Unspeakable - Exhumed

«If this horrid traffic in human flesh be not, by some means or other,

prevented, the churchyards will not be secure against the shovel of the

midnight plunderer, nor the public against the dagger of the midnight assassin.

«- Editorial, ​The Lancet ​newspaper 1829

«…when there is a difficulty in obtaining bodies, and their value is so great,

you absolutely throw a temptation in the way of these men to commit murder for

the purpose of selling the bodies of their victims.»

— Sir Henry Halford,

May 1828

Dr. Knox: ​Cold stiffs may fetch five sovereigns Warmer bodies a few schilling

more Trade in death to make a living

Ghastly currency of gore

Your cadaveric chores, so

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Dr. Knox: ​The freshest of corpses through most heinous courses Chorus:

​Unspeakable!

Dr. Knox: ​The warmer the corpse The more rich the reward

In this foul trade of flesh, bone and gore

Dr. Knox: ​Fresher specimens are ever needed The scalpel thirsts for still-warm

death Law and decorum should go unheeded When prices soar for a pound of flesh

So I may slice up what’s left

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Hare: ​Just think what we’ll gain When we harvest the slain Chorus:

​Unspeakable!

Hare: ​And the throats we would slit Would never be missed Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Burke: ​And so business is furthered By cold-blooded murder?

Chorus:

​Unspeakable!

Dr. Knox: ​The demand has increased

For the freshly deceased

And so now the living you’ll reap

Hare: ​The cemeteries crawl with sentries

The sexton demands his bribe

Graveyard gates ensure their entries

Remain inhumed inside

Yet another source of bodies

Surrounds us every day

Is not every soul but a corpse to be?

And should we not just speed them on their way?

Solo — Matthew Harvey

Solo — Michael Burke

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Burke: ​Compunction be dashed

Though this course may seem rash

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Hare: ​There's so much more profit

When we fill the coffins

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Hare: ​The tramps and the urchins

We’ll make fodder for surgeons

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!

Dr. Knox: ​They live lives without worth

Death cannot be much worse

Wretched ways to make your purse burst

Chorus: ​Unspeakable!