body snatcher
Steals buried remains
A body snatcher is someone who steals corpses, particularly from graves.
The term originated with those who dug up recently buried bodies to sell to medical schools for anatomical study, a practice common in the 18th and 19th centuries when legal cadavers were scarce.
In science fiction, body snatchers are aliens that take over human bodies, from the 1956 film *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*.
Being from outer space
- invasionForcible entry into territory
- pod peopleAlien-grown human replicas
- alienNon-native being
- doppelgängerGhostly identical counterpart
replicant · clone · impostor · paranoia · Cold War · conformity · assimilation · infiltration
One who enters covertly
- sleeper agentEmbedded spy awaiting activation
- impostorOne feigning another's identity
- double agentSpy betraying their side
- spyCovert information gatherer
replacement · identity theft · covert · clandestine · surveillance · Cold War · paranoia · conspiracy
One who exhumes illegally
- resurrectionistHistorical corpse procurer
- exhumationRecovering buried remains
- cadaverBody for dissection
- Burke and HareVictorian-era serial killers
anatomy · dissection · medical school · corpse · coffin · cemetery · graveyard · shovel
State of owning
- zombieReanimated dead body
- ghoulUndead flesh-eating demon
- doppelgängerGhostly identical counterpart
- parasiteOne exploiting a host
host · terror · supernatural · uncanny valley · creepy · eerie · soulless · husk
extraterrestrial
Being from outer space
- invasionForcible entry into territory
- pod peopleAlien-grown human replicas
- alienNon-native being
doppelgänger · replicant · clone · impostor · paranoia · Cold War · conformity · assimilation · infiltration · sci-fi
infiltrator
One who enters covertly
- sleeper agentEmbedded spy awaiting activation
- impostorOne feigning another's identity
- double agentSpy betraying their side
spy · replacement · identity theft · covert · clandestine · surveillance · Cold War · paranoia · conspiracy · sabotage
grave robber
One who exhumes illegally
- resurrectionistHistorical corpse procurer
- exhumationRecovering buried remains
- cadaverBody for dissection
Burke and Hare · anatomy · dissection · medical school · corpse · coffin · cemetery · graveyard · shovel · moonlight
possession
State of owning
- zombieReanimated dead body
- ghoulUndead flesh-eating demon
- doppelgängerGhostly identical counterpart
parasite · host · terror · supernatural · uncanny valley · creepy · eerie · soulless · husk · shell
- sci-fi creaturesxenomorph, alien, predator, Godzilla, kaiju
- monstersdemon, monster, vampire, werewolf, ogre
- body swappingmind transfer, soul transfer, transference, vessel, inhabiting
- sentient beingshuman, person, adult, child, infant
- kidnapperskidnapper, abductor, hostage taker, captor, ransomer
body snatchermourner
One who grieves
tomb guardian · griever · bereaved · eulogist · pallbearer
body snatcherundertaker
Funeral service professional
funeral director · mortician · embalmer · gravedigger · sexton
body, snatch, bodies, bodied, bodily, embody, embodied, embodiment, embodying