The Curse of Wigan’s Skull House

Don’t try to remove the cursed skull of Skull House, Wigan, or you may be its next victim, warns RACHAEL ELIZABETH

In the Northwest of England, tucked away in a quiet part of Appley Bridge there is a fairly unassuming road named Skull House Lane.

It’s an auspicious name for the impending October nights, especially to those of us who love the morbid and macabre. But this little lane has not been named solely for our benefit, Skull House Lane is named after a cottage sat resides on it, sharing the namesake ‘Skull House’.

As the curious among us may suspect, Skull House does have a disturbing reason for its title, as the cottage is named after a discoloured human skull that resides within its walls – a skull which may not be all that it seems…

The Legend of Skull House

Legend has it that the human skull residing within Skull House is that of a monk who sought refuge in the cottage’s chimney – the monk is said to have fled his monastery, as during that time in England the monks were being hunted by the Roundheads.

This particular monk is said to have hidden in a cubby hole within the chimney’s breast but was soon discovered; the roundheads then ignited the fireplace to smoke the monk out. When he was apprehended, the monk was beheaded, and as the story goes, his skull has remained at the cottage ever since. 

The skull is said to have been discovered by the inhabitants of the cottage after they had been carrying out some renovation work, and when it was discovered, they tried to get rid of it – unfortunately, this didn’t go quite as planned.

Residents of Appley Bridge claim that numerous attempts to remove the skull from the cottage have ended in disaster – one such incident saw the house’s resident take the skull and throw it into the River Douglas, which is located at the bottom of Skull House Lane.

The man is said to have returned home only to find the skull back in its original place – most disturbing of all, the man in question later drowned in that very river. 

Another attempt to banish the skull saw a resident try to take the skull as far away as possible from the house, but again, the skull returned, and the offending resident severely injured himself falling down the stairs.

There are also rumblings that many more residents have tried to toss the skull away and have met with serious illnesses and even the death of loved ones.

It would appear that the monk does not take favourably to having his bones removed from the cottage, and the current residents have reportedly never tried to remove the skull; so far, their lives are said to remain relatively peaceful.

The skull of Skull House has since become a polarising topic, with some people agreeing that the skull should be kept at the house as a historical relic – but it’s understandable why others claim the skull should be discarded, in an attempt to rid the neighbourhood of the supposed curse.

Science of the skull

It has also been documented that the skull has been scientifically analysed – but when the results came back, the skull was proven to be female.

Although it seems that the origin story of the skull may have been quashed, many questions about it still remain unanswered – who did the skull belong to? How did she die? Why was her skull found within the cottage walls? And perhaps most important of all, why does she seem to cause great harm to those who try to remove her?

We may never know the answers to these questions, but one thing is for certain: you ought not to try and remove her from Skull House, or who knows – perhaps your skull will become the next cursed object…

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Read about other haunted skulls on Spooky Isles.