Most of the nursery rhyme lyrics and songs we know have been around for centuries. Even though the melody might be relaxing and the lyrics catchy, there are some creepy and dark nursery rhyme meanings behind them that we didn’t expect.

Yes, that fictional grande dame of kiddie poems has got a bit of a dark streak, as evidenced by the unexpectedly sinister theories surrounding the origins of these 10 well-known nursery rhymes.

To unpick the meanings behind the rhymes is to be thrust into a world not of sweet princesses and cute animals but of messy clerical politics, religious violence, sex, illness, murder, spies,...

The sweet melodies of these beloved nursery rhymes mask grisly tales of murder, sex, and death.

Growing up, we were bombarded with nursery rhymes that we recited happily, oblivious to the fact that a lot of these cutesy poems have really dark meanings.