Locally there used to be a cave, called Black Annis’ Bower, and it was believed to be inhabited by a savage, bedraggled, and scary woman, with blue skin, great pointy teeth and long, sharp nails.
When the local children went out to play they were warned that Black Anna, this horrible old hag with blue skin, would snatch and devour them. To be caught by Black Anna would mean being scratched to death, sucked dry of blood, and having your skin hung up to dry; later to be worn around her waist as a skirt.
You could hear her howling from five miles away, and some said you could hear her grinding her teeth as she approached; giving people time to lock their doors and move away from their windows, which were hung with protective herbs. It is said that the cottages of Leicestershire were built with one small window so that she could only get one arm inside.
“Tis said the soul of mortal man recoiled,
To view Black Annis' eye, so fierce and wild,
Vast talons, foul with human flesh, there grew,
In place of hands, and features livid blue,
Glared in her visage, whilst her obscene waist,
Warm skins of human victims close embraced.
Not without terror they the cave survey,
Where hung the monstrous trophies of her sway,
'Tis said that in the rock large rooms were found,
Scooped with her claws beneath the flinty ground.”
By the end of the 19th century the story had changed somewhat. She was instead known as Cat Anna, and was thought to be a witch living in the cellars under Leicester Castle. She was said to run along underground tunnels from the castle to the Dane Hills, the area where her cave was situated, on the lookout for lambs and small children to snatch.
There are lots of theories about Black Annis. Some say this story is based on an actual woman named Agnes Scott, a hermit of the forest, who died in 1455. It has also been suggested that she represents Anu the Celtic Goddess, or the Cailleach Bheur; the blue hag of the Highlands. For others she is a dark aspect of the Goddess, or the Crone. For others she is partner to the Leicester Bel; Annis being Samhain to Bel’s Beltane.
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