Britain's Legendary Creatures & Cryptids

Having grown up in the UK, from my experience, myths and folklore are not really something prioritised on the school curriculum. I can remember learning some simple Greek and Egyptian stories but that's about it really. The vast range of folklore across the British Isles was never really explored, at least not until much later when you could do your own reading and you start to see its influences in all sorts of fiction. Today I'll be focusing on the stories and legends of England, but no need to worry Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all deserving of their own videos. In store today we have tales of swamp hags, demon dogs, giant slayers and a pair of hairy hands. Sorry, murderous ghostly hairy hands. There is a difference, stick around and you may just find out. Before we go any further, a quick word from today's sponsor, Masterworks. From 1995 all the way until last year, contemporary art has had an annual appreciation of 13.6%, whereas the S&P 500 sits at about 9.6%. So why don't more people invest in contemporary art you may be asking? Well, the barrier to entry has always been rather steep. The average person can't afford to buy paintings worth millions. However, with Masterworks it is now possible to invest in some of the world's most iconic pieces of artwork. Their research team determines which artists markets have the most momentum and purchase the art pieces at a fair price. The shares for the art pieces are then made available for anyone wishing to invest. The painting is held anywhere between 3-10 years and then sold, which is when you receive your portion of the sale. Alternatively you can sell your shares on the secondary market to someone else before the painting is sold. Getting started with Masterworks is as simple as signing up to the website which only takes a few clicks. You then have access to their entire database so you can do your own research, as well as having assistance from their expert team that will ensure you have a diverse portfolio. There is currently a waiting list, however you can bypass this and start investing today by using my link in the description. It also goes a long way in supporting the channel. Stories of dangerous spirits and creatures lurking around the lakes and riverbeds across England are fairly common. There is the Grendilo, small green humanoids who stalk the riverbeds for children to drown. There is also Peg Prowler who does the same thing but disguised as an old hag. But the worst of these is Jenny Greenteeth who does not discriminate and drowns both the young and the elderly. Jenny is also known as Ginny or Wicked Jenny and her stories exist predominantly around the north of England, around Liverpool, Lancashire and the surrounding counties. Her name refers to the green tint of her skin and her razor sharp teeth. The easiest way to describe Jenny is as a river or swamp hag, the bogeyman or bogeywoman of the lakes and rivers. Children were warned to stay away from dangerous bodies of water otherwise Jenny would find them and drag them in. Jenny could blend into her surroundings so well she was essentially invisible to the naked eye. What may seem like an ordinary stagnant pond may have a nightmarish hag waiting under the surface. She was also used as a way to scare children into brushing their teeth. If you didn't keep them clean, well Jenny would find you. So brushing your teeth not only helps you avoid cavities and other dental issues but it may also stop you being drowned by an old hag who also happens to have horrendous teeth. Absolute Hypocrite Jenny herself is closely associated with bodies of water surrounded and covered by duckweed which can make the water seem like solid ground and is rather dangerous for anyone, particularly children who are unaware. Stories like this are the perfect example of folklore and its purpose. Yes these stories can be interesting and sometimes scary but they also have a greater purpose or moral behind them. Our next legend is one you may be familiar with without exactly hearing his story. Jack the Giant Killer This is a great one for me because growing up Jack and the Beanstalk was easily one of my favourite fairy tales. This story takes place during the reign of King Arthur. Our main character Jack is the son of a Cornish farmer. Jack is smart and strong, destined to be more than just a farmer like his father, not that there's anything wrong with being a farmer, Jack just wanted something more adventurous. One day he came across the giant Cormoran who was known to the farmers because of his taste for livestock. He wisely decided against a confrontation. Later when he went into town he overheard members in the town hall talking about the giant and so Jack spoke up inquiring about what type of reward he would be given. They looked at Jack and scoffed. The giant's treasure shall be your reward and so Jack accepted. Knowing he couldn't fight the giant head on he took a shovel, a horn and a pickaxe over to where he last saw Cormoran. During the night he took the shovel and began to dig a hole. By the morning he had created a pit trap over 20 feet deep which he covered with sticks and straw to disguise the hole. He placed himself on one side of the trap and began to blow his horn. With the ground shaking the giant labored over. Why are you blowing that horn so loud while I sleep? I'm going to boil your bones for breakfast. The giant ran towards Jack and fell into the pit trap leaving only his head exposed. Now with the playing field even Jack took his pickaxe and killed Cormoran. Shortly after he found the giant's treasure and once the town magistrates had heard of his victory he was dubbed Jack the Giant Slayer and given a sword and a belt. Hearing of Cormoran's demise another giant Blunderbore vowed vengeance against this newly crowned giant slayer. Blunderbore was known for kidnapping lords and ladies, eating the men and taking the women for wives. He would eat the husbands in front of the wives and if they refused to join in on this twisted feast then he would take them and hang them by their hair in his dungeon until they starved. Not a very pleasant fellow as you can imagine. Jack exhausted from his travels stopped for a drink and a rest at a nearby town. Whilst asleep unfortunately Jack is found by Blunderbore who takes him back to his castle and throws him in his dungeon. Excited about his new find Blunderbore invited another giant to his castle so they could feast on Jack together. In this time however Jack manages to escape the dungeon and with some rope he fashions two nooses. When the giants arrived he tied the rope to a wooden beam. He then slid down and threw the nooses over the giants. Distracted by the ropes around their necks Jack was able to swing across and slice their throats with his sword. Jack then freed all of the women being held