Ghost Stories

Cruelly Murdered: The Strange Fate of Henry Scarle

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An Unexpected Discovery

(Image: The grave of Henry Scarle. Source: E.Holohan 2026)

I was recently in Bungay in Suffolk for the Black Shuck Festival. Bungay is famous for its supernatural history, so this was naturally the attraction for me; however, while there, I also chanced upon another story which was completely unexpected.

While in town, I walked past another church, one that isn’t so much in the limelight as the one just up the road, St Mary’s, with its demon dog association. This church is Holy Trinity Church, an ancient building with parts of it dating to late Saxon times but with considerable restoration over the years. Its 11th-century round tower is considered to be the oldest complete structure in Bungay. The tower is eye-catching with its flintwork and traces of herringbone masonry.

I love to poke around an old church and graveyard, so I decided to have a look around. Sadly, the church was closed up for refurbishment, so I couldn’t see inside. I did, however, decide to explore the exterior and graveyard. It was here among the gravestones that one inscription immediately caught my attention. The stone didn’t simply record a name and date; it said the man buried beneath had been murdered.

The Grave of Henry Scarle.

The headstone is unassuming and weathered, yet remarkably well preserved considering its age. Lichen obscures some of the inscription but the name Henry Scarle stands out in large letters. It was the words beneath his name that really caught my attention: cruelly murdered.

The full inscription is as follows:

“To the memory of Henry Scarle, who was valued when alive, and regretted now dead, cruelly murdered at Wheatacre Burgh, on the 10th February, 1787, in the 23rd year of his age: honest and industrious men were never known to commit such a horrid crime as this.”

My interest was piqued. Who was Henry Scarle? How was he murdered? And why had his violent death been recorded on his gravestone?

Henry Scarle was a 23 year old man employed as a waterman by the owner of the Bungay Staithe Navigation, a man called Matthias Kerrison. Scarle’s job was to handle the boats that transported corn, wood and other goods along the River Waveney and the surrounding waterways between the many towns and villages.

The Murder

In 1787, Scarle was with one of the wherries he’d moored in Wheatacre Burgh Staithe (now known as Burgh St Peter), when he discovered two men planning to rob the cargo. According to later accounts of the murder, that night he watched and waited for the robbers, but sadly they spotted him first, grabbed him violently, and bludgeoned him to death before hurling his lifeless body into the river.

His assailants fled, while Scarle’s body was later found floating in the river. They were eventually apprehended at Botesdale, a Suffolk village south-west of Diss, reportedly fleeing towards London. They were then taken to Norwich Castle Gaol.

The murderers were identified as William Hawk and Thomas Mayhew. Hawk was a Beccles man and a miller by trade, while Mayhew was a local man from Bungay and a waterman like his victim Scarle. Mayhew had previously robbed Mr Kerrison, Scarle’s employer, of some corn. Both were tried at Norwich and found guilty of the murder of young Henry Scarle on the 29th of March that year. Simon Stannard was also accused as an accomplice, but was later acquitted and therefore dodged the noose. Hawk and Mayhew were hanged the following day, on 30th March 1787.

The Strange Fate of Henry Scarle’s Body

(Image: Three Tuns Pub. Source: E.Holohan 2026)

Henry Scarle’s employer, Matthias Kerrison, was said to be an enterprising man when it came to making money. According to later accounts, after his employee’s death, he realised he could profit from this situation and had his body exhibited on a bier in the Assembly Rooms at one of the local Bungay pubs, the Three Tuns. It is said he advertised this event as “a penny a peep” and many people from far and wide queued up to view the victim’s corpse. This must have been a horrendous and gruesome sight, as poor Henry Scarle had been beaten to death before his body was thrown into the river, where it remained for some time before being found. According to the story, the money raised from the viewings was used by Kerrison to respectfully bury the young man and to erect the gravestone that still stands in Holy Trinity churchyard to this day.

From Murder Victim to Ghost?

The Three Tuns pub, where Scarle’s body is said to have been exhibited, still stands in the centre of Bungay. The pub has since acquired quite a reputation for being haunted.  In 1969, one paranormal investigator reportedly claimed that they had identified 24 different ghosts there,  including highwayman Tom Hardy and Rex Bacon, who is said to have hanged himself at the top of the stairs there in 1682. I am sure you won’t be surprised to hear that another troubled spirit that is said to haunt the Three Tuns is that of our very own sad Henry Scarle.

A Story Hidden in a Churchyard

(Image: Holy Trinity Church, Bungay. Source: E.Holohan)

I had gone to Bungay for the Black Shuck Festival and certainly hadn’t expected to come away researching the murder of a young waterman who died more than 200 years ago.

What started with an interesting inscription on an old gravestone led me to a brutal murder, the rather macabre tale of Henry’s body being put on public display, and finally the suggestion that he may still haunt the very pub where his body was exhibited.

Whether Henry Scarle really does haunt the Three Tuns is another matter, but his story is certainly a fascinating and rather sad piece of Bungay’s history. It also shows exactly why I can never resist having a poke around an old churchyard. You really don’t know what stories you might stumble across.

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    Classic Gothic Horror Movie Picks

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    A Little Fright for your Night!

    This first appeared in Snippets Online Magazine from Cut Out + Keep: The Gothic Edition 31/10/2018

    Gothic horror and Gothic romance movies are once again gaining popularity following the release of series such as ‘Penny Dreadful’, ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ and recent movies such as Crimson Peak. These movies usually contain motifs such as death, love, sexual repression, and jealousy, and are often centred around a large house where ghosts haunt. These ghosts may be real or imagined. Often there is a love triangle or unnatural relationship element, and a climactic plot twist at the end. These movies tend to be sumptuous and beautifully shot, heightening the sense of unease and terror in the viewer.

