Local folklore in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, tells the tale of a wolf who protected the head of the Kind Edmund who ruled from AD855 to 869. Tales tell of a brave king who was killed by Danish invaders when he refused to denounce his Christianity. He was shot full of arrows and then beheaded. It is believed that the wolf sat with the Kings head and howled until his people found them. Once his head and body were recovered it is believed they miraculously fused together.
Legendary Essex Note: There was widespread belief in werewolves from Greek and Roman times and the Vikings were pretty obsessed too.
In the 1960s, Southend-on-Sea was gripped by fear and fascination as locals reported sightings of a terrifying wolf-like creature prowling the town’s outskirts. The famous Mersea Island Vicar Revd Sabine Baring-Gould published The Book of Werewolves in 1865, the first serious academic study of the shape-shifters of mythological lore. The Vicar was also a keen folklorist, collecting over 2000 traditional songs and was notably the writer of the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’.
