The Headless Archbishop of Sudbury
Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, served from 1375 until his grisly death in 1381. Alongside King Richard II, he played a key role in implementing the poll tax, sparking the first Peasants' Revolt. Furious at this blatant exploitation, peasants set crops ablaze, freed cattle, and attacked the rich. Eventually, Sudbury was captured, held in the Tower of London, and executed by the enraged mob.
After seven swings of the axe, his head was severed, and while his body was buried at Canterbury Cathedral, his head was interred at St Gregory’s Church in Sudbury, Suffolk. Since as early as the 1500s, reports have surfaced of a headless ghost pacing around the church, desperately searching for his lost head.