Every nation has legends about otherworldly creatures who come into contact with people from time to time. But some of them are really sinister! There are many such entities in British folklore.
Boggarts - evil house spirits
Like brownies, boggarts live in human dwellings. But they bring only evil to people.
Boggarts hide in dark and secluded places - for example, under beds or in closets. They are also able to transform into other creatures, for example, animals or even humans.
What are the signs that you can tell if a boggart is in your house? If there are always some troubles with the inhabitants - for example, they stumble and fall out of the blue, if things move or disappear by themselves, doors and floorboards creak, food quickly deteriorates and milk turns sour, then you can be almost sure: boggart is somewhere beside!
Moving to a different home doesn't always help. Boggarts often follow their masters. They say you can't pronounce the word "boggart": these creatures hate their name and can begin to take revenge. Boggarts are difficult to banish without the help of magic.
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Jack the Lantern and the Swamp Lights
The lights appearing at dusk in the swamps are a common phenomenon, and today everyone knows that there is nothing mystical about it. But in England there has long been a belief that these are small spirits who are trying to lure travelers into the quagmire. Celtic mythology also tells about them. True, legends say that sometimes the swamp fires indicate hidden treasures.
According to another version, there was once a man named Jack. And he was very angry. Naturally, after his death, his soul went to hell. And so the Devil put a hot coal in Jack's hand, and from that time his spirit wanders through the swamps, luring people there with the help of burning coal. Jack was allegedly promised that if he lured a certain number of human souls into hell, then his own soul could finally find peace.
Guitrash luring into the thicket
The creature is legendary in rural Yorkshire. According to legend, Guitrash lies in wait for lonely travelers. He looks like a black mule, dog or horse. A distinctive feature is fiery red eyes.
The goal of the monster is to lead the oncoming person into the forest thicket. Many of the people who happened to encounter him then died.
Cutty Dire - a terrible monster from under the bridge
We are talking about a water spirit (apparently female) that lives in the rivers Yeoh or Eschborn. According to legend, Cutty Dire used to sleep under the King's Bridge in Ashburton, Devon. If children or local vagabonds suddenly descended under the bridge, Cutty dragged them under the water and drank their blood.
Once, two men from Ashburton saw a monster with red eyes, vaguely resembling a man, standing up to his waist in water. It smiled, showing sharp teeth.
True, after electric lights appeared near the bridge, they no longer heard of Cutty Dire.
Red cap - a hunter for human blood
This creature, which is supposedly found on the border between England and Scotland, is said to be either a dwarf or a goblin. It looks like a little old man in iron boots and a red hat on his head.
He has long, unwashed hair, unnaturally red eyes and oversized teeth. The fingers on the hands are too thin, but at the same time, each is crowned with a sharp curved nail, like a claw.
It is said that the Red Hood appears only at night. If he finds the corpse of a killed or wounded person, he drinks his blood. It is with the blood of these people that his cap is painted. If there are no dead, then the gnome can pounce on any traveler and beat him to death with a hammer.
Jumping Jack - Myth or Reality?
Stories about him appeared in the first half of the 19th century. Jack was described as a humanoid creature with red, shining eyes, dressed in a tight-fitting dark suit. The monster's fingers were unnaturally long and ended in sharp claws, seemingly made of steel. In front of frightened eyewitnesses, the creature made incredible jumps, for example, over the roofs of houses. But sometimes Jack attacked passers-by, breathing blue flames into their faces. He scratched women with his claws, causing them serious injuries.
Jack-Bouncy was allegedly seen until the beginning of the twentieth century. Although not all stories can be accurate. Experts believe that it was still a real creature or a real person who, for some reason, dressed up as a monster.
Black cat from Bodmin Moor
Bodmin Moor is a moorland in Cornwall surrounded by hills and swamps. There are many Neolithic monuments here. In these places, many times we met mysterious creatures. One of them is a huge black cat or panther, which was seen here about 60 times in the last century. Moreover, officially only foxes and stray dogs are found in those parts.
Some animal did regularly tear the sheep of local farmers to pieces. In 1995, there was even a government investigation in the Bodmin Moor area. The experts concluded that there are no predators here that could pose a threat to livestock. Nevertheless, the remains of killed sheep continue to be found to this day … So the line between folklore and reality is very conditional.
Author: Irina Shlionskaya