It was always done at night, and often while drunk - to keep out
the cold, and perhaps to dull the horror of the work. With only
a few lamps for light, the men would quickly seek out the recent
graves. There was much money to be made in the 1700s and 1800s
from the sale of fresh corpses. As anatomy increased in
importance to European medical practice, the demand for cadavers
increased dramatically. Trade was at its most brisk in the
winter months, when medical schools were in session and corpses
better preserved by the cold. Robbing a grave could take less
than an hour. Using a wooden spade, which made less noise, the
earth was moved from the top end of the coffin. Using a crowbar,
the coffin lid was then forced open. The body was dragged out,
and stripped naked, and the soil returned to the grave. The
shroud in which the corpse had been buried was also returned to
the grave, because of the popular belief that the body could not
be owned, and therefore stolen - meaning that if the shroud was
left behind and o