Macabre French Grave Robber Trap Gun 18th C.

[pallas]

in the 1860s-1880s there where craftsman in ohio who made "grave torpedos" for sale to people who wanted to avert grave robbers from digging up their reecently buried dead to sell as cadavers to medical schools......one such device was recently profiled on another episode of "history detectives" on PBS......

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by pallas

in the 1860s-1880s there where craftsman in ohio who made "grave torpedos" for sale to people who wanted to avert grave robbers from digging up their reecently buried dead to sell as cadavers to medical schools......one such device was recently profiled on another episode of "history detectives" on PBS......

Thank you so much Pallas!! I was afraid this thread had, uh, ...died

Best regards,
Jim

[broadaxe]

Hmmm, my small contribution to the thread: I once bought in a local auction a trap/alarm gun of a similar concept; though it was a breech loader and has been chambered for 12ga. The short smoothbore barrel was opened sideways for loading/unloading. It was obviously French, signed "depose", circa 1900.

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Broadaxe!! I would say thats a monumental contribution, you're the first person I have ever known to have owned one of these
Thank you for coming in on this......it always is important to have input regardless whether someone thinks pertinant or not.You never know what clues are hidden in such notes.
All the best,
Jim

[broadaxe]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Thank you Broadaxe!! I would say thats a monumental contribution, you're the first person I have ever known to have owned one of these
Thank you for coming in on this......it always is important to have input regardless whether someone thinks pertinant or not.You never know what clues are hidden in such notes.
All the best,
Jim

In fact, at that auction there were two identical trap guns, both mounted on small wooden planks, so they looked like model cannons from a certain distance. Petty I didn't keep a photo. Their construction appeared to be industrialized, maybe cast, so it was probably meant to shoot blanks only (?).

[fernando]

Originally Posted by broadaxe

Hmmm, my small contribution to the thread: I once bought in a local auction a trap/alarm gun of a similar concept; though it was a breech loader and has been chambered for 12ga. The short smoothbore barrel was opened sideways for loading/unloading. It was obviously French, signed "depose", circa 1900.

You mean like this one?

.

[broadaxe]

Yep, this is the one.