Cohen, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Ellie Reed,

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