Quest for the Hexham Heads

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The Hexham Heads represent urban prehistory that might not even be urban prehistory (they may have been made in the 1950s BC or AD), and yet their discovery and subsequent contestation mirrors very well how archaeologists deal with any bit of material culture found during a formal excavation. The methodical and measured contributions by most (but not all) scientists involved ensure this to be the case. But what makes this an especially weird story is that it also draws on other tropes of archaeology – the cursed objects, dealing within things we cannot comprehend, sinister stones, arcane rites. Regardless of what happened that night, events surrounding the Heads became known locally and in the press, and the Heads from that point onwards developed an aura of mystery and danger –they were often described in 1970s TV and newspaper media accounts as ‘evil’. He then made a couple more to show he could do it, from ‘local stone, sand and water’ although they were even more rubbish looking than the originals. The head on the left was made by Des Craigie to prove he could make little stone heads, the one on the right was made – rather suspiciously – by one of the boys who found the original heads (source: Screeton 2012)

Crudely fashioned and weathered-looking, one resembled a skull-like masculine head crowned by a Celtic hairstyle; while the other was a slightly smaller female head that possessed what were said to be witch-like qualities, including the classic beaked nose. The Hexham Heads An Extract from the Fortean Times, via the brilliant series of articles from The Urban Historian An Analysis And that was what further solidified Dr. Ross’s belief that the Hexham Heads were indeed ancient Celtic artifacts. The Hexham Heads were a pair of small stone heads, about 6cm high, found in 1971 in the English town of Hexham. The heads became associated with alleged paranormal phenomena, and their exact origin is a point of controversy.The original heads were later given to another man, but he and the heads vanished and their whereabouts are still unknown. After a few days, the same entity was seen by her daughter, Berenice, and just like before, it mysteriously disappeared. Events took mysterious and bizarre turns during the time that the objects were kept at the home of the finders and that of their neighbours in the same semi-detached house. The Heads were thought to rotate during the night to ‘look’ in certain directions come morning time. Stuff happened that in other circumstances would be attributed to a poltergeist. And one night, an event occurred which could be described as eldritch occurred. The neighbour, a Mrs Dodds, awoke to be faced with an unusual house guest: a half-sheep, half-human creature in her bedroom, which turned and ‘padded’ downstairs and out of the front door when she saw it. This would not be the first hybrid being conjured up by the heads, as we shall see further into the story. Did the creature summoned by the heads look like this bad boy, except with a sheep’s head? This mystery was solved by a man named Desmond Craigie, who came forward to put this little tale to bed. Craigie, who once lived in the house the Robson’s occupied in ’71, worked with a concrete manufacturers and claims that he made the heads as toys for his daughter in 1956 – including a third, which broke and had been discarded. Returning from battles abroad after many years, John Lambton recognises his responsibility for unleashing the worm. He fights and kills it after receiving advice from a local witch.

Around that same year, Sunday People published an article about the Hexham Heads, along with a few pictures — titled, “ Myth of the ‘Evil’ Heads”. https://media.blubrry.com/masqueradepodcast/content.blubrry.com/masqueradepodcast/HEXHAM_HEADS_TO_UPLOAD_TO_ITUNES_JAN_4TH_2020.mp3 A man named Desmond Craigie reported that he was the creator of the heads, making them in 1956 for his daughter while he was living in the house later occupied by the Robson family, along with a third head which became damaged and had to be thrown away. Craigie, who worked for a company that dealt in concrete at the time he allegedly created the heads, made some replicas to demonstrate his claim. The original heads were analysed by Professor Dearman of the University of Newcastle, who concluded that the items had been moulded artificially rather than carved. The story goes that people lost at night follow torches being carried by the dwarfs but are led into marshland and sink to their deaths. I am inclined to agree with the Newcastle analysis of the stones, which I believe, was based on an invasive sample, rather than the surface visual, as was the case in Southampton. This along with Craigie’s claims, do suggest that the heads are likely of modern origin.If this is the case, it’s probable that the Hexham Heads aren’t very old at all. Who then could have made them and for what purpose? While a hoax can never be ruled out, Durham Constabulary were certainly investigating the reports as a genuine concern for a time. Oswald of Northumbria

Craigie’s public statement of ownership for the Hexham Heads came as a particular problem for one archaeologist / historian, Anne Ross, who had made a big show of the stones being almost certainly Celtic / Iron Age in origin. The stage was set for argument and discussion about the materiality and meaning of the heads, whether they really were cursed and if the were-creature was (according to some tales) actually following the Heads around… Several nights after the discovery of the stone heads, neighbour Ellen Dodd and her daughter were sitting up late one evening when both of them witnessed a “half-man, half beast” entering the bedroom. The pair screamed in terror but the creature seemed indifferent to them and simply left the room, heard to be “padding down the stairs as if on its hind legs”. Later on, the front door was found open. It has been thought that the creature had been in search of something, and had left the house to continue searching elsewhere. Sources: The story of the Hexham Heads has been recounted in most detail by Paul Screeton in his book Quest for the Hexham Heads (Fortean Words 2010) and in Don Robins’s 1988 book The secret language of stone; both books were consulted in the preparation of this post. Stuart Ferrol’s Fortean Times articles (294/295) were also helpful. The newsclipping was sourced from Screeton’s book, while the top picture of the Heads – and the hands holding the ‘fake’ heads – are available widely online.The Lambton worm is perhaps the most famous and enduring piece of North East folklore - but it is not the only one like it. Believing the presence of the stone heads to be responsible for these events, Dr Ross passed on her whole collection of stone heads, along with the Hexham pair to other collectors. The Hexham Heads found their way to the British Museum for public display, though were soon removed from display and mothballed, amid reports of unsettling events associated with the heads. But, along with it, she also believed that the carvings were “ evil” and might even be a part of a death cult of some kind, at one point in the past.