WITCHES have resurfaced in a city centre graveyard hundreds of years after they were hanged.

Teeth, pieces of skull and a rib bone were found outside St Andrew’s Church in Newgate Street, Newcastle, by workers when they dug a ditch as part of work to light the churchyard.

Now people are wondering whether the bones could be cursed after one worker found sores and scabs on his arm after picking up part of a skull.

The remains are believed to be those of “witches” buried in a pit in the churchyard after they were hanged on the Town Moor.

Church caretaker Bill Atkinson said the bones keep on resurfacing, especially after rain. He said: “We had lights put up around the church and they dug a ditch and found bits of skulls and bones.

“One of the guys who was working on the ditch picked up a piece of a skull and excitedly showed it to everyone. There is no way I would touch any of them.

“The next day he had sores and scabs on his arms. He went to the doctor’s and he didn’t know what it was.

“Every time it rains it washes the soil away and more bones come to the surface.”

According to the St Andrew’s burial register, there are around 16 witches and one wizard buried in the graveyard. They were hanged on August 21, 1650, on the Town Moor.

Bill said: “Back then, for anyone who was different, like a herbalist or someone who just looked different, even if you had an argument with your neighbour, there was a danger someone would accuse you of being a witch.

“Each person was paid a guinea if that person was proved to be a witch. That is about £1.10, which was a lot of money back then.

“Then they would be hanged on the Town Moor before hundreds of people. Then they were thrown into a pit in the churchyard.

“I have always thought there were lots of spirits around here.”

Between 1560 and 1650 hundreds of witchcraft trials took place across the country – but the trials did not question whether witchcraft existed.

A spokesman at Newcastle City Council said: “St Andrew’s churchyard is an extremely important historical site in the heart of the city and is one of our oldest closed churchyards, dating from the 12th Century.

“We’re extremely sceptical as to how it could be proved that these are witches’ bones. However, we will be in contact with the church to discover more about what has been found.”