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Black Annis

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A blue-faced hag from English folklore who lives in a cave and devours children

Detailed Definition
Black Annis haunts Leicestershire hills, scraping victims with iron claws. She embodies maternal terror and wilderness danger. In poetry, she represents primal fear, the devouring feminine, and societal anxieties about child safety, often used in gothic or cautionary verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
Black Annis, the English bogeywoman, haunts cautionary verse: "Black Annis claws the oak’s dark heart—stay indoors when sun departs"; Poets use her to explore maternal fear: "She stole the child who wandered far—Black Annis keeps what careless hands lose"; In feminist reinterpretations, she reclaims wild femininity: "Not monster, but crone—Black Annis guards the forest’s ancient law"; Her blue skin and iron claws symbolize untamed nature: "Blue as storm, sharp as frost—Black Annis claims what men have lost"
Additional Notes
Black Annis: A fearsome hag from English folklore (Leicestershire), said to live in a cave, wear a girdle of human skin, and prey on children and livestock. Possibly derived from ancient goddess worship or Christian demonization of pagan figures. In poetry, she evokes primal fear, maternal inversion, or landscape-as-threat. Related to other British bogeywomen like Jenny Greenteeth; effective in dark pastoral or feminist horror verse.
Also Known As
Black Annis of Leicester Annis
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