Episode 1: The Ravine

Inside Forensic Science

Content warning: discussions of dead bodies, decomposition and dismemberment

On a quiet Sunday in September 1935, two women walking outside the small town of Moffat stop at a stone bridge overlooking a ravine through which a small waterfall and stream flowed. It was then that the women spotted something shocking, a partially decomposed human arm protruding from a small package. Police found many similar packages strewn across the ravine, each containing human body parts. Thus began a long investigation into the identities of these unknown people.

In this episode, we discuss how police in 1935 investigated the scene at the ravine. How were they certain these body parts were human? How did their investigation compare to forensic practices today?

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Inside Forensic Science is an Adventurous Audio Ltd production for the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) at the University of Dundee and was funded by The Leverhulme Trust.

The series is written and narrated by Pennie Stuart.