Rumours were rife in the 1800s when a story published in The Argosy magazine claimed the Shakespeare's skull had been looted from the playwrights' shallow grave in 1794. However, there appears to be some truth in the tale; the first scientific study of Shakespeare's grave has revealed that his skull is indeed missing.
A radar scan of the ground found evidence of "significant localized repair" to the head end of the grave. Archaeologists and historians have long argued over the authenticity of the grave at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford because it is too short for an adult burial.
Was Shakespeare's skull stolen from his Stratford-upon-Avon grave? The truth is under there: https://t.co/h9WFI12KV9 pic.twitter.com/A5Fo1qjXjq
— Culture24 (@Culture24) March 23, 2016
The scan used radio waves to investigate the materials underground and didn't detect any coffin nails, suggesting the bodies of Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway were wrapped in shrouds and buried in soil.
"We have Shakespeare's burial with an odd disturbance at the head end and we have a story that suggests that at some point in history someone's come in and taken the skull of Shakespeare," according to archaeologist Kevin Colls of Staffordshire University who carried out the project with geophysicist Erica Utsi.
"It's very exciting. The upshot of this project is that Shakespeare's skull is still missing. Somewhere in a crypt or church is the skull of the most famous playwright who has ever lived."
As legend has it, a man called Dr Frank Chambers broke into the tomb and stole the skull after a price was put on its retrieval. But Dr Chambers failed to sell it — so arranged to have it returned.
"It's very, very convincing to me that his skull isn't at Holy Trinity at all," which begs the question of where the skull could be?
The epitaph reads: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones."
