Burke and Hare murders Elizabeth Byrd used the events in her novels "Rest Without Peace" (1974) and "The Search for Maggie Hare" (1976). The murders have also been portrayed on stage and screen, usually in heavily fictionalised form. David Paterson, Knox's assistant, contacted Walter Scott to ask the novelist if he would be interested in writing an account of the murders, but he declined, despite Scott's long-standing interest in the events. Scott later wrote: Burke and Hare murders The Burke and Hare murders were a series of 16 killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were
West Port, Edinburgh West Port, Edinburgh The West Port is a street in Edinburgh's Old Town, Scotland, located just south of Edinburgh Castle. It runs from Main Point (the junction of Bread Street, Lauriston Street, East Fountainbridge and High Riggs) down to the south west corner of the Grassmarket. Its name derives from the fact it sloped up from the town gate named the "West Port," which was the only westwards exit from the city when the city walls stood, allowing passage through the Flodden Wall. The port itself was demolished in 1786. Wester Portsburgh, as the West Port was formerly known, was