In a story worthy of the greatest playwright in the English language, clergymen in England are trying to find out the truth about a long-standing rumor regarding the current location of William Shakespeare's skull - but it may be centuries until the world knows what truly happened to the bard's head.
Centuries ago, back in 1794, an English art historian by the name of Horace Walpole offered a reward of £300 to whoever brought William Shakespeare's skull to him, but when someone actually came up to him with someone's head bones, Walpole refused to abide by the deal.
According to Anglican News, now, three centuries later, an English vicar sought permission to test the DNA of what's thought to be William Shakespeare's skull, stolen from his grave centuries back and supposedly now buried in a Worcestershire church - but authorities from the Church of England have denied the petition.
The Mirror reports that the consistory court's 7,000-word ruling on the case of William Shakespeare's skull dismissed the matter entirely after claims were made regarding one skull found in the town of Redditch, saying there was no substantial evidence of any sort that would support claims that it was in fact the writer's head buried underneath the English chapel.
"While I understand we don't want people on fishing expeditions mucking about with human remains, the problem for us now is that the failure to conduct a detailed investigation will result in a higher level of uninformed speculation, whereas if we had the investigation done, then it would settle the matter once and for all," said Reverend Richard Clark, the team rector at the Redditch church in question, regarding the possibility of William Shakespeare's skull being found there.
For now, there will be no tests on the alleged William Shakespeare skull, but the investigation might be reopened in the future.
