Black Annis is a scary entity of English folklore, believed to live inside a cave within the Dane Hills of Leicestershire. A frightening blue faced hag with sharp teeth and long razor fingernails, who loves eating human flesh. She's often said to linger around isolated lanes, roads and paths at night looking for victims. She prays on children and young animals. Sometimes she hides up in the branches of trees so that no one can see her waiting for them. College windows were made small to prevent her from entering or trying to reach inside and grab a victim. Cottages and houses put up herbs around the doors and windows to protect themselves from her.
It's also believed she shape-shifted into the form of a cat, called Cat Anna, so she could travel from the Dane Hills to an underground tunnel leading to Leicestershire castle's cellar. So there was an old local custom on Easter Monday (also called Black Monday), of soaking a dead cat in aniseed, then dragging it in front of dogs on a gruesome trek, starting from the witch's cave to the mayor of Leicestershire.
Personal experience: As a child of eight, I had a nightmare of a witch walking through a wood. The wind was howling, and it was a small wind that happened only where the witch walked. She was very tall and she wore long grey robes. She had long matted red hair, but most scary of all were her extremely long fingernails.
Blood Strawberry
