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Black Annis

Black Annis dwells in the moors and hillsides. She is witch-like in appearance with blue skin and a single piercing eye, often described as a hideous old hag. If she captures human beings, she eats them, and she is usually reported as sitting on a pile of bones outside a cave. If human beings aren't available, she will eat sheep or deer.

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In England, Black Annis is a blue-faced hag  who lives in a cave in the Dane Hills, Leicestershire. The cave, called "Black Annis' Bower Close" was dug out of the rock with her own nails. Situated in front of it is a great oak in which she hides to leap out and catch and devour stray children and lambs. Every year on Easter Monday, it was customary to hold a drag hunt from her cave to the Mayor's house. The bait was a dead cat drenched in aniseed. The area around the Dane Hills in Leicestershire, (now built upon) was said to be haunted by a creature known as Black Annis, possibly the remnants of some pagan goddess in darker times. She took the form of a one eyed wizened crone, immensely strong with sharp tearing teeth, long black claws and a blue face. She was said to hide in a giant oak, long since felled, that was once the remnants of a great forest, which covered the area. From this lofty perch she would leap out and eviscerate unwary travellers. Although partial to all human flesh she took particular delight in eating young children, whom she flayed alive. She then hung their skins like a grisly trophy upon the walls of a cave known as Black Annis's Bower. She is said to have created the cave with her bare hands tearing through the rock with her iron claws.One can only surmise the intimidation parents used, with the horror of Black Annis looming in their children's nightmares.