2 cases of spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage due to tumors of the cauda equina are reported. In both cases the existence of cephalic meningeal signs first suggested an intracranial pathology and diagnostic procedures were performed in this direction. Only when these examinations were negative was a lesion of the cauda equina suspected. The lesion was located by myelogram and was diagnosed, after surgical removal, as a schwannoma and an ependymoma. The syndrome of spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage involves spinal symptoms and signs resembling violent lumbar and radicular pain with a hemorrhagic cerebrospinal fluid, in association with symptoms of intracranial origin such as headache and meningism. Lumbar and radicular pain preceding the headaches, and an unaltered level of consciousness, point to the rare syndrome of spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage.