Just in time for Halloween, I’ve recounted my summer 2026 trip to Edinburgh, Scotland and the dark history of body snatching in the picturesque capital city for Undark Magazine. Body snatching is what it sounds like – in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom, mainland Europe, and the United States, a dark market for bodies and body parts emerged to support the burgeoning field of medicine and anatomical study.
Today, body snatching is a thing from the past. But there are undercurrents that run through our organ donation and whole-body anatomical gift programs that demand we keep looking at this oft-macabre industry. One question continues to haunt us: who decides what happens to your body when you’re no longer here to speak for yourself?
I try to answer that question and provide the full story behind body snatching, anatomical gift programs, and what health policy could do to protect the deceased in my piece.
You can read more here.
