The Body-Snatching ‘Borough Gang’ of London
Explicit content warning
04/19/22 • 26 min
1 Listener
Welcome to first episode of a new season of Criminalia. This season we're talking about body snatchers, and the bodies they snatched. Ben Crouch was the son of a carpenter, and was a well-known prizefighter in his day. He’s described as a tall, flamboyantly-dressed man with a pox-marked face who loved to wear gold jewelry, especially gold rings. He could be violent and intimidating -- and he was the leader of London's most notorious group of body snatchers in the 1810s.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Welcome to first episode of a new season of Criminalia. This season we're talking about body snatchers, and the bodies they snatched. Ben Crouch was the son of a carpenter, and was a well-known prizefighter in his day. He’s described as a tall, flamboyantly-dressed man with a pox-marked face who loved to wear gold jewelry, especially gold rings. He could be violent and intimidating -- and he was the leader of London's most notorious group of body snatchers in the 1810s.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Previous Episode
Welcome to Season 6 of Criminalia: The Resurrectionists
In season 6 of Criminalia, you can expect to hear about those who dug up the dead for cash. Grave robbers dug up graves to steal valuable items that had been buried with the deceased. As did tomb raiders. They were known to take everything but the body. Body snatchers and resurrectionists, though, stole bodies from graves. The first recorded case of body snatching is attributed to four medical students in Bologna, Italy, in 1319 -- and we'll start there, to find out why.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode
William Jansen, a King Among Ghouls
He was hardly the only professional body snatcher in Washington, D.C. in the late 19th century, but William M. Jansen is definitely one of the most colorful. He snatched the body of Charles Shaw, and sold it. And then he stole it a second time. And it all happened within 36 hours of Shaw’s death. Here's how it went down.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Criminalia - The Body-Snatching ‘Borough Gang’ of London
Transcript
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. Welcome to the first episode of a new season of Criminalia. This season, we're talking about body snatchers and the bodies they snatched. Writer Ambrose Bears may have somewhat the best in his work The Devil's Dictionary when he wrote that a body snatcher is quote one who supplies the young physicians with that which the old physicians have supplied the un
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