Scared of Grave Robbers? Invest in a Grave Torpedo!
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the dead were not left in eternal peace. Their final resting place was often disturbed by grave robbers. An arsenal of protective devices were developed to counter this threat.
Allowing the dead to rest in peace under the ground could be quite a challenge in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom and America. There was a growing interest in anatomy and surgery at the time, but these studies require bodies and they were not readily available. It was permitted to use the corpses of executed criminals, but there were not enough of them. The result? A gruesome – and illegal – trade in corpses. Grave robbers dug up bodies and sold them to doctors and medical students.
Grave protectors
This widespread grave robbing gave rise to an arsenal of protective measures for graves. One example was the cemetery gun, a firearm mounted on a rotating base on the grave. Grave robbers who touched one of the tripwires around the grave would be shot.
One commercially interesting fact was that you could rent a cemetery gun. Grave robbers only wanted "fresh" corpses, so after a while the protective measures would no longer be needed. The device did have certain limitations, though. Since it was above ground, the cemetery gun could easily be spotted, allowing it to be dodged or even disabled.
Very soon a better invention appeared: the grave torpedo. Initially these were small shotguns that were placed inside the coffin and fired lead balls when grave robbers opened the lid, but variants later appeared with explosives buried above the coffin which went off like land mines.
New laws
The black market for corpses received – well – its death blow when new laws came into effect allowing medical schools to use the bodies of poor, unclaimed deceased people and making reporting of available corpses mandatory. At the same time, techniques that allowed bodies to be preserved for longer were also improving. That put an end to the illegal trade in corpses and therefore also the need for grave protection.