Peg Powler is a hag and

water spirit A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures: African Some water spirits in traditional African religion include: * Mami Wata is a transcultural pantheon of water spirits and deities of the African dia ...

English folklore English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, and folktales. Its cultural history is rooted in Celtic, Chris ...

who inhabits the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has bee ...

. Similar to the

Grindylow In English folklore, grindylow or grundylow is a creature in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire.''The Nineteenth Century and After, Volume 68'' (1910). Leonard Scott Pub. Co. p. 556. The name is thought to be connected to Grendel, a name or t ...

Jenny Greenteeth Jenny Greenteeth a.k.a. Wicked Jenny or Ginny Greenteeth is a figure in English folklore. A river- hag, similar to Peg Powler or a grindylow, she would pull children or the elderly into the water and drown them. The name is also used to desc ...

, and Nelly Longarms, she drags children into the water if they get too close to the edge. She is regarded as a

bogeyman The Bogeyman (; also spelled boogeyman, bogyman, bogieman, boogie monster, boogieman, or boogie woogie) is a type of mythic creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearance and conceptions var ...

figure who is invoked by parents to frighten children into proper behavior.Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 323–324. . The 19th century folklorist William Henderson describes Peg Powler as having green hair and "an insatiable desire for human life" and she is said to lure people into the river to drown or be devoured. The foam or froth which is often seen floating on certain parts of the Tees is called "Peg Powler's suds" or "Peg Powler's cream". A similar creature named Nanny Powler is said to haunt the River Skerne, a tributary of the Tees.

Michael Denham Michael Aislabie Denham (1801''1841 England Census'', ''1851 England Census'' – 10 September 1859) was an English merchant and collector of folklore. Life A native of Gainford, County Durham, Denham was in business at Kingston-upon-Hull in the ...

regards her as either the sister or daughter of Peg Powler.

Elliott O'Donnell Elliott O'Donnell (27 February 1872 – 8 May 1965) was an English author known primarily for his books about ghosts. He claimed to have seen a ghost, described as an elemental figure covered with spots, when he was five years old. He also claime ...

paints a somewhat different picture of Peg Powler in his 1924 book ''Ghosts, Helpful and Harmful''. He describes her as a spirit who lures men and boys to their doom in the River Tees by appearing as a beautiful young woman with green hair and pretending to drown so that her victim will enter the water in an attempt to save her. She may even appear on land on foggy nights and lead men astray until they stumble into the river. The Peg Powler myth is at the heart of the novel '' Ironopolis'' by Glen James Brown.

References

County Durham folklore English legendary characters Female legendary creatures Northumbrian folklore Water spirits Hags Bogeymen {{europe-myth-stub