Quest for the Hexham Heads

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He kept the Heads for some analysis until early 1978 during which time his dog got excited and bit one of the Heads. Robins recounts various rather weak experiences he had that might have been connected to the female Head such as his car electrics dying. Once he thought this Head’s eyeballs were watching him. But he seems to have been unable to connect the objects with the poltergeist activity, and then he passed them onto the final character in the story, a ‘dowser’ called Frank Hyde. The elusive Hyde was delivered the Heads in February 1978 to do some ‘dowsing experiments’ with them – and they have never been seen since. One of the Hexham Heads looms over the cover of Robins’s book It soon became apparent that they startlingly resembled their departed sisters; Jennifer had a white line on her forehead where Jacqueline had had a scar and bore the same birthmark as Jacqueline! As the twins grew, Florence and John saw increasing similarities and became more and more convinced that the two girls were their late sisters reborn. The family left Hexham when the girls were still babies but returned to the town when the girls were aged four. On their return, both girls were able to identify landmarks such as the school their sisters had attended and were able to name dolls and toys belonging to their sisters. They even had nightmares about being run over by a car. Jennifer also looked to be older than Gillian, despite being a twin; Joanna had been five years older than Jacqueline. Then, as they turned five, all memories of their former lives faded away. There have been claims that The Hexham Heads were not Celtic in origin and had simply been carved as toys by the previous occupants of the Robson family home only twenty years previously, and had subsequently become lost in the garden. It has also been said that the heads were examined by the Universities of Newcastle and Southampton for dating. 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.

Both stones were around 6cm tall, and were remarkable due to their apparent carving in the shape of little heads. Each was different from the other.According to one of the North East's best known ghost stories, the Baron of Hylton - who lived at Hylton Castle in Sunderland - killed a stable boy called Robert Skelton in a fit of rage in the 16th or 17th century.

In February, 1972 the Robson boys were weeding their parent's garden not 10 minutes walk from where the 'Wolf of Allendale' stalked the woods. The pair soon unearthed two carved stone heads both about the size of tennis balls. A few nights after the discovery, neighbour Ellen Dodd was sitting up late with her daughter when both of them saw what they described as a 'half-man/half-beast' enter the bedroom. Although both mother and daughter screamed in terror, the creature seemed disinterested in them and walked off down the stairs. It was heard to be 'padding down the stairs as if on its hind legs', and the front door was later found open. It was assumed it had left the house in search of something else, but what no-one knew, or indeed was inclined to find out! 2 It happened like this. We can imagine a break in the rain or a beautiful spring day, but whatever the weather, in May in 1971, two brothers Colin and Leslie Robson, were playing in their garden. We know it was May because their sister later confirmed she was on her honeymoon and away from the house when it happened. What most of us know is that in the garden of the Robson family’s 3 Rede Avenue home in Hexham, brothers Colin and Leslie found — what looks to be — two odd-looking stone carvings of heads.

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Dr Anne Ross said that after much investigation, these heads were of Romano-Celtic origin and part of the Pagan ‘Head-cult’ tradition. The Celts had settled in North East England and they were known to revere the human head as a gruesome charm. The practise of the Celts was such that they would set the severed heads of their vanquished enemies over the doors of their houses and barns. This practise had been particularly rife in West Yorkshire and Northumberland, where Hexham was. However, local lorry driver Des Craigie said he had made the heads for his daughter to play with! They were not ancient he said! Ross had the heads examined at Southampton University, where they concluded they were made from “very course sandstone with rounded quartz grains”, indicative of the heads being carved from natural stone, supporting the theory that they were of Celtic origin. However, upon further examination in Newcastle University, it was discovered that the heads had indeed been made from artificial cement and moulded, rather than carved. Unfortunately for them, it soon became objects of newfound fear when instances in their home began to turn increasingly eerie. The story was covered in several newspapers - including The Journal - but the current whereabouts of the heads is unknown.