In Fishers, there’s no need for far-fetched tales of Halloween goblins and ghosts – not when real-life body snatchers once roamed the land with impunity.
in Fishers it led to a change in state law that effectively stopped grave robbing. There’s even a historical marker from Indiana Historical Bureau posted at the Fall Creek Township Trustee’s office commemorating the change.Heighway said the practice was lucrative for many in the trade, a morbid application of trickle-down economics. Ministers and funeral directors, for a price, would tip off the gangs to upcoming burials and look the other way when the sun went down.
The teams of three to seven ditch-divers could break in a grave in 25 minutes. They would smash the casket at one end and use a hook to drag it out through the hole they'd dug. After pouring dirt over the hole, the thieves would cart the corpses to medical schools in Indianapolis, such as the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons. The schools paid handsomely, as much as $35 a body, Bowling said.