I’m not a big fan of true crime. I have several friends who love nothing more than listening to podcasts and watching shows about serial killers, or mysterious disappearances, or unexplained grisly crimes. Occasionally one will suck me in (one of the first podcasts I ever listened to was This American Life’s original Serial series, back in 2014), but in general this kind of media isn’t for me. Maybe it’s because I’m already a bit of a scaredy cat. Maybe it’s because of the morally confused way I always feel when I’m “enjoying” stories about real people’s suffering (for a darkly comedic take on the ethics of true crime podcasts, I’d highly recommend the movie Vengeance written and directed by B.J. Novak. It’s underrated and very thought-provoking!).

Nevertheless, there are some famous crimes and criminals that seep into the public consciousness whether you seek them out or not. And, if you live in Edinburgh, you’ve definitely heard the names Burke and Hare. They are often referred to as “body snatchers”, but I’ll talk below about why I think that term is misleading and also about my recent experience of seeing the actual faces of Burke and Hare (ek!) at the National Portrait Gallery a couple of weeks ago…