Black Annis: The Witch of Leicestershire
The Dane Hills Hag
Black Annis is a being found in English folklore, who persists in tales which continue to strike fear in those with a dark imagination. She is also referred to as Black Agnes, or Black Anna. She is said to wander the English countryside at night, searching for sustenance.
This hag or witch dwells within a cave in the Dane Hills, and the light of the moon illuminates her long, iron claws and blue face as she ventures out to hunt. Sustenance for her is human flesh, and the flesh of children is her preferred meal. Her cave is adorned with the bones of the children she has consumed.
Stories of Black Annis have frightened the people of Leicestershire, a small area in the English midlands, for centuries. It is said that the windows of the homes in the area were intentionally built very small to prevent the flesh-hungry hag from peering inside to choose her prey, or so that she could not fit more than one arm inside as she reached in to snatch up the unsuspecting children. The chattering of her teeth as she stalks through the night can be heard throughout the countryside, giving villagers a warning to bolt their doors and stay hidden in their homes.
Black Annis’s taste for the flesh of children has been used by parents as a reason to keep their young ones in their home, and…
