Cauldrons to coffins: creepy curios in our collection

This wooden face mask, on display at Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire, represents ‘Rangda’, the demon Queen of Leyak, a child-eating witch of Balinese mythology. This gruesome character was said to have a loud, rasping voice, 6-inch fingernails and hairy knuckles.

Dominating the Warming Room at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, is this large metal cauldron. Although it looks like the archetypal witch’s cauldron (and has featured in the Harry Potter films), it is believed to have originally been used for cooking by the nuns, before the Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539.

Circe, sorceress of Greek mythology, is depicted in Hardwick Hall’s ‘Story of Ulysses’ tapestries, a series of eight tapestries from around the 1550s, portraying scenes from Homer’s Odyssey. Circe tricks Ulysses’ men into drinking wine that she has laced with a magical potion that turns them into swine.

Apotropaic marks, or witch marks as they're commonly known, can be found at many of the houses in our care. And in many different forms, such as deliberate burn marks, criss-cross lines or circular daisy wheels, like this one in the Great Parlour at Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire. They're usually near openings such as fireplaces, windows and doors, and were thought to stop evil spirits from entering the house.

Dogs of Fo are mythical beasts from Chinese legend who guard against evil spirits and demons. Extremely popular in 18th-century Europe, they became a fashion accessory, often placed at the entrances to rooms. They usually come in pairs, representing yin and yang. This pair at Polesden Lacey, Surrey, were made in China during the Kangxi period, c.1685-1700.

This Georgian shoe was found under the floorboards at Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire. It is likely to have been deliberately placed there as it was common, right up until the 20th century, to hide shoes in walls, under floors and in chimneys. Many have been uncovered in recent years. Why they were hidden is still debated, but one theory is that they were believed to protect against evil.

It probably comes as no surprise that you can find a skull at Greenway, the former Devon holiday home of the ‘Queen of Crime’, Agatha Christie. Despite its realistic appearance, it is not an actual human skull but rather a porcelain jar that Christie’s husband Max used to keep his tobacco in.

Dating to between around 1550 and 1650, this mechanical arm from the collection at Cotehele, Cornwall, is not only a rare survival but also displays sophisticated craftsmanship. It has movable fingers and the buttons on the wrist allow the fingers to be locked into different positions. The beauty of the design contrasts with the grisly battlefield injuries that led to its creation.

This spooky graveyard in the grounds of Polesden Lacey, Surrey, has some unusual burials – all of the 17 graves are dogs. They were the beloved pets of Edwardian socialite Dame Margaret Greville. Famed for her lavish parties, Margaret was also devoted to her dogs and buried each with a sombre burial service and erected headstones carved with their names to mark the graves.

Our Carriage Museum at Arlington Court in Devon houses a vast array of coaches and wagons, including this rather sinister-looking hearse. Built in the late 19th century, it was used by Partis Undertakers of Faversham in Kent until the mid-1900s. It would have typically been pulled by a pair of horses, often adorned with black ostrich feathers.

If you suffer from taphophobia and fear being buried alive, this may be the object for you. It is a bronze coffin bell, part of our collection at Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk. A string running from the clapper would have gone into the coffin and been wrapped around a finger of the body. If the 'corpse' awoke inside the coffin, they could pull the string to ring the bell and attract attention.

William Blake’s pen and watercolour ‘Vision of the Last Judgement’ (1808) at Petworth House, West Sussex, contains this frightening portrayal of Hell. On the right-hand side souls ascend to Heaven, while on the left, those condemned are dropped into Hell, where fire, suffering and the six-headed Appolyon, or Angel of Death, await them.