This English literature collection presents two classic Robert Louis Stevenson short stories, The Body-Snatcher and The Sea Fogs . "The Body Snatcher" is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). First published in the Pall Mall Christmas "Extra" in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert Knox (1791-1862) around the time of the notorious Burke and Hare murders (1828).