![]() ![]() Children were told to "keep away from the marl-pit or rawhead and bloody bones will have you." ![]() Folklore īloody 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. The stories originated in Great Britain where they were particularly common in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and spread to North America where the stories were common in the Southern United States. ![]() Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary of the English Language (first published in 1755) defined "Rawhead" as "the name of a spectre, mentioned to fright children". The term "Raw-Head and Bloody-Bones, and such other Names" was used "to awe children, and keep them in subjection", as recorded by John Locke in 1693. The Oxford English Dictionary cites approximately 1548 as the earliest written appearance of "Bloodybone". The character is sometimes called Rawhead, Tommy Rawhead, or Rawhead-and-Bloody-Bones (with or without the hyphens). As with all bogeymen the figure has been used to frighten children into good behaviour. ( November 2021)īloody Bones is a bogeyman figure in English and North American folklore whose first written appearance is approximately 1548. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. ![]() This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. ![]()
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