Screaming Skulls - by John Coon
Skeletons are often associated with darkness and death in folklore. That’s why the skull and crossbones doubles as a common symbol warning for everything from poison to pirates. If you live in England, or pay a visit there, you’ll soon discover skulls also play a prominent role in poltergeist folklore.
Tales concerning screaming skulls date back many centuries in England. Screaming skulls earned their name because they are said to cause all sorts of poltergeist activity — with emitting unearthly blood-curdling screams being their chief claim to fame. These skulls are said to wreak tons of supernatural havoc when they are removed from their preferred abode.
Screaming skull activity seems to not have spread beyond England’s borders. It’s been suggested stories revolving around these haunted skulls are rooted in ancient Celtic myths concerning the head.
Here are a few notable places where screaming skulls can allegedly be found:
Bettiscombe Manor
The most famous screaming skull can be found at this manor, which is not open to the public. A popular legend suggests this skull belonged to a slave of Azariah Pinney. He had been brought from the West Indies by Pinney and lived a short miserable life at Bettiscombe Manor. Pinney’s slave had a dying wish for his body to be returned to the West Indies. Pinney ignored his request and buried the body in a local churchyard. Incessant screams and groans from the grave, coupled with poltergeist activity in the manor, forced Pinney to dig the slave’s corpse up and store the dead body in his attic. The body eventually crumbled away until only the skull remained. Attempts to remove the skull through the years are said to have triggered renewed unearthly screams and other poltergeist activity throughout the manor.
Tests done on the skull have dated it to the Iron Age and revealed it came from a European woman who lived between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago. That means we can definitively mark down the Pinney tale as spooky folklore.
Wardley Hall
This hall houses the skull of Ambrose Barlow, a Catholic priest who was martyred in 1641. Barlow was hanged, drawn, and quartered. His head was then put on display at Lancaster Castle. It was eventually taken to Wardley Hall and is preserved in a niche at the top of the main staircase. One legend claims a servant threw the skull into a moat. A terrible storm arose soon after, convincing the owner of the hall that skull was exacting revenge for being removed. He drained the moat and returned the skull to the hall. The hall’s owner placed it out of reach of anyone else who wished to toss out the relic.
Burton Agnes Hall
Built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Burton Agnes Hall was constructed by three daughters of Sir Henry Griffiths. Before the hall was completed, one sister named Anne was fatally stabbed in an attack. Anne made her other two sisters promise to remove her head from her body and keep it in the hall forever. Anne's sisters ignored her request. Once the new hall was finished, it became plagued with strange moans and other ghostly sounds. When the surviving sisters could no longer bear the noise, they went to the family vault determined to carry out Anne's final wishes. They found their sister's head now separated from the torso. Peace returned when they took the skull back to the hall. A disbelieving servant later tossed the skull onto a passing wagon. The horses immediately reared up in fear at an unseen menace, the hall trembled, and pictures fell off the walls. Anne's skull was quickly restored to its former place on the wall and eventually bricked up inside the house to prevent anyone from ever removing it again.
You can read about stories of other screaming skulls at Real British Ghosts and Occultopedia. Screaming skulls are truly a fascinating slice of paranormal folklore.
If you want to nominate specific folklore or urban legends to be covered in a future Folklore Friday article, feel free to leave a comment below.
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