THE CURSE OF THE SCREAMING SKULL

Found in the town of Bettiscombe, snuggled in the heart of the English countryside, is the famous and terrifying legend of the screaming skull.

The story goes that during the 17th century a resident of Bettiscombe, Azariah Pinney, returned home after living abroad in the West Indies for some years.  Azariah brought with him a slave to help care for his house and property, known as Bettiscombe Manor.  The slave, however, soon fell ill and, lying upon his deathbed, made a last desperate request to his master.  He asked that his corpse be sent to home and buried in the land of his birth.  Azariah agreed.  But as soon as the slave had passed, Azariah broke his promise and buried the slave in a nearby churchyard cemetery.

The gravedigger had no sooner shoveled the last pile of dirt onto the casket, when a strange moaning drifted up through the fresh earth.  Before long, the moaning turned into an endless agonizing scream, which tore through the quiet countryside like a nightmare.  The local villagers demanded that Azariah dig up the body and remove it from the cemetery immediately.  So the slave was returned to Bettiscombe Manor, where Azariah stored the body in the attic.  There the tortured screams ceased.  The corpse remained in Azariah's home, where it decayed over time, until all that remained was the skull.

As the years passed, Bettiscombe Manor saw many owners come and go.  Some did not take well to sleeping so near the infamous screaming skull and made the mistake of removing it from its resting place.  One owner threw the skull into a nearby pond one stormy summer night, thinking it would sink to a watery grave.  But the skull rose to the surface shrieking in anguish.  Another family buried the offensive fossil in the backyard garden, but it quickly dug itself out of the ground.  Ultimately, the skull ws returned to the house, where it resides peacefully to this day.

THE CURSE OF THE BURTON AGNES SKULL

When the Griffin family decided to build a new home on their Yorkshire lands in 1598, their three daughters took great interest in the project.  Anne, in particular, followed every detail of constructing Burton Agnes Hall from start to finish, and grew very attached to the grand house after moving in.

One night, while returning from a visit to a neighbor, Ann was attacked on the road by a gang of thieves.  She was struck in the head and, if not for her rescue by villagers who heard her screams, she would have died on the spot.  She was brought home to the loving arms of her family, but the outlook was grim.  Before dying, Anne begged her sisters to keep a part of her in Burton Agnes Hall forever.  In her final farewell, she asked them to have her skull buried within the walls of the house she had helped them build.

Anne died five days after the attack, and her family ignored her request by burying her--head and all-- in the church graveyard.  Soon, blood-curdling screams began to ring out in Burton Agnes Hall.  No one could discover their source.  Alarmed and chilled to the bone in fear, the sisters feared that the screams were a ghostly call from Ann to fulfill her dying wish.  The family, with no other solution in sight, decided to dig up Anne's grave and obey her wishes.  When the coffin was opened, the small group recieved another grisly shock: the body had not decayed, but the head had fallen off and lost every bit of hair and tissue, leaving only a bare skull.  The Griffins took the skull home and the screams stopped.

All was well for many years, until the house was sold to another family who banished the skull from the hall.  The screams returned, much to the horror of the new inhabitants.  Again the skull was returned; and all was quiet once more.  Later, a new owner hid the skull away withing a wall and never told anyone where it was hidden.  No one has found the skull's hiding place to this day, and the screams have not returned.  Some people have seen Anne floating through the house in October, the month in which she was killed.  They recognize the ghost as Anne, as it matches her portrait, which hangs in the home to this day.

Besides humans, the only animal that can stand on its head is the elephant.

There isn't a single referance to a cat in the bible.

Nearly all polare bears are left-handed.

A newborn panda is smaller than a mouse.

The two heads of a freak two-headed snake will fight over food- despite sharing the same stomach.

The armadillo is the only animal animal-apart from humans-that can catch leprosy.

The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.

Some snakes can live up to a year without eating.

A beaver can chop down more than 200 trees in a year.

Besides humans, the only animals that can suffer sunburn are pigs and horses.

Giraffes can live without water for longer than camels can.

Anteaters can stick out there tongues up to 160 times a minute.

Ever wonder where the names for the days of the week come from

Monday:  literally meaning "the moon's day"-- comes from a Germanic translation of the Latin "lunae dies" that also gives the modern German "Montag" for the first day of the working week.

Tuesday: derives its name from Tiu, a Germanic god of war and the sky ("Tiu's day".  In French, the Roman war god, Mars, lends his name to "Mardi" in the same way.

Wednesday:  is also named for a Germanic god -- Woden (also known as Odin in Norse mythology).

Thursday:  is a corruption of "Thor's day" (named after the Norse god of thunder).

Friday:  is named for a Norse goddess of love and fertility Freya ("Freya's day".  The French "Vendridi" follows the same route via the Roman goddes Venus.

Saturday:  is a direct borrowing from the Latin "Saturni dies" ("Saturn's day", named for the ancient Roman god of agriculture.

Sunday:  also takes its name directly from Latin, in this case, "dies solis" -- "day of the sun".

So there you have it, no need for you wonder anymore!

There are 293 ways to make change for a doller.

 Volleyball is the most popular sport at nudist camps.

You could drive a car around the world 4 times with the amount of fuel in a jumbo jet.

 China has more English speakers than the United States does.

On a square inch of our skin, there are 20 million microscopic animals.

 Only 1 person in 2 billion will live to be 116 or older.

The longest one-syllable word is screeched.

 The word dude was coined by Oscar Wilde and his friends.   It is a combination of duds and attitude.

No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

 The Bible is the most shoplifted book in the United States.

If Barbie-- whose full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts-- were life size, here measurements would be 39-23-33, she would stand 7 feet, 2 inches tall, and she would have a neck twice the length of a normal human's neck.

 The average person is a quarter of an inch taller at night.

You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

 Our eyes don't freeze in very cold weather because of the salt in our tears.

Your tongue print is as unique as your fingerprints.

 The average person laughs 15 times a day.

So now you know!!