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Cemetery gun from the 19th century. Used to protect caskets from body snatchers.
Fullsize image: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...n_fullsize.jpg
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...metery_gun.jpg
Previously:
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...520#post151297
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...486#post139241
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...321#post154301
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...798#post163733
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...528#post142981
So just to be sure they actually died for real!
And, uh, why does anyone want to snatch bodies?
They often used to be snatched so that people could do dissections on them to learn about anatomy. In the past people did not leave their bodies to science as a lot do now.
yes, researchers paid cash for bodies, no questions asked.
There is a book, "A Short History of Nearly Everything " by Bill Bryson. There is a section in that about early medical "research" a bit creepy, but it gives you some perspective on how things have evolved.
There is a section in the book about "Nearly Everything".
The bodysnatchers were called "resurrectionists" in 19th century England. They often helped the victim become a corpse. Their customers were surgeons, medical students and "anatomists". There was another group interested only in oddities, anomalous examples of humanity. They were referred to as "collectors".