Simply Me

By Suze981

A sinister edge...

...to the journey home.

I see this sculpture every day on my commute along Union Canal. You can only really see it when travelling westward - on the way home it's always hidden unless you look out for it. On the run home tonight I did just that.

I always thought they were quite cheeky wee chaps playing by the canal. Turns out I couldn't be more wrong. This sculpture, by Robert Coia, is of Burke and Hare.

For those of you that don't know, William Burke and William Hare were serial killers. Between November 1827 and October 31, 1828 they killed 17 people in Edinburgh and sold the bodies to Dr John Knox for medical dissection.

The killings took place in a lodging house in the West Port area. This is nowhere near where this sculpture is, so I don't really know why they are here.

I do know that it's now slightly disturbing that you can't see them on the way into the City. Perhaps that's the point...the victims never saw them coming?

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