William Burke

Nursery Rhyme

“Burke’s the butcher,

Hare’s the thief,

Knox the man that buys the beef.”

Descriptive Text

-"Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as disgusting as grave ooze," snarled Hare.

-"Not Ezrighties?" asked Burke.

-"They don't eat us out of house and home," Hare answered sagely.

-"Mornin'lordies then?" Burke persisted.

-"We only know one and he is dead, buried and eaten long ago," snapped Hare.

-"Dwarf entrails!" Burke answered brightly.

-"Not if you shake them out well like I have shown you a dozen times," Hare shot back.

-"Ok, ok, nuffin' as digusting as the ooze," Burke conceded with a shrug, "but what we goin' a do about it?"

-"Well for starters, you are not going to throw our tools at it like last time," replied Hare with the profoundest irritation.

William Burke & William Hare back in the heyday of Il Aluk when they were in the undead minority

Descriptive text contributed by cure to John W. Mangrum's Teeny Tiny Tales of Terror project (posted on the Fraternity of Shadows message board).

Details

William Burke was in life, and remains, a tall, muscular, dull individual. He and his partner William Hare were leading resurrectionists in Il Aluk in the period dating to 697 BC. They plundered the graves of Great Cemetery for cadavers and sold these to the School of Medicine of the University of Il Aluk, to the underground and illegal Ecole du Mots Mortes, to necromancers, to necrologists, to biologists, and to butchers.

Eventually, the pair began supplementing their salable inventory with the cadavers of those whom they took to murdering. One of the victims turned out to be Grumman Knox. He was the nephew of Professor Robert Knox who headed the School of Medicine. When the cadaver of the young Knox was offered to his uncle, the latter calmly purchased it, and proceeded to report Burke and Hare to the authorities. Before the pair could be arrested, they learnt that they had been betrayed by their long-standing business partner, broke into his home, and murdered him. Burke and Hare were arrested immediately thereafter and condemned to death for their crimes. They were executed by being hung by their necks until dead. Unfortunately, the macabre pair survived death, rose as ghouls, and escaped the scene of their execution.

Burke and Hare seemed to have retained in undeath their talents learnt in life and are best made gravetouched ghouls (or alternatively necropolitan ghouls).

It is unknown whether Burke and Hare were still in existence when the Requiem struck and, if they were, whether they survived the competition for flesh that it unleashed. Nonetheless, they are counted as being current inhabitants of Il Aluk and current inhabitants of Necropolis.

Note: This character is based on the real world person of the same name. As such, he might also be encountered on Gothic Earth.

Stats

Male ghoul, Fighter 4, Chaotic Evil

Str 19, Dex 10, Con -, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 3