What shall we do with the shrunken sailor?
Brixham's Herald Express 12/10/1994
A BRIXHAM woman has shrugged off fears of an evil curse on a tiny shrivelled skeleton found in the town - she touched it and has survived for years.
The tale of the Slavers Curse was broadcast in a BBC1 TV programme about the paranormal last week. The skeleton was supposed to be that of a sailor who fell foul of a witch doctor from West Africa while involved in the slave trade in the 17th century. It was alleged people had died, been injured, or suffered distress after touching the skeleton, which was found in a house in Dashpers (alluding to our Dashper House - demolished in 1964/1965).
Evil powers
One person who has seen and touched the skeleton and survived is Herald Express Brixham correspondent Lynne Capp, whose father-in-law used to own it. She says: " He believes it is evil and people who touch it suffer terrible tragedies."
Lynne says she can vouch for the truth of some of the tales about the people alleged to have been involved. But she adds, "I do not believe you can attribute it to this skeleton. I believe the things that happened would have happened anyway."
Lynne believes the skeleton is an anatomical model which may have come from Edinburgh University. And she says, " I don't believe it is evil. I believe people are overloading it with their own fears."
The skeleton is in the possession of psychic investigator Graham Wyley, who lives in London and has a cottage in Brixham.He has been looking after it for five years and keeps it in a brief case in his bedroom. He said: " I am looking after it for the owner as I believe if he keeps it, it will kill him. If a total stranger opens the case then evil is emitted to this man and the venom spreads to his relatives. Since I have had it there have been no more problems for the man."
BRIXHAM correspondent Lynne Capp describes in her own words the story of the mysterious skeleton. Is it fact or fiction?
THE tiny skeleton which featured in last Friday's BBC programme " Out of this World" has certainly caught the imagination of the national press. According to medium, Margaret Barratt and the psychic investigator Graham Wyley, the skeleton is the shrunken remains of a Brixham sailor named William Young who was cursed by a Gambian witch doctor. The curse resulted in the sailor growing smaller and smaller until he died in 1747 measuring only 10 inches high.
It is an incredible story which the medical experts on the programme could find no evidence for. Home Office Pathologist Dr Michael John Heath believes the skeleton is that of a pre-term baby which may have been used as an anatomical model in a teaching hospital.
Whatever you believe the object to be, it is said to have been the cause of countless tragedies because it exerts an evil influence over anyone who touches it. In the late 1970's the skeleton was owned by my father-in-law who acquired it together with two slave rings, a scrimshaw-worked whale's tooth and an indenture dated April 6, 1751.
"Perhaps it's easier to blame the skeleton, than live up to the fact real life can be tragic"
He was told that all of these items had been discovered by a local builder during the renovation of a Brixham cottage. Whilst in the family's possession the little figure was kept in a variety of properties around Brixham. Most people who saw it thought of it as a curiosity. It is not a pleasant-looking object, but only a few people thought it evil. A relative of mine kept the skeleton in his bedroom while he measured and studied it, but he does not feel be has been affected by its evil influence.
Curse
Of course at the time the family was not aware of the William Young story and the witch-doctor's curse. Friends who have followed the story since it left the family's possession know that the tragic events mentioned in "Out of this World" are true. Many of them have concerned Brixham residents. It is impossible to prove that the tragedies are linked to the skeleton. Only the belief that the " little man" is evil gives credence to the curse and he becomes a threat. My father-in-law suggests that "People believe what they want to believe."
Susan Blackmore, the parapsychologist, said much the same thing when she talked of the skeleton being somewhat like a voodoo doll where you need to know about the curse in order to be affected by it.
Sad figure
Perhaps it is easier to blame the skeleton than live up to the fact that real life can be sad and tragic and that at times we all need to accept the consequences of our actions. It is too easy to blame an object for our "bad luck" .
I have always seen the skeleton as a sad little figure. Its tiny bones are fascinating to study at close hand but not something which should be on show as an antique or a curiosity to make money from. Whatever you believe it to be, it once had life and so should be treated with respect and given a decent burial. Then the bizarre events surrounding it will end.
Photo for viewing with appropriate respect