| Bloody Bones | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Other Names |
Bloody Bones, Rawhead, Tommy Rawhead, or Rawhead-and-Bloody-Bones |
|
First Appearance |
American/European Folklore |
|
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Bloody Bones is a bogeyman figure in English and North American folklore whose first written appearance is approximately 1548. As with all bogeymen the figure has been used to frighten children into proper deportment.
Bloody Bones is sometimes regarded as a water demon haunting deep ponds, oceans, and old marl pits (which often became filled with water to form ponds) where it dragged children into the depths, much like the grindylow and Jenny Greenteeth. Children were told to "keep away from the marl-pit or Rawhead and Bloody Bones will have you."
In Somerset Folklore it was said he "lived in a dark cupboard, usually under the stairs. If you were heroic enough to peep through a crack you would get a glimpse of the dreadful, crouching creature, with blood running down his face, seated waiting on a pile of raw bones that had belonged to children who told lies or said bad words. If you peeped through the keyhole he got you anyway."
In the Southern United States, Rawhead and Bloody Bones are sometimes regarded as two individual creatures or two separate parts of the same monster. One is a skull stripped of skin that bites its victims (Rawhead) and its companion is a dancing headless skeleton (Bloody Bones). In one cautionary tale a gossip loses his head to the monster as punishment for his wicked tongue.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published Appearances of Bloody Bones from before January 1, 1929 are in the public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Some Thoughts Concerning Education
- Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore (1913)
- Old Cornwall
- Somerset Folklore