    Here is a selection of some of the classic Gothic horror movies for you to consider watching:

    Rebecca (1940)

    Rebecca is one of the definitive Gothic horror movies. Alfred Hitchcock and producer David O. Selznick brought this haunting adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s literary Gothic classic to the big screen: the first Hollywood movie for Hitchcock.

    Joan Fontaine stars as the innocent and child-like unnamed second Mrs de Winter; our heroine. Laurence Olivier plays the brooding and stern Maxim de Winter, who sweeps his new bride off her feet and brings her to live at Manderley, an imposing mansion on a hill. Judith Anderson plays the sinister housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, who will do anything to disrupt the life of the new Mrs de Winter.

    The memory of Maxim’s first wife Rebecca, and her mysterious death haunts Manderley and impinges on the happiness of the newlyweds. All the Gothic elements are there: a looming mansion, haunting memories of the past, portraits of those who are now dead, portentous dreams, and winding staircases.

    Rebecca’s perversity contrasts with the new Mrs de Winter’s innocence in the Gothic film masterpiece.

    The Innocents (1963)

    The Innocents is based on the novella, ‘The Turn of the Screw’ by Henry James. Deborah Kerr plays Miss Giddens, the temperamental and sexually repressed governess of two adopted orphans. Miss Giddens comes to Bly House, a brooding and gloomy mansion, to watch over her new little charges.

    The children’s behaviour becomes increasingly more unusual, and gradually Giddens comes to believe that the children are possessed by the depraved spirits of two former servants: a valet and the previous governess. The two were once lovers, and Giddens believes they are continuing their wicked love affair through the children.

    The superb cinematography and eerie set join to create the suggestion that there are things lurking just beyond the range of vision; creating a feeling of dread and unease.

    The Innocents contains Gothic themes of repressed sexual desire, memories of the past influencing the present, depravity, and death. You are left wondering if it was real or all in the mind of Miss Giddens.

    The Others (2001)

    In The Others, Nicole Kidman plays our neurotic and ethereal protagonist, Grace, who resides in a dark, creepy old mansion with her two young children and servants. The children’s photosensitive condition means they must always stay indoors, exposed to nothing more than candlelight.

    Grace and her children begin to notice eerie goings-on in the house; piano music coming from an empty locked music room, the trembling of a chandelier, and visits from a child ghost named Victor. The themes of this movie include obsessive parental love, death, tragedy, grief, and guilt.

    There is an expert twist at the end, and although all the signs are there, the viewer does not see it coming. This is a movie that warrants a second viewing to pick up the subtleties and clues that may have been missed at first.

    The Changeling (1980)

    The Changeling is an underrated Gothic horror gem of a movie. George C. Scott plays composer John Russell, who has recently lost his wife and child during a horrible accident he witnessed. This tragedy haunts him and leaves him vulnerable and susceptible to believing his new home may be haunted by long-dead occupants. The unquiet spirit searches for peace through contacting Russel, our stoic and practical protagonist, who uncovers the truth behind its demise.

    This movie, set in the late 1970s, manages to include all the traditional Gothic horror essentials: a creepy old house, séances, dark dusty attics, mysterious noises, unsafe staircases, nightmares, a haunted wheelchair, and spooky children’s toys.

    Although a little dated, The Changeling remains a genuinely terrifying movie steeped in mourning and sadness.

    Crimson Peak (2015)

    In Crimson Peak, Edith Cushing, played by Mia Wasikowska, is an aspiring writer and the daughter of an American industrialist. Edith is seduced by the charms of Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), an English aristocrat who has travelled to the USA to secure funding for an invention to help finance his family’s mine.

    Despite Edith’s father’s reservations and untimely death, she marries Sharpe and is swept away to England to live with him and his domineering, icy sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) in their towering Gothic mansion.

    It is here that the new Mrs Sharpe encounters the terrifying spirits of the mansion who warn her of sinister goings on, which she must eventually uncover. Crimson Peak plays on the traditional Gothic horror tropes: portraits of people long dead, creaking staircases, unquiet spirits, treacherous staircases, blood red clay soaking snow, and fluttering moths. This film also contains strong,g horrific elements that stem from that which we do not see.

    Themes heavily emphasised in this film are unnatural relationships, jealousy, death, decay, and the destruction of innocence. Crimson Peak is a beautifully shot film and a modern classic Gothic horror romance film that should not be missed.

    The Haunting (1963)

    The Haunting is a 1960s adaptation of Shirley Jackon’s novel, “The Haunting of Hill House”. Parapsychologist Dr Markway, played by Richard Johnson, invites a handful of recruits to explore a haunted mansion with him, and conduct paranormal experiments.

    Julie Harris plays the main character, spinster ‘Nell’, who is neurotic, sheltered,d and sexually repressed. She is counterbalanced by the self-confident and domineering Theodora, played by Claire Bloom.

    Nell, Markway and the other recruits gradually learn the secrets of the house and experience its eerie occupants. Nell is emotionally frail and appears vulnerable to the powers of the house, which does not want to let her go. The manifestations in the house also appear to mirror Nell’s own neuroses and psychic assault on herself.

    The cinematography of this movie adds to the unease, creating a terrifyingly atmospheric psycho-horror treat, and although the style is a bit dated and some of the acting verges on hammy, this only adds to the film’s charm.

    What are your top Gothic horror movie picks? Please comment below.

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