Connie from Marana, Arizona, grew up being warned that Rawhead and Bloody Bones would get her if she went rummaging in closets or her grandmother’s hope chest. The creature—or sometimes a pair of creatures—dates at least as far back as the mid-16th century, when an anti-Catholic pamphlet refers to Rawhed and Bloody Bone as secretaries of the devil. For centuries, parents invoked Tommy Rawhead or Rawhead and Bloody Bones to frighten children away from genuinely dangerous places, such as ponds where kids might drown or mining pits with open shafts. “Dangerous” sounds exciting to a child; Tommy Rawhead does not. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Chilling Thread of Rawhead and Bloody Bones”
Hello,
You
Have
Away
With
Words.
Hi,
Granna
Martha.
This
Is
Connie
From
Morana,
Arizona.
I
Love
Your
Show,
And
My
Question
Is
The
Origin
Of
Bloody
Bones
And
Rawhead
When
I
Was
A
Child
And
Had
Younger
Brothers
And
Sisters,
My
Mother
And
Grandmother
Who
Were
From
Rural
Georgia
Used
To
Basically
Terrorize
Us
With
Bloody
Bones
And
Rawhead
If
We
Went
Rambling
Any
Any
Closets
Or
Drawers
And
I
Just
Wondered
Where
That
Came
From.
Well
Connie
Talk
To
Us
About
What
That
Terror
Rising
Is
Like.
So
What’s
The
Circumstances
Here?
What
How
Is
This
Threatening
You?
What
How
Did
This
Come
About?
My
Mom
Didn’t
Want
Us
Rambling
In
Closets
Or
Whatever
And
I
Don’t
Know
Why
She
Thought
We’d
Do
It.
We
Didn’t
Do
It
At
Home.
But
Anyway,
I
Just
Remember
As
A
Little
Girl,
You
Know,
Four
Or
Five
Years
Old
Being
Told
That
If
We
Went
Into
That
Area
And
Opened
The
Closets
Or
Went
Into
Granny’s
Hope
Chest,
Bloody
Bones
And
Rawhat
Would
Get
Us.
And
You
Know,
When
You’re
A
Little
Kid,
It’s
Scary.
And
Yeah,
And
I
Had
L
Little
Sister
And
Little
Brother
Who
Are
Two
And
And
Then
Four
Years
Younger
Than
Me
But
When
I
Was
Probably
Ten
Or
Eleven
And
We
Would
Visit
I
Was
Afraid
To
Go
Through
Those
Green
Curtains
And
If
I
Got
Through
The
Green
Curtains
And
They
Didn’t
Get
Me
Then,
I
Wanted
Somebody
To
Come
Into
The
Bathroom
And
Make
Sure
They
Weren’t
Hiding
Behind
The
Shower
Curtain.
Yes,
Well
Rawhead
And
Bloody
Bones
Or
Bloody
Bones
And
Rawhead,
It
Has
A
Lot
Of
History
Behind
It,
Connie.
It’s
Really
Fascinating.
It
Goes
All
The
Way
Back
To
The
Mid-1500s
In
England,
Maybe
Even
Earlier
Than
That.
But
Rawhead
Or
Tommy
Rawhead
Was
This
Boogeyman
Used
In
The
Same
Way
That
Your
Family
Used
It,
You
Know,
To
Scare
Little
Kids
Into
Into
Behaving.
And
Rawhead
Was
The
Name
Of
This
Ghastly
Creature
Whose
Skin
Had
Actually
Been
Ripped
Off
His
Skull.
It’s
It’s
Really
Oh
My
God.
Yeah,
I
Know,
Right?
That
Would
Scare
A
Little
Kid,
Right?
And
You
See
This
As
Early
As
Fifteen
Forty-eight,
There
Was
An
Anti-Catholic
Tract
That
Was
Called
The
Will
Of
The
Devil.
And
It’s
Where
The
Devil
Dictates
His
Last
Will
And
Testament
To
His
Secretaries
Who
Are
Named
Hobgoblin,
Rawhead,
And
Bloody
Bone.
And
Then
We
See
The
Characters
Named
Rawhead
Or
Tommy
Rawhead
Or
Rawhead
And
Bloody
Bones
In
A
Lot
Of
Care
In
A
Lot
Of
Folklore
After
That.
And
Sometimes
The
Name
Is
Applied
To
Just
One
Monster,
Rawhead
And
Bloody
Bones,
Because
This
Poor
Guy
Is
In
Terrible
Shape.
Or
Sometimes
It’s
Two
Separate
Creatures.
But
The
Bottom
Line
Is
That
Rawhead
And
Bloody
Bones
Was
This
Creepy
Guy
With
A
Flayed
Head,
And
It’s
It’s
One
Of
Those
Monsters
That
Parents
Would
Use
To
Keep
Kids
In
Line,
Like
Jenny
Green
Teeth,
Who
Was
Supposed
To
But
Connie,
Something
I
Notice
In
The
Folklore
Is
There
Are
Echoes
Of
Exactly
What
You
Experienced
Where
Kids
Are
Being
Kept
Away
From
Dangerous
Places
Or
Places
Their
Parents
Don’t
Want
Them
By
This
Mythology,
By
These
Fictional
Characters.
Like
Martha
Said,
Like
Keeping
Them
Away
From
A
Pond,
Because
Kids
Can
Drown
In
Ponds.
Or
Keeping
Them
Away
From
Mining
Pits
Was
Another
One.
You
Might
Have
These
Random
Holes
In
The
Ground
From
Centuries
Of
Mining
And
You
Just
Don’t
Want
The
Kids
Messing
About
There.
So
You’ll
Say,
Oh
Well
Yeah
If
You
Go
Over
There
Tommy
Rawhead’s
Gonna
Get
Ya.
Oh.
Rather
Than
Just
Saying
It
Could
Be
Dangerous.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dangerous
Isn’t
Isn’t
Nearly
As
As
Frightening
As
Tommy
Rawhead.
I
Think
Right.
Dangerous
Sounds
Exciting
When
You’re
A
Kid.
So
Your
Family
Was
Participating
In
A
Very
Old
Tradition.
Well,
Connie,
Thank
You
So
Much
For
Sharing
Your
Memories
With
Us.
We
Really
Appreciate
It.
Thank
You
So
Much.
It
Was
Lovely
Talking
To
You
Both.
Take
Care.
Okay.
Take
Care.
Okay.
Bye.
You
Can
Call
Us
Toll-free
In
The
United
States
And
Canada,
Us
Words
At
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Find
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Past
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And
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Ways
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At
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