Cursed Objects

Any object can be ritually cursed to affect whoever owns it with bad luck, misfortune, and even death. Sometimes objects are cursed by circumstances. For example, the “screaming skulls” of England are said to be haunted by restless ghosts of the dead. Some skulls belong to victims of religious persecution during the 16th-century Reforma- tion initiated by King Henry VIII. Others are from Oliver Cromwell’s Roundheads during the English Civil War in the mid-17th century. Still other skulls are from people who lost their heads in various violent episodes, such as murders.

The victims often gave the same deathbed curse: If their remains were not buried within the walls of their house, their spirits would not rest in peace. The skulls reportedly