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The restless skull

Collecting skulls was the private passion of a British doctor, John Kilner. He had them specially polished and encased in ebony boxes which he displayed round his home. But the skull that fascinated him most of all was one he did not own. It was on a skeleton at West Suffoll Hospital, where he worked in the 187os. Part of the attraction was the skeleton’s gruesome history. It was the skeleton of a murderer, 23-year-old William Corder, hanged in public at nearby Bury St Edmunds Prison, in April x8z8, for the notorious Red Barn murder of Maria Marten. For years, Dr Kilner greedily eyed the skeleton, which was used to teach students. Then, one night, he stole it and put it in one of the showcases in his home.

Immediately, his life became a nightmare. An evil spirit roamed the house muttering and breathing heavily; often, sobbing was heard. Eventually, a vivid white hand floated through the air and smashed the skull’s showcase. The doctor was so horrified that he gave the skull to a friend, who was in turn subjected to so much similar terror, that he finally gave it a Christian burial. The tormented soul of killer Corder was at last able to rest in peace. | Derbyshire | Dorset | Fawkhans Green | Rotherham | Somerset | Wardley Hall | Yorkshire |