Screaming skull
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![]() Shot from the 1958 film The Screaming Skull | |
Grouping | Supernatural |
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Sub grouping | Object |
Country | England |
Habitat | Homes |
A screaming skull is a paranormal object, a human skull which per legend speaks, screams, or otherwise haunts its environs. The legend is most found in England and other Anglo regions.
The Bettiscombe screaming skull of Dorset, England, is attested at least as early as 1897 in the book The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain. That book details an alleged visit to Bettiscombe in 1883 by curiosity-seekers to investigate a skull which per legend was of an African slave once owned by the owner of the house. Per local legend the slave had died determined to be buried in his homeland, and any attempt to bury his skull elsewhere would cause the skull to scream aloud.[1]
Known skulls
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- Bettiscombe Manor, Bettiscombe, Dorset[2][3]
- Dickie - Tunstead Farm, Tunstead Milton, Derbyshire[4][5]
- Skull of St Ambrose Barlow - Wardley Hall,[4] Greater Manchester
- Skull of Anne Griffith - Burton Agnes Hall,[4] Yorkshire
- Skull of Thephilus Brome? - Higher Chilton Farm, Chilton Cantelo[4]
- Two skulls - Warbleton Priory ruin, Rushlake Green, Heathfield, East Sussex[6]
In fiction
- The Screaming Skull (1911) - F. Marion Crawford
- The Screaming Skull (1958) - American horror film
- The Great Ghost Rescue (1975) - Novel by Eva Ibbotson
References
- ^ John Henry Ingram (1897). The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain. Gibbings & Company, Limited. p. 342.
- ^ "Legend of the Screaming Skull - Bettiscombe Manor". Retrieved 19 May 2011.
- ^ Ingram, John Henry (1897). "Bettiscombe House". The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain. pp. 341–344.
- ^ a b c d Parkinson, Daniel. "Screaming Skulls - An Introduction". Mysterious Britain & Ireland. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
- ^ Frith, J. B. (John Benjamin) (1905). "Dick O' Tunstead". Highways and Byways in Derbyshire. Macmillan and Co., limited. p. 182.
- ^ "Legend of the Screaming Skull". Real British Ghosts. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
External links
- Gay, Marcus V. "Screaming Skulls". Occultopedia.com. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
- In Search of Screaming Skulls - directions to main locations
- Tunstead Farm: The Noisy Skull A collection of 19th and 20th century accounts of Dickey, the Screaming Skull of Tunstead Farm.
- William Andres (1877). Skull Superstitions. Hull.