Black Lady of Bradley Woods

Bradley Wood is just outside the village of Bradley, a small village that is located a few miles out from Grimsby. If you drive halfway down the Bradley road you will come across two wooded areas; one called Dixon Woods and the other is of course Bradley Woods and here lies the legend of The Black Lady of Bradley Wood.

During the times of the War of the Roses or otherwise known as the Barons' Wars lived a family out in Bradley Woods, the father who was a young woodsman, his wife and their child. The woodsman