Cincinnati's "Old Cunny": A Notorious Purveyor of Human Flesh

In this compelling historical pamphlet, listeners are taken back to mid‑nineteenth‑century Cincinnati, where a shadowy figure known as William Cunningham earned the nicknames “Old Cunny,” “The Ghoul,” and “Old Man Dead.” A self‑styled “professional resurrectionist,” he supplied medical schools with the bodies they needed for anatomical study, often by illicit means that made him a household bogeyman. The narrative paints a vivid picture of his grave‑robbing exploits between 1855 and 1871, and of the uneasy reliance of respected physicians on his macabre services.

The author, a seasoned professor of anatomy and medical historian, frames Cunningham’s story within the broader ambitions of Ohio’s leading medical institutions. By juxtaposing the celebrated anatomists of the era with the lurid tales of this “dray‑man bogeyman,” the work explores how scientific progress often rested on morally ambiguous foundations. Listeners will hear a blend of scholarly insight and gritty folklore, offering a window into a time when the pursuit of knowledge walked a thin line between reverence and revulsion.