Foul Facts Gallery: Terrible Tudors, Vile Victorians

Nicked

Mary Queen of Scots had a grisly time of it. She paid the executioner a purse of gold to do a good job. She may have wanted her money back! After taking off her black dress to reveal a red petticoat he blindfolded her and knelt her down with her head on the block. The axe swung down - and missed!

Well, it didn't exactly miss. He nicked the side of her neck and Mary cried out. The second chop went through the back of the neck but not all the way through. He returned to use the axe as a saw and finish the job.

But that still wasn't the end of the gruesome story. The executioner had the task of picking up the severed head and showing it to the assembled throng. Sadly, no one had told the executioner that Mary wore a wig. When he grabbed her by the hair, the head fell out of the wig and bounced across the hall. Now that's what I call Horrible History!