William Burke’s Deadly Burking Method

In 1828, Scottish murderer William Burke carried out a series of killings in Edinburgh, Scotland, alongside his accomplice William Hare. Burke used a method later called “burking,” which involved sitting on a victim’s chest while covering the mouth and nose to cause death by asphyxiation without leaving obvious marks. The pair sold the bodies to Dr. Robert Knox, an anatomist who used them for medical dissection and research. Authorities eventually arrested Burke after investigators uncovered the murders connected to the corpse trade. After his 1829 execution, doctors publicly dissected the serial killer, wrote notes using his blood, and even bound a book with pieces of his skin.

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