“He was a professor of anatomy at the university way back in the 1860s. He collected most of the skulls. There are also preserved specimens, mostly of malformed fetuses. No ultrasounds back then. The specimens helped in the study and discovery of why some didn’t make it full term, as well as birth defects. If you have a sensitive stomach, it can be tough, but it’s undeniably interesting.”
Since I tended to be squeamish, I wasn’t sure I would be able to find the specimens as interesting as Joshua seemed to, but I was sure I’d find the skulls interesting.
“They had to start somewhere, right?” he said.
“Exactly,” I said. “Thanks for trying to get me in. Can I ask you more about Burke and Hare?”
“Of course.”
“I know the general story of what happened, but can you tell me more?”
Joshua stood. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“We have a whole corner devoted to the killers.”
“You do? How have I missed that?”
Joshua smiled. “You and I are slow-goers through this place. I know I’ve never visited that corner with you. At our rate, we were bound to get there in a couple of months, but we’ll veer off course today.”
I’d been visiting the museum one section at a time with Joshua. He’d been the most knowledgeable tour guide, sharing small details I never would’ve picked up on on my own as we lingered over every display case’s items. We were museum soul mates. It wasn’t easy to find our kind.
We went up a flight of modern steps and then to a corner that transported us back in time. The three wide display cases were only about as high as my shoulders. Framed in ornate black wrought iron, the cases themselves were showpieces. I zoned in on the natural focal point, a black-and-white sketch of the two murderers, front and center in the first case. Their faces had been familiar to me since I’d moved to Scotland.
My first week in Edinburgh, I’d found my way to the Cadies and Witchery Tours; their shop was not far from the bookshop and on the way up to the Royal Mile. The tour group members had been not only fun and interesting, they’d been helpful in pointing me to places in the city I should explore. At that time, a calling card case made with some of Burke’s skin had been on display in the shop. It had been one of the strangest things I’d ever seen. I couldn’t tear myself away from it for a good long few minutes, and I’d become intrigued enough to later look up the killers’ pictures.
“I saw a card holder made with Burke’s skin,” I said, as Joshua straightened the corner of a plaque describing the display. He nodded. “Why did they make such a thing?”
“Yes, the judge who sentenced Burke to hang also decreed that his body be used for study at the school of anatomy. Irony—eye-for-an-eye thing, I suppose. His skin was used for a few items, like the card holder. Here, read this.” Joshua pointed at a card displayed atop a small easel.
I read aloud: “Your body should be publicly dissected and anatomized. And I trust, that if it is ever customary to preserve skeletons, yours will be preserved, in order that posterity may keep in remembrance of your atrocious crimes. Lord Justice-Clerk, David Boyle.” I looked at Joshua. “The judge said this?”
“Yes, and Burke’s skeleton is kept at the University of Edinburgh. Hidden away somewhere, though it’s sometimes displayed.”
“His skull?”
“With his body, I presume, but those would be secrets I’ll never be privy to. Post-hanging, his body was dissected at Old College. It’s a building at the university that now has administration offices. A note was written in his blood by the man who dissected him. Here.” Joshua pointed to another shelf. “Ours is just a copy, though.”
I read again: “This is written with the blood of Wm Burke, who was hanged at Edinburgh. This blood was taken from his head.” I stood up straight. “Goodness, that’s gory.”
“Right. Not only was his skin used for the business card holder, I know there’s a book made with it along with his death mask, speaking of them, on display at Surgeons’ Hall at the university. We’ve got a replica death mask, though.” He pointed again.
“Hare’s death mask too?” I noticed there were two.
“This one is said to be Hare from when he was alive,” Joshua said. “We don’t know what happened to him. He disappeared after he was released from custody after the trial. He’s the one who got away, turned king’s evidence on Burke. Sad.”
“Bizarre, making things from the skin, keeping the skeleton, even the death masks to some extent,” I said.
“They were brutal killers.” Joshua shrugged. “Too bad they couldn’t get rid of them both.”
In the next display case, the one mostly about Dr. Robert Knox, I saw a scalpel. I held back a squeal of glee when I recognized it to be just like the ones Tom and I had found in the warehouse, except that the ones in the warehouse were in pristine condition, seemingly never used. There were no signs of blood or skin on the one here in the case, but it was obvious it wasn’t in the same great condition.
“Is there a case?” I asked.
“For the scalpel? Not that I’m aware of. That would be quite the find,” Joshua said.
For a moment I couldn’t take my eyes off the scalpel.
“What’s the deal with scalpels?” Joshua asked.
I looked at him. “Nothing really. Are all the death masks and replicas secure somewhere? Have any of the actual ones or copies gone missing?”
“I don’t know. I’m truly not aware how many are in existence. Some were found in the cupboard of a former prison, one that neither Burke nor Hare had been incarcerated in. Who knows how many are in existence.”
I’d been suspicious that Bridget had made up finding the piece of plaster because she knew she could bait me with the idea of a death
