FROM THE ARCHIVES
Halloween 1828 Marks Final Known Killing by Burke and Hare, Says Spooky Isles
A corpse beneath straw exposed the Edinburgh murderers, according to a retelling of the Margaret Docherty case.
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND — The Halloween of 1828 was the night on which Margaret Docherty became the last known victim of Burke and Hare, according to an article published by the Spooky Isles website on the anniversary of her death.
The brief summary of the piece states that William Burke offered Docherty shelter. That offer of hospitality, the article indicates, ended in her murder, and she is described as the final known death attributed to the notorious pair.
The discovery of her body proved the undoing of the killers. According to the source, her corpse was found beneath a pile of straw, and the find exposed the murderers who had been operating in Edinburgh.
The consequences for Burke, the article states, were severe: the discovery sent him to the gallows.
The source material available to this newspaper consists only of a short teaser, and further particulars of the case are to be found in the full article at the Spooky Isles website. Docherty, whose name is the title of the piece, is presented as the central figure of the account, rather than the men who killed her.