The Screaming Skulls of England

Scattered throughout old English manor houses are human skulls with strange reputations. These “screaming skulls” are said to bring disaster to any who try to remove them—storms, illness, death, and most disturbingly, supernatural screaming that continues until the skull is returned to its place. The tradition represents one of England’s strangest folk beliefs.

The Legend

The screaming skull legend follows a common pattern. A skull is kept in a particular house, often displayed on a mantle, shelf, or windowsill. Local tradition states that the skull must never be removed from the property. Those who try to bury, dispose of, or relocate the skull experience terrible consequences.

When removed, the skull screams. The sound is described as horrible, inhuman, and unceasing. It can be heard throughout the house and sometimes across the property. Livestock die, crops fail, and residents fall ill. The only solution is to return the skull to its proper place.

Bettiscombe Manor

Perhaps the most famous screaming skull resides at Bettiscombe Manor in Dorset. The skull allegedly belonged to a Black slave brought from the Caribbean in the seventeenth century. He asked to be buried in his homeland, but his wishes were ignored, and he was buried in the local churchyard.

Soon after, terrible screaming was heard from the grave. Crops failed. Livestock sickened. The body was exhumed, and eventually only the skull remained. When brought into the house, the disturbances ceased.

Multiple attempts to remove the Bettiscombe skull have ended badly. Those who threw it into a pond found it back in the house the next morning. Those who buried it experienced the screaming and returned it in terror.

Burton Agnes Hall

Burton Agnes Hall in Yorkshire houses another famous screaming skull, said to belong to Anne Griffith, one of the three sisters who built the house in the early seventeenth century. On her deathbed, Anne asked that her skull be kept in the house she loved.

Her sisters ignored the request and buried her normally. Soon, horrific screams filled the house. When the grave was opened, the skull was found to have separated from the body. It was brought into the house, and the disturbances ceased.

The skull was eventually walled up within the house. It remains there today, built into the structure of Burton Agnes Hall.

Wardley Hall

Wardley Hall in Greater Manchester contains a skull said to belong to Roger Downes, a dissolute young man killed in London in 1676. His head was shipped home separately from his body and has remained in the house ever since.

Attempts to remove or bury the skull have reportedly caused storms, illness, and other disasters. One story claims that during the English Civil War, soldiers threw the skull into the moat, only for it to reappear in the house the next day.

The skull is now kept in a niche in the main staircase, watching over the hall.

Calgarth Hall

Calgarth Hall in Cumbria has a darker origin story. The house allegedly stands on land stolen from an elderly couple, Kraster and Dorothy Cook, who were falsely accused of theft and executed. As they died, Dorothy cursed the family that had condemned them.

Soon after, two skulls appeared in the house. Every attempt to remove them failed—they were thrown into the lake, burned, ground to powder, and buried, but always reappeared in their spot in the house.

Explanations

Various explanations have been offered for the screaming skull tradition. Some skulls may represent ancient Celtic practices of head preservation. Others may be relics of Catholic saints hidden during the Reformation. Some may simply be theatrical decorations that accumulated legends.

The psychological impact of having a skull in one’s home should not be underestimated. The skull serves as a constant reminder of death and creates an atmosphere that might predispose residents to interpret ordinary events as supernatural.

Assessment

The screaming skulls of England represent a distinctive English folk tradition—macabre, persistent, and resistant to rational explanation. The skulls remain in their houses, displayed or hidden, watched by generations of residents who know better than to disturb them.

Whether these legends represent ancient religious practices, psychological projection, or genuine supernatural phenomena, they have shaped the character of the houses that contain them. The skulls have become part of the buildings, inseparable from the stones and timbers, demanding to remain where they were placed.

And according to tradition, they still scream when disturbed.