What is a Mortsafe?

Why do some graves have an iron cage? Contrary to popular belief, it's not to keep vampires in, but to keep grave robbers out. A mortsafe is a kind of heavy, protective structure that was historically placed over graves, primarily in 18th and 19th-century Scotland and parts of England. These structures were designed to prevent grave robbers, or "resurrectionists," from exhuming recently buried bodies. During this period, the demand for cadavers in medical schools for dissection and study was high, and obtaining bodies legally was difficult. This demand led to a rise in body snatching, where robbers would steal corpses to sell to medical institutions.

Once enough time had passed for the body to decay beyond usefulness to anatomists, the mortsafe might be removed, reused for another grave, or left in place as a permanent memorial. These protective measures became unnecessary by the mid-19th century, especially after the Anatomy Act of 1832 in the UK, which regulated the supply of bodies to medical schools and helped end the era of grave robbing.

Photo by RPMacLean via Flickr.