Burke and Hare - the Bodysnatchers Content from the guide to
life, the universe and everything  Burke and Hare - the
Bodysnatchers  3 Conversations  Burke and Hare. Up the close and
down the stair, In the house with Burke and Hare. Burke's the
butcher, Hare's the thief, Knox, the man who buys the beef. -
Children's song  William Burke, born 1792, first came to
Edinburgh from Ireland in disgrace, having deserted his wife and
children. He had previously been a soldier, who had had a
respectable upbringing and marriage, but once in Scotland he was
forced to take whatever work was available. Building, bakery and
cobbling became his main occupations - until 1827, when he and
his mistress, Helen McDougal, moved into Logs Lodging House.
This was a house that had once belonged to a Mr Log and his wife
Margaret. Upon the landlord's death, Margaret Log was comforted
by William Hare, an Irish tenant. They soon married and had been
running the guesthouse together for a while, still under the
name of Logs, when Burke arr