From the surviving testimony of resurrection men, it is clear that pauper burial grounds, without guards or mortuaries, were favoured hunting grounds. Pauper grave-pits were often left open until the deep holes were filled with cheap, stacked coffins, sometimes up to twelve deep. Many of the poor were only buried in shrouds, further speeding exhumation. Meanwhile, the fearful middle classes, distrusting the safety of churchyards, spent money on lead coffins, iron grids, and various “mortsafe” devices — metal cages cemented into stone around the coffin. Famous examples of mortsafes survive in the Greyfriars kirkyard in Edinburgh, which was a known haunt of the resurrection men.
