The Hexham Heads

Raymond · The Hexham Heads

It was 1972, and at the Robson family home in Hexham, only ten minutes walk away from where the legendary Wolf of Allendale had roamed the woods, the two young Robson brothers dug up two small, carved stone heads whilst they were tending the garden.

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.

Interest in the local legend of The Wolf of Allendale was rekindled by this event and the stone heads became associated with the possible re-appearance of the wolf.

The two stone heads, each about the size of an orange, were thought to be Celtic in origin and collector Dr Anne Ross took possession of the heads, as she had several other stone heads in her collection and wished to compare them to the Hexham pair.
A few nights after taking possession of the heads, Dr Ross awoke at 2am one morning, feeling cold and frightened. Looking up, she saw a strange creature standing in her bedroom doorway:

"It was about six feet high, slightly stooping, and it was black, against the white door, and it was half animal and half man. The upper part, I would have said, was a wolf, and the lower part was human and, I would have again said, that it was covered with a kind of black, very dark fur. It went out and I just saw it clearly, and then it disappeared, and something made me run after it, a thing I wouldn't normally have done, but I felt compelled to run after it. I got out of bed and I ran, and I could hear it going down the stairs, then it disappeared towards the back of the house."

Living and working in Southampton, Dr Ross knew nothing of The Wolf of Allendale legend and the association of The Hexham Heads with the possible return of the wolf and, she attributed the experience to a nightmare.
Dr Ross came home with her archaeologist husband Richard Feacham one day, only to find their teenage daughter Bernice in a distressed state. Bernice explained that she had used her key to unlock the front door and entered the house that afternoon to witness a large, black shape rushing down the stairs; halfway downstairs the creature vaulted the bannister, landing with a soft, heavy thud like a large animal with padded feet.

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' at the museum.

For now, the current whereabouts of The Hexham Heads remains unknown.
Despite this, the legend of The Hexham Heads and its association with The Wolf of Allendale has become a cornerstone of the local folklore of the area.

david hobbs

The description sounds almost like a British version of the Egyptian god Anubis.

We have Herne the Hunter, perhaps we have a wolf god of old here that has been forgotton.

Raymond

It's not impossible. Wolves roamed the British Isles freely only until a few hundred years ago.
The ancient pagans made gods out of many animals, it's not a great leap of the imagination to think they made a god out of the wolf which I sure must have terrified them.
Appease the Wolf-God, appease the wolf.
I wonder if that's where the idea of the werewolf comes from.

david hobbs

The man wolf idea goes back a very long way so the wolf would no doubt have been a major part of ancient societies.

It shows that if you make something real to you then it becomes a reality.

Big clue there about "reality"

I once saw an what I believe to be Isis huge in the sky above the Malvern Hills and clearer than clear. I saw her with the physical eyes. I have never seen any woman more beautiful. You have to realise that I was not there for any reason other than ending an eighty mile cross country walk, so I was not seeking an experience. It just happened.

So who put her there.

Then I realised that the Thames was once the Isis. and of course she would have been a major goddess in this land.
We create throughout the passing generations through our various belief systems and they, the created, perpetuate when circumstances call for it.

evergreen

now that is a theory I can live with David.... what a different experience ain't life the strangest thing

Scott

wow. how interesting is this? i love things like this so much. i would love to travel around all these places where these things have happened. just to say ive been there i suppose. raymond where do you find these stories?

Raymond

Just by sniffing around the internet mostly.

I must find some new stories to put on this section. Haven't posted some new ones in ages.

sheelanagig

I can understand people being scred of the large shadow man-beast, but as far as I can tell, he never hurt any one....
Perhaps he was seeking some kind of understanding or help?

Raymond

Sheela, you're so love n light.

Bless.

sheelanagig

I Know...... you think I'm a fluffy bunny LOL......

Raymond

There's nothing wrong with that. I love fluffy bunnies.

They burn so well.

sheelanagig

I actually have a rabbit skull, along with a rat skull and a pig skull that I used to use when I was an oral health educator.

My kids were horrified when I brought the rabbit from the market it had already been slaughtered for the pot. I just had to skin it and clean it out, before chopping it up for the pot.
My father in Law had taught me a few years before how to prepare a fresh hen and rabbit, ready to be cooked and eaten.
I was only 17 when he first presented me with a complete boiling foul, feathers and all.

The kids who were in the calss chosen for dental health lessons loved these objects , along with my collection of dental x-rays, model teeth and other paraphernalia I made to make my messages in my lessons understood, and it kept their attention on the lesson.
It was very rare I had problems as kids love interaction.

I remember asking a class or 7 - 8 year olds what drink made lions grow big and strong.
I was looking for the answer "Water" but a little boy piped up with the answer "Blood"

You've gotta love kids.... ROFL