In mythological terms, dwarf stories originate in Germany mythology and concerns a human-like race which lives in the mountains and possesses great knowledge and craftsmanship. The Cauld Lad of Hylton After becoming quite the local curiosities, the heads were passed on to expert in Celtic artefacts, Dr. Anne Ross. Doubtless still anxious to retreat to his cosy home, sans Heads, Don witnessed the next stage in the research programme, whereby the traditional techniques gave way to a more 'Mad scientist's laboratory' experiment with the Heads wrapped firstly individually and then together and put into a network of copper wire which Don compared to a Faraday cage. Don was impressed but the latter demonstration to show that the procedure diminished activity has left me baffled. In Don's account he admitted he had no 'clear idea of what further experiments he [Hyde] proposed to do', but after the demonstrations felt sufficiently confident to leave them in Hyde's hands.” And experts from all over the place grew more and more intrigued to render their own studies on the mysterious Heads.

Mobile urban prehistory, the kind you can find in your garden, then display on your mantelpiece, has not featured much in my blog to date. Most urban prehistory has already been found and taken away, or is too big and awkward (i.e. a standing stone) to act as an ornament in anything but the most splendid of houses. When innocent parties do stumble upon objects which may be of great antiquity they usually take them to a local museum for identification, and then they become lost in the mists of time / store rooms / filed in the bin. But one examples stands out, where this didn’t happen. Over a few posts, I want to recount one of the most remarkable and controversial examples of urban prehistory that I can think of – the story of the Hexham Heads. Even if you have heard this one before, it is a great story. OK, onto my Frank Hyde research. Over Christmas I did a bit of a ‘cold case’ review of the main protagonists in the story and decided to try again with Frank Hyde. 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.When the discovery of the heads hit newspapers, specialists in pre-history and archaeology examined and documented the heads, but struggled to date them. They were closely analysed and sampled, but any resulting evidence was in contradiction to the last. Nonetheless, the discovery was regarded as having immense historical importance and studies of the heads, particularly by Dr. Anne Ross were published in collections regarding ancient Celtic artefacts. The heads appear to have vague similarities with several Celtic heads of antiquity, so this keenness to link the heads into this tradition is understandable, and to have exclusive study rights, or be the first to publish on such a new discovery would similarly be quite the academic coup. . Perhaps due to these strange events, the Robson family passed the heads on to Hexham Abbey where they eventually fell into the hands of Dr Anne Ross, an expert in Celtic artefacts. In February 1971, Colin and Leslie Robson were working in the garden of their family home when they stumbled onto what they thought was a treasure. Digging in the garden, the boys hit something strange. As they dug around the strange object it appeared to them that it might be some sort of toy. What they brought up were two, carved stone humanoid heads. Although these objects were small their impact on the family were anything but. The Simonside Dwarfs are crafty creatures linked to the folkloric tradition of bogles, mythical creatures or ghosts who pop up in stories throughout Scottish and Northumbrian folklore.

The boy's ghost haunted the castle crying out 'I'm cold' until he was given a hood and cloak by a cook who worked in the castle. The first came to be known as “The Boy”, and featured a face of regular proportions, with carved lines across the skull, indicating hair. The other was known as “The Girl”, and appeared to sport a bob-like hair cut with rather bulging eyes. Scientist Dr Don Robbins, a chemist who became involved in the investigation into the mysterious heads, on hearing of this strange night-time visitor, drew a tentative parallel between the half-man half sheep seen in Mrs Dodds bedroom and a creature from Norse mythology called ‘The Wulver;’ a powerful and dangerous creature, he said. According to the family, the heads would move about by themselves. And that wasn’t all: the haunting of the Hexham heads had just begun.Does anyone remember an article on a north east BBC news programme in the mid seventies about two stone heads unearthed in Hexham that conjured up a werewolf apparition? The 'werewolf' appeared to a pretty eminent archaeologist and her family and used to appear with a sort of banging noise at various times of day.... it was passed on to another and the same thing happened. The mysterious thing is is that i looked into this story and rang a museum at Hexham who sent me some newspaper clippings and said that the heads hade been buried in a secret location due to 'trouble'. This really spooked me and sent me off trying to get in touch with anyone involved. I managed to reach an old man who told me he'd MADE the heads - something the archaeologist had disputed (she said they were celtic). As for her - one Anne Ross - I've never managed to reach her (and she is pretty well known). However, it later emerged that a previous owner of the house in Hexham, where the heads were originally found, came forward and said that he had made the heads as toys for his children. In the end, all of their leads were crossed out and when the interest of the masses waned, the infamous Wolf of Hexham was left at large — at least, until the Ross family’s werewolf sighting claims in the 70s. Theories on the Hexham Heads Mystery In 1904, a large wolf escaped from a zoo and terrorised farms in the Hexham area according to press reports. Read More Related Articles