I’ve read the Charles Dickens book, A Christmas Carol, and have seen many different movie versions over the years and I always wondered why Jacob Marley had that bandage tied around his head. I don’t recall anything about him having a tooth ache.

I have seen many movie versions of A Christmas Carol where the character of Jacob Marley unties the bandage and his mouth drops open and he screams. That scene/image always scared the beejezus out of me when I was younger, even in the cartoon versions, but I could never figure out the reason why he was wearing the bandage, or why he untied it.

I haven’t read the book in many years, is there an explanation?

Topics: Christmas, spirits, ghosts, charles dickens, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, Bandages, classic novels, Jacob Marley