This cache brings you to the area of Tunstead Farm, located at Combs Edge, between Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith. It is the site of a 400-year-old legend that tells of a human skull that has supernatural powers. These 'powers' prevent the skull from being removed from the farm. The skull is known locally as 'Dicky's Skull' or ‘Dicky o’ Tunstead’. It is called a 'screeching skull' within the paranormal fraternity.
The stories of ‘screeching skulls’ have their roots in the ancient folklore of England. These stories are related to Iron Age and Celtic traditions where there is a reverence for the skull or head in their ceremonies. The tradition of ‘screeching skulls’ is only documented from the 16th century and is a phenomenon almost entirely isolated to England.
This ‘screeching skull’ is believed to be named after the Dixon Family, the owners of ‘Dicky's’ farm. One local story suggests that it is Ned Dixon’s (or Dickson's) skull. He was a farm tenant on Tunstead Farm during the 1600s. He fought in the civil war and returned to the farm to find that his wife believing him dead had remarried. The inconvenient return of Ned led to his murder.
His skull was returned to the farm after a series of disasters befell the inhabitants. His ‘possession’ requires his constant presence in the farm. There are stories of banging, noises and screeching preceding frightening disasters when ‘Dickie’ is disturbed or moved. An alternative story suggests that the skull is that of a female hieress to the farm, who was attacked and on her resulting death bed demanded with a curse that her body be kept on the farm permanently.
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All postcard photographs by kind permission of Enid Phillips to whom they belong.
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| Dicky's skull in the window where it used to be on show. |
This view of Dicky's skull is superimposed at the front door of Tunstead Farm. The door frame has now been installed as the front door of a converted property on Market Street in Chapel-en-le-Frith. |
Local residents confirm that in living memory a skull has been on display in the window of one of the cottages at Tunstead farm, however it is understood locally that the skull has now been buried somewhere on the property. Is that the end of the story of Dicky's Skull?
A far more detailed narrative of ‘Dicky's’ skull can be found at this site: http://www.ghosts.org.uk/ghost/3110/skulls/screaming-skulls/the-skull-of-tunstead-farm/derbyshire.html
A link to screeching skulls here: http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/hauntings/screaming-skulls-an-introduction.html
Listen to Ella Fitzgerald singing "Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered" link