Harry Potter fans horrified to learn why Nearly Headless Nick was executed

It was not until the Harry Potter franchise was wrapped up that some more lore surrounding the magical world was revealed.

That is perhaps unsurprising considering how vast the world is and how many characters inhabit it but a recent Reddit post now gives us some gruesome details surrounding Nearly Headless Nick’s execution.

Take a trip down memory lane with the trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone below!

We meet the ghost of Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and he remains a constant presence throughout Harry’s time at Hogwarts.

As one of the castle’s many ghosts, he is quite unique as, as his name suggests, he is best known for having a head that has almost been fully decapitated. So what happened?

Well, according to user okstar63 over on r/harrypotter, there is a reason for his ghastly appearance.

“Did you know why Nearly Headless Nick was executed? I just recently found out and the story is too good not to share.” The post began.

“Apparently, he was strolling through the park on the day before Halloween with a Muggle noblewoman who had crooked teeth (this was 200 years before the Statute of Secrecy).

He told her he could fix her teeth, and the spell misfired and caused her to grow tusks instead!”

Upon discovering the “crime”, Nick was arrested and sentenced to death by beheading.

However, due to the axe being blunt, it took the executioner 45 swings before the job was done and that is why we meet Nick in the state he is in.

It is a gruesome tale to say the least and perhaps that is why it was left out of the main series.

Nonetheless, it is interesting and adds more context to a much-loved character.

It seems as though a fellow Reddit user agreed, saying, “That's actually brutal”.

For user MadameLee20, they had some further information.

“You forgot to mention that the Muggle guards took Nick's wand away as well,” they added.

A tragic tale indeed.