Why Was There a Need for “Coffin Torpedoes” in the 1800s?

It may sound like something out of a sci-fi or horror film, but the "coffin torpedo" was a real invention – and it served a useful purpose.

Illegally exhuming newly-buried corpses routinely occurred in the 19th century, with grave robbers selling the cadavers to medical schools that required them for anatomy lessons and dissections. As it was almost impossible to obtain a cadaver through legal means, the illicit trade of dead bodies became a serious problem.

With this issue – and the public's fear – in mind, a Columbus, Ohio man named Philip K. Clover created an ingenious device – the torpedo coffin. He received a patent in 1878 for a shotgun-like mechanism that fired out lead balls from the coffin lid if it was opened. A few years later, a judge named Thomas N. Howell (also in Ohio) patented the "grave torpedo," which was essentially a landmine wired to the coffin that would detonate if grave robbers disturbed it.

However, although these explosive devices received a lot of attention in the newspapers of the time, they don't seem to have been widely manufactured or used. Other deterrents, such as locking mechanisms and sealed vaults, were probably more common.

Hands off that coffin!