Ethereal Chronicles

At the end of her hunt, before the first light of dawn had the chance to streak across the sky, Black Annis would hastily retreat to her lair, scuttling away before the brightness could scald her skin. There, she waited some more, staring at her trophies hungrily, claws picking at the remnants of blood and flesh between her teeth.

If you are contemplating a twilight stroll through the Dane Hills of Leicestershire, don’t…unless you feel like crossing paths with the Bogeywoman of English folklore, Black Annis.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS

A descendent of an ancient deity, perhaps the Germanic goddess Hel or Celtic goddess Danu, Black Annis was a type of Bogeywoman, believed to have haunted Leicestershire. She was often depicted as a grotesque hag with one eye, her skin pallid and withered from lack of sunlight. Her hands were claws, extremely long and curved, while her mouth was filled with dagger-like teeth that tore through her prey.

As daylight waned, Black Annis would emerge from her refuge in the Dane Hills caves to crouch beneath a gnarled oak tree. There, she lay in wait, her presence betrayed not by sight but by the echoes of her wails and screeches reverberating across the hills.

When nightfall had reached its peak, Black Annis was ready to leave the shadows of the tree and prowl the surrounding lands. The unfortunate children who ventured too close to her domain met a grim fate. Black Annis, ravenous and resentful towards humanity for forgetting the old gods, was quick to feast upon their blood with relish, skinning them alive with her claws. Once she had picked the bones clean, Black Annis did not discard the flayed skins of her victims but used them as trophies to honour the ancient magic, hanging them with pride along the walls of her lair and pinning them to the surrounding trees.

KIDNAPPINGS

In some stories, Black Annis ventured into villages, snatching children from their homes. Simply leaving a window cracked open or a door slightly ajar was an invitation for Black Annis to steal and slaughter a child. Those who kept their doors and windows tightly sealed were forced to lay awake in terror, listening to the ghastly sound of her teeth grating together as she waited for one small draft to betray them.

AGNES SCOTT

Black Annis was not always a creature of terror. Behind her chilling tale lies the forgotten history of Agnes Scott, a medieval nun who lived in solitude in one of the Dane Hills caves and devoted her life to the care of a leper community. As the years passed after her death, her reputation soured into a cautionary tale, a horrifying legend often told to children to scare them into obedience.

REFERENCES

What is the Black Annis in English Folklore? | Mythology Planet

BBC – Leicester – Features – Tales of the Bogeywoman

‘Night Creatures; The Enchanted World‘ Time Life Books, 1985