However, the negro had declared before his death that his spirit would
not rest unless his body was taken to his native land and buried
there. This was not done, he being buried in the churchyard of
Bettiscombe. Then the haunting began; fearful screams proceeded from
the grave, the doors and windows of the house rattled and creaked,
strange sounds were heard all over the house; in short, there was no
rest for the inmates until the body was dug up. At different periods
attempts were made to bury the body, but similar disturbances always
recurred. In process of time the skeleton disappeared, 'all save the
skull,' and its reputation as 'the screaming skull' remains
unimpaired."

In a farm-house in Sussex are preserved two skulls from Hastings
Priory, about which many gruesome stories are current in the
neighbourhood. One of these skulls, it appears, has been in the house
many years; the other was placed there by a former tenant of the farm.
It is the prevalent impression in the locality, that, if by any chance
the former skull were to be removed, the cattle in the farm would die,
and unearthly sounds be heard in and about the house at night time.
According to a local tradition, the skull belonged to a man who
murdered the owner of the house, and marks of blood are pointed out on
the floor of the adjoining room, where the murder is said to have been
committed, and which no washing will remove. But, on more than one
occasion, the skull has been taken away without any ill-effects, and,
one year, was placed by a profane hand in a branch of a neighbouring
tree, where it remained a whole summer, during which time a bird's
nest was constructed within it, and a young brood successfully reared.
And yet the old superstition still survives, and the prejudice
against tampering with this peculiar skull has in no way
diminished.[6]