Black Annis of the Dane Hills
Leicester children were warned of a blue-faced hag with iron claws who lived in a cave in the Dane Hills and came out at dusk.
What was reported
Black Annis is a figure of English folklore from Leicester: a hag with a blue face and long iron claws, said to live in a cave, Black Annis' Bower, that she scratched out of the rock in the Dane Hills, on the city's western edge. At dusk she was said to prowl the countryside for lambs and children who strayed too far from home.
An oak tree once stood by the cave, and some tellings say she hid in its branches to pounce. A 'Black Annis' hare hunt was held each Easter Monday in the area until the 18th century.
Explanations offered
Folklorists see her as a bogeyman figure told to keep children close to home. Some link her to Agnes Scott, a 15th-century anchoress who lived in a cell nearby, or to older goddess figures, though neither link is certain. The cave and the hills have long since been built over.
- When
- Told since at least the 1700s
- Where
- Dane Hills, Leicester, England
- Witnesses
- Leicester tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.