Black Annis

Black Annis, also Black Agnes, is a bugbear of British folk tales, which is due to the Celtic origin.

Legend

Black Annis is described as blaugesichtiges old woman with iron- hard claws and a taste for human, but especially children meat. Also known as cat she should have been seen. In particular, she should deal in Leicestershire, where she lives in a cave in the Dane Hills, a region west of the city of Leicester. The entrance to her lair, the Black Annis Bower ( "Black Annis ' bower " ) is called, is evident from an ancient oak. With its iron claws she has dug the cave itself. The legend of the cave was held for the first time in writing in the 18th century.

In the night she roams around in search of unsuspecting children and lambs, they shredded with the claws and eats, hangs her skin in the trees and later wears on her belt. Also, they should penetrate into homes to make there booty. The figure of the Black Annis is therefore used by parents as Drohgespenst to bring bad kids to obey.

A similarity with the Welsh Gwrach, the Scottish Gentle Annie and the Irish sagas figures of Anu, Danu, Banshee and Cailleach is given. A linguistic connection with the annealing, an ancient Gallic mother goddess, is also possible.

The historian Ronald Hutton (born 1954 ), however, suggested a real person behind the legend, namely Agnes Scott, a medieval hermit and Dominican nun from the Dane Hills, which was reinterpreted in the time of the Glorious Revolution as a witch.