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.

Apr 4, 2025 · One of the most popular of these tells of two terrifying creatures sometimes imagined as parts of the same monster. One is a skull stripped of skin and liable to bite called “Raw head” and the other its equally terrifying companion, a kind of dancing headless skeleton called “Bloody Bones.”

Jul 8, 2008 · “Tommy Rawhead” and “Bloody Bones” were two boogeymen who would kidnap children who misbehaved. At first, they haunted wells, ponds and other bodies of water, but then they moved inside the house and lived under sinks and drains.

Oct 14, 2020 · It’s not hard to see why kids of any era would be terrified by bloody bones, but where did that term ‘rawhead’ come from? And why did it haunt children of centuries past? Raw-head, says the Oxford English Dictionary, first makes an appearance in c. 1564, along with his friend Bloody-bones.

Bloody Bones, often used in conjunction with his friend Rawhead, is a boogeyman of British folklore. Through the years, however, the story of Rawhead and Bloody Bones spread to North America and was figuratively adopted by the South.

Oct 20, 2022 · One of those bogeymen is Bloody Bones, who has roots in English and, eventually, North American folklore. In England, Bloody Bones was known as “Rawhead and bloody Bones”, “Tommy Rawhead”, or just “Rawhead.”

Apr 11, 2021 · In some tellings Rawhead is the head of the creature and Bloody Bones is his body, while the name has many variations that don’t necessarily keep that idea, such as just …

Northern European folklore's Bloody Bones, a chilling, moral guide, lurks in dark spaces, embodying cautionary tales of behavior and ethics.

Feb 23, 2018 · One of the most elusive bogeymen is Rawhead and Bloody Bones. The Oxford English Dictionary notes references to this monster dating from the mid-sixteenth century and the tale was widespread.

Jun 4, 2009 · Bloody Bones is a boogeyman feared by children. According to Scott Andrew Hutchins, Bloody Bones comes from Ireland and is sometimes called Rawhead and Bloody-Bones, Tommy Rawhead, or Rawhead. Though the stories originated in Ireland, they have spread through the UK and North America, and the stories maintain popularity in the American south.