The Black Lady of Bradley Woods

The Black Lady of Bradley Woods

The Black Lady of Bradley Woods is a ghost which reportedly haunts the woods near the village of Bradley, Lincolnshire, England.




Eye witnesses described as being young and pretty, tall, and dressed in a black cloak and and a  hood that covers  her hair but reveals her mournful, pale, tear-soaked face.

Legends says she has never harmed anyone.

The story has been told for generations, mostly to scare the children.

There were different theories,

One theory was she was the ghost of a nun. 

She appears dressed in black and at nearby Nunsthorpe  a convent existed until the Reformation.

But the description of eye witnesses doesn't match an appearance of a nun.

Another theory was

She was a witch, and  she was living in her cottage isolated in the woods, she was getting angry and scaring kids if they breach her privacy.


Neither of these theories ties in with the folklore.


During the War of Roses, a young woodsman, his wife & his son lived there in the cottage., he eventually went to war leaving his family behind.

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When there were no news for many months she took her baby out and waiting for her husband to come home,  until the day the enemy army attacked Lincolnshire. 

She was raped by the enemy army. They snatched her son.

After that incident wandered around looking for her child and her husband...

After her death people started to have a sightings of her wandering around the woods, looking for son and husband.


According to rumours if someone shouts out "Black Lady, Black Lady, I've stolen your baby!" three times the Lady appears to them to take back her child on Christmas Eve.