Bloody Bones
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Bloody Bones is a hobgoblin feared by children.
According to Scott Andrew Hutchins [1] Bloody Bones comes from Ireland and is sometimes called Rawhead and Bloody-Bones, Tommy Rawhead, or "Rawhead". Though the stories originated from Ireland, they have spread through the UK and North America, and the stories still hold strong in the south.
He is said to live near places of water (in older tellings) and under sink pipes (in newer tellings). Rawhead and Bloodybones rewards very good children, but will punish naughty children by dragging them down the drainpipes or into the water and drowning them. In addition to drowning naughty children, he is said to be able to turn them into objects such as pieces of trash or spots of jam, which are inadvertently cleaned-up and thrown out by unwitting parents.
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Appearance
Hutchins quotes Georges McHargue as saying that Bloody Bones "is rumored to have a crouching form like a rock. He is covered all over with matted hair, has pale flat eyes, and lives in dark cupboards," (86) [2].
His appearance varies greatly depending on the telling. He is described as looking like:
A crouching rock-like hairy creature
A gremlin with twisted flesh
A dog or old man covered in scabs
A burn victim, but with sharp claws and teeth
A hairy creature with long fangs, a bushy tale, and razor claws
In some tellings, he can take any form he chooses
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Modern Appearances
Bloody Bones is Monster in My Pocket #68.
Clive Barker's Rawhead Rex is derived from the mythological figure.
Rawhead-and-Bloody Bones is one of the main villainous figures in the Courtney Crumrin comics (and the only villain so far to live), presented as a nigh-unkillable being immune to all curses, who enjoys slaughter and whose lair contains the still-living skulls of his victims. He was summoned to do the dirty work of a warlock; Courtney Crumrin eventually retaliated by doing the same thing and having Rawhead kill him.
A version of Bloody Bones appears in the Anita Blake novel Bloody Bones.
Tommy Rawhead appears in the 2000AD comic strip London Falling by Simon Spurrier, appearing to be a bearded homeless man in London; when he takes his hat off, he is revealed as having no skin on his scalp (in effect, a raw head).
Rawhead and Bloodybones is described in a song of the same name on the Siouxsie and the Banshees album Peep Show (1988). Here's Rawhead and Bloodybones Reaching from dark cupboard Crouching under stair, Lurking in chimney, Pond or well We're down here, Held here Dragged here And drowned here by Rawhead and Bloodybones.
In Supernatural episode 1.12 "Faith," the monster Sam and Dean are fighting in the beginning is referred to as a Rawhead.
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References
↑
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scottandrewh/bb.html
↑ McHargue, Georges. The Impossible People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972, 86.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopaedia.