captive in Blunderbore's castle. In Wales Jack met a two headed giant who offered him a room for the night. However Jack was weary of the giants intentions and so he placed a pile of wood under his bedsheets and left the room. The giant believing Jack was asleep entered his room and with his enormous club smashed the bed into pieces. Hearing the cracking of the wood he was convinced he had broken all of Jack's bones and returned to his room satisfied. The next morning Jack walked into the giants room to thank him for his hospitality. Perplexed as to how Jack was still alive he asked him if he felt anything during the night to which Jack replied merely a rat slapping me with his tail. The giant took offence. On the table were two bowls of fresh porridge. Before leaving Jack challenged him to an eating contest and the giant accepted. Jack pretended to pour the porridge into his mouth however it went straight into a bag inside of his coat pocket. When the giant tried to do the same the porridge burnt his throat. He then told the giant he could perform a trick that the giant could not possibly copy. He took his knife and stabbed himself in the stomach slicing open the bag of porridge. The giant believing Jack had just sliced open his own belly was sick and tired of being outstaged by him. He took the knife and plunged it into his own stomach shortly after dropping dead. Jack had succeeded in making the giant slay himself and so he continued on with his journey. Soon after he came across King Arthur's son to whom he pledged his servitude. As Jack continued his duties he would be crowned a knight of the round table, the knight who was known for killing giants. Black Anise or Black Agnes is another bogeyman type figure spoken of in the English Midlands. Anise was also known as the cannibal hag who lived in a cave in the Dane Hills in Leicestershire. At the base of this cave was a great oak tree that she would hide in waiting for children to pass by so she could devour them. She was described as an unusually tall blue-faced hag with long iron claws who feeds off the flesh of children. Parents would warn their children, If you do not behave then Black Anise will come for you at night when you lay in your bed. At night she stalks the fields, slaying lambs and wearing their skin around her waist, using the branches of oak trees to conceal herself as she ventures closer to nearby houses. She would enter houses through the windows and snatch children away. Legend says that houses in Leicestershire were built with smaller windows than usual to make it as hard as possible for Anise to enter, however she could still reach inside with her long arms. To stop this households would fasten animal skin across their windows and place witch herbs above and beneath the windows to keep Anise away. Her origin stories are slightly confusing, there are Greek, Egyptian and Mesopotamian theories thrown in there as well as the Celtic Mother Goddess Anu also known as Danu. There are some however who argue the legend of Anise was inspired by Agnes Scott, a nun who was known for caring for the nearby leper colony. She also lived inside of a cave in the churchyard. Historian Ronald Hutton believes over time her image became distorted into a secluded hag that would be used to scare children into behaving themselves. This modern image was then popularised through a poem written by John Hayrick. To said the soul of mortal man recoiled To view black Anise's 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 To said that in the rock large rooms were found Scooped with her claws beneath the flinty ground To this day Black Anise still serves as a bogeyman figure although the similarity in name to the Goddess Anu has caused a moderate amount of interest from Wiccan groups who believe she is the personification of Anu in crone form. The Black Shuck is one of the many black dogs or hellhounds found across the British Isles. Stories of the Black Shuck are most common in East Anglia, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. Its name derives from its appearance as a large shaggy black dog that also has a rather ghostly aura. Shuck itself came from the old English meaning devil or fiend hence why when it's first mentioned by ES Taylor it is referred to as Shuck the Dog Fiend. This phantom I have heard many persons in East Norfolk and even Cambridgeshire describe as having seen a black shaggy dog with fiery eyes and of immense size and who visits churchyards at midnight. One witness nearly fainted away at seeing it. The name appears to be a corruption of Shag as Shucky is the Norfolk dialogue for Shaggy. Is not this the vestige of the German Dog Fiend? What Taylor was discussing here were the sightings of large black dogs during the night at roadsides, cemeteries and churchyards. These claims were never substantiated however there isn't a large pool of animals that could have been confused for a black dog the size of a horse. Another origin for these stories goes back to the Vikings who settled on the Norfolk coast. They told stories of a black hound that belonged to the god Odin, others claimed it was the war hound of Thor but I've never seen any of these mentioned in any of the Norse sagas. It's fiery red eyes are sometimes described as just one big red eye in the middle of it's head like a cyclops. If you are unfortunate enough to see it's eye it is considered a sign or warning that your death is only one year away. The black Shuck still remains a mystery and is even still referenced to this day. The last legend today is also perhaps the weirdest. In the county of Devon there is a stretch of road in Dartmoor that is haunted by a ghost however it is no ordinary ghost. The stories call them the unseen hands or more commonly the hairy hands. A pair of hands that suddenly appear to those driving down this road. The hands grab the steering wheel of the victims car and try to cause them to veer off road and crash. Over the years many accidents and deaths were attributed to these mysterious hands. Some claim that they saw the hands and others say they were invisible but they felt an uneasy presence in their car. The 1920s saw a steep rise in these sightings. In 1921 the newspapers published a story that became nationwide news. A man stated that a pair of invisible hands had taken control of him and forced him to crash his motorcycle. In 1924 a woman camping with her husband saw a pair of hands enter her caravan late at night. After making the sign of a cross the hands quickly left the scene. The hairy hands are certainly strange but given how dangerous it may have been driving on some of these winding and poorly lit roads cautionary tales similar to the hairy hands do make some sense, kind of. Hopefully you've enjoyed this one, let me know which of today's stories were your favourite. As always I've been your host Mythology and Fiction Explained