The screaming skulls of Warbleton Priory

[pomme homme]

The ruinous remains of Warbleton Priory, near Heathfield, are reputed to have two skulls entombed within its walls. One is that of a former prior. The other is that of his murderer. The skulls are said to have screamed if attempts were made to remove them from the building.

[pomme homme]

From The Screaming Skulls (Tony Ellis)

Warbleton Priory, once the home of Augustinian monks, is now a farmhouse, and until the end of the 19th century was the home of two skulls, thought to be those of a former owner who was murdered there, and the man who killed him, who was thought to be insane. It is said that should the skulls be removed from the Priory, bad luck would prevail until they were returned.

In the 19th century, when one of the walls was being pulled down, workmen found the two skulls hidden in a recess. When the first was discovered it was immediately buried in the ground outside the house, but by morning had managed to work it’s way back to the surface again, and was found at the back door. The skull was brought back into the house and placed upon a Bible, where it remained perfectly quiet. However, when one of the tenant farmers later tried to take the skull with him, when he left many years later, so many disturbances were experienced at the farmer’s new house that he had to return it to Warbleton for the sake of peace and quiet.

When the second skull was discovered by the workmen, shortly after the first one had been buried, it was taken to a farmhouse a few miles away, but once again there were so many disturbances in the new location that the new farmer decided to bury it. However, as the farmer was digging a hole in which to place the skull, a whirlwind struck the house, and as a result the skull was returned to Warbleton.

Neither skull is now at Warbleton Priory, for they were both stolen in the early part of the 20th century, but peace and quiet would appear to have reigned since they disappeared.

In the 20th Century, who steals skulls and why?