Black Lady of Bradley Woods

Local tellings link the apparition to a bereaved woman whose husband left for war (variants name the Wars of the Roses or the Barons' Wars). In the common version enemy horsemen assaulted her and abducted her baby; heartbroken, she wandered the woods searching for husband and child. After her death she was seen continuing that never-ending search, becoming the Black Lady who haunts Bradley Woods.

Reported eyewitness descriptions depict a young, attractive woman about 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) tall wearing a flowing black cloak and a black hood that obscures her hair but reveals a pale, mournful, tear-soaked face. The figure is described as mournful and pitiful rather than overtly terrifying.

Accounts attribute no overt supernatural powers beyond being an apparition and haunting presence; she wanders and is repeatedly sighted but has not been reported to cause physical harm. Her functional behaviour in folklore is to search the woods and to provoke fear or pity in observers; parents historically invoked her to frighten children into bed.