The Resurrection Men

Prior to 18 32, the only body that you could legally obtain for dissection was that of an executed criminal. So a bunch of sordid individuals as really started digging up bodies and selling them to schools for dissection. These thieves came to be known as the resurrection men,. They'd dig up the graves, loot the contents and then sell them on the black market. And they would also target burial sites near hospitals - which i guess was a big thing.