Free Online Talk · Burial Vaults: The History of Body Snatching in America, with author Todd Harra
Monday, April 14, 2025
7pm ET
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
Since Dr. William Shippen had his carriage fired upon in 1762 in response to his newly opened dissecting room in Philadelphia, Americans have had a rocky relationship with the medical profession. Medical students desperately needed anatomical material to learn, but the religious dogma of the day held that one's body must be whole to be resurrected on Judgement Day. Colonial Americans weren't willing to give their bodies over as scalpel fodder.
Many medical men turned to "Resurrectionists," as body snatchers were called, who emptied city graveyards by the light of the moon for a buck. It was a lucrative trade. At the end of the nineteenth century, a fresh cadaver could fetch $50 while the average laborer could expect to bring in $13/week for a 60-hour work week.
There were violent clashes and outrageous scandals over the years as states tried to legislate the problem away. In desperation, citizens turned to savage measures (hidden weapons!) to protect their cherished dead.
Tonight, learn how this complicated historical moment birthed the burial vault, and why it continues to endure.
Todd Harra is a fourth-generation funeral director. He has authored several books on the profession, one of which was selected for Malcom Gladwell's "Next Big Idea" Club. Todd owns a funeral home in Wilmington, Delaware. He educates on funeral service history, and his lecture on President Lincoln's funeral is available on CSPAN2. Todd's most recent book is Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral.
Monday, April 14, 2025
7pm ET
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
Since Dr. William Shippen had his carriage fired upon in 1762 in response to his newly opened dissecting room in Philadelphia, Americans have had a rocky relationship with the medical profession. Medical students desperately needed anatomical material to learn, but the religious dogma of the day held that one's body must be whole to be resurrected on Judgement Day. Colonial Americans weren't willing to give their bodies over as scalpel fodder.
Many medical men turned to "Resurrectionists," as body snatchers were called, who emptied city graveyards by the light of the moon for a buck. It was a lucrative trade. At the end of the nineteenth century, a fresh cadaver could fetch $50 while the average laborer could expect to bring in $13/week for a 60-hour work week.
There were violent clashes and outrageous scandals over the years as states tried to legislate the problem away. In desperation, citizens turned to savage measures (hidden weapons!) to protect their cherished dead.
Tonight, learn how this complicated historical moment birthed the burial vault, and why it continues to endure.
Todd Harra is a fourth-generation funeral director. He has authored several books on the profession, one of which was selected for Malcom Gladwell's "Next Big Idea" Club. Todd owns a funeral home in Wilmington, Delaware. He educates on funeral service history, and his lecture on President Lincoln's funeral is available on CSPAN2. Todd's most recent book is Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral.
Monday, April 14, 2025
7pm ET
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
Since Dr. William Shippen had his carriage fired upon in 1762 in response to his newly opened dissecting room in Philadelphia, Americans have had a rocky relationship with the medical profession. Medical students desperately needed anatomical material to learn, but the religious dogma of the day held that one's body must be whole to be resurrected on Judgement Day. Colonial Americans weren't willing to give their bodies over as scalpel fodder.
Many medical men turned to "Resurrectionists," as body snatchers were called, who emptied city graveyards by the light of the moon for a buck. It was a lucrative trade. At the end of the nineteenth century, a fresh cadaver could fetch $50 while the average laborer could expect to bring in $13/week for a 60-hour work week.
There were violent clashes and outrageous scandals over the years as states tried to legislate the problem away. In desperation, citizens turned to savage measures (hidden weapons!) to protect their cherished dead.
Tonight, learn how this complicated historical moment birthed the burial vault, and why it continues to endure.
Todd Harra is a fourth-generation funeral director. He has authored several books on the profession, one of which was selected for Malcom Gladwell's "Next Big Idea" Club. Todd owns a funeral home in Wilmington, Delaware. He educates on funeral service history, and his lecture on President Lincoln's funeral is available on CSPAN2. Todd's most recent book is Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral.