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To be honest I'm jaded by the whole thing. False leads, promises of FT articles which never materialise etc. I think I've done enough for now by maintaining the blog. I'll take a break and see if someone else can turn anything up while I concentrate on more productive research projects.
 
Another excellent blog post from the Urban Prehistorian has just been published. I think this gets nearer to the truth than anything else I've read for a long time.

We're also promised part four at some point which is definitely something to look forward to.
The Curse of Dad's Army is a fantastic joke, and all credit to Viz comic, who first came up with the idea years ago. Further proof that the Sunday Sport is a contemptible rag. Yer man seems bizarrely fond of it, though... Apart from that lapse, I'd agree it's an excellent read.
 
Hi Everyone,
Dan Craigie (Grandson of Desmond Craigie)
I haven’t taken much time over the past year to investigate this, however I have come across some information regarding Frank Hyde a dowser who was one of the last holders of he heads. It is claimed that he passed them round to several others before completely disappearing along with the heads. In my opinion and my fathers (Nigel Craigie) we are convinced that they are now in a private collectors hands or sitting in someone’s attic. I’m hoping one day to potentially get my hands on the originals as currently I have 2 copies of the heads made by my grandad to show that he was the original makers. Any information or new leads would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dan Craigie
 
@Dan Craigie
I may have tracked down some info about Frank Hyde which would be of use to you. I would post it here but my main computer's IP address has been banned by the forum for some unknown reason, so I'm having to post on my phone which isn't ideal.

I've messaged the mods to try and get my access restored. Hopefully when it is I'll get back to you, because this may be an important development which would be of interest to everyone.
 
@Dan Craigie
I may have tracked down some info about Frank Hyde which would be of use to you. I would post it here but my main computer's IP address has been banned by the forum for some unknown reason, so I'm having to post on my phone which isn't ideal.

Apologies--we'll get on that right away.
 
Big thanks to the mods for restoring my access so quickly, much appreciated.

OK, onto my Frank Hyde research. Over Christmas I did a bit of a ‘cold case’ review of the main protagonists in the story and decided to try again with Frank Hyde.

I dug around in a number of academic sources rather than the usual mainstream newspapers etc. and a biography of a person called Frank Hyde came up fairly quickly. At first I dismissed it but the more I read about him, the more I thought this is definitely our man.

In his book Paul Screeton writes what he knows about Frank Hyde:

“I found a few facts about Hyde during a 2007 intemet trawl which suggested a career in engineering and a fascination for pseudoscience. After the name F W Hyde came the letters FSE, FEng and FRAS. Born on 10 September I 909, it seems he was a consultant in technology with special attention to space exploration and space medicine. He was also a consultant in parapsychology and operating a unit of interface between man and his environment, including mysticism and related practices… The diviner lived in Kilburn, North-West London, and one evening in early February 1978, Don drove to deliver the Heads.”

My research has found someone with the full name of Frank Wilsenham Hyde who was born in 1909. He used the letters F.R.A.S. and F.R.S.A. after his name. He was a colourful member of the British Astronomical Association, who luckily published a lengthy article about him in their journal in 2018. The only difference I can find between the two Hydes is that there is no mention in the article that he lived in London at any time – this Frank Hyde was based in Essex. Other than this all of the information matches up, including the article stating that “Hyde had always been interested in paranormal activity.”

Even more curiously Hyde was reported as writing a monthly column in Practical Electronics magazine all the way up to his death in 1984. If this is our man, why are there so many claims that he was untraceable and uncontactable once he had purportedly taken possession of the Heads? The fact that this Frank Hyde died in 1984 is also another strange thing, as people said he effectively disappeared from the late 1970s onwards. He can’t have been that hard to find or his death would have gone unnoticed.

I may be getting ahead of myself with this theory but it’s an interesting one to throw out there. It could be that Frank Hyde has been hiding in plain sight all these years. If this proves to be correct there are also Hyde’s old home addresses mentioned in the journal article. Could one of these addresses be where the Heads are now?

@Dan Craigie - if you have anything more to add from your research please let me know.
 
Hi All,
From what I have read above it appears that we may all be closer to eventually locating the whereabouts of the heads. In regards to new information I have currently surfaced nothing however those Hyde links/addresses could be a major source into locating the heads. All I know is for sure that the heads were made by my grandad as we currently have 2/3 replicas that were made a short while later by my grandad as proof that he made the real ones. These are currently within my possession as the other one was passed on to the media as proof of the originals being made. It may be worth looking into that information about hyde as I hadn’t found that. I would like to finish off by thanking everyone for helping source information on this investigation and I hope that one day we can hopefully fin the heads. If anyone has anymore information feel free to contact me.
Many Thanks
Dan Craigie
 
The posts (dating back to 2002) from this other thread on the subject:

Hexham Heads & Northumberland Wolf Monsters
forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/hexham-heads-northumberland-wolf-monsters.4375/


... have now been moved into this Hexham Heads thread.
 
OK - let's re-convene here in a years time.

It's now one year later & 2 years since Stuneville wrote

It is - genuinely - in hand. I'm just finishing the final draft, which I'll then share with Colin for any last minute changes or clarifications before submission to the mag.

Did it ever appear? - I don't buy the mag any more.
 
Did it ever appear? - I don't buy the mag any more.

No it never appeared. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the finding of the heads. I'm just hoping they may be keeping something back for then, but probably not.
 
Unfortunately it didn't - entirely my fault, sudden swathe of serious RL issues and suddenly having to shift this place across an ocean. I'm currently doing two articles for the FT which will take me up to the end of November, but in January would be clear and free to start on this if all participants would be willing. The anniversary things tend to be my ballgame :) .
 
Unfortunately it didn't - entirely my fault, sudden swathe of serious RL issues and suddenly having to shift this place across an ocean. I'm currently doing two articles for the FT which will take me up to the end of November, but in January would be clear and free to start on this if all participants would be willing. The anniversary things tend to be my ballgame :) .

pull your finger out! :p
 
Hi All,
From what I have read above it appears that we may all be closer to eventually locating the whereabouts of the heads. In regards to new information I have currently surfaced nothing however those Hyde links/addresses could be a major source into locating the heads. All I know is for sure that the heads were made by my grandad as we currently have 2/3 replicas that were made a short while later by my grandad as proof that he made the real ones. These are currently within my possession as the other one was passed on to the media as proof of the originals being made. It may be worth looking into that information about hyde as I hadn’t found that. I would like to finish off by thanking everyone for helping source information on this investigation and I hope that one day we can hopefully fin the heads. If anyone has anymore information feel free to contact me.
Many Thanks
Dan Craigie
Hi Dan. Any chance of posting some photos of the replicas here?
 
In volume 77 of the Ley Hunter there's a photo of a head that Mr Craigie made and later sent to Paul Screeton (apparently he had made three to demonstrate that he had made the originals). And also of a head that curiously, synchronicitously? when ill, Leslie Robson had made for something at school (this was a few months before he moved to the house and found the heads were in the garden there).
https://www.leyhunters.co.uk/tlh.html
not sure if this has been posted before but there's something to read :)
 
I must say I do find the whole Hexham Heads saga fascinating. A good friend of mine is currently staying in Hexham for a few days as he’s looking at University spaces for his daughter (Durham possibly..?)

Anyway, my mate has a fortean side to him, but bizarrely he’s never heard of the Hexham Head case, so I sent him the very interesting and quite spooky bedtime stories episode and he loved it.

Tonight, with home office approval from his wife of course, he is going to tour the pubs of Hexham asking the what the locals think about it all.

If he gets back to me on that, I’ll post on what the locals say.
 
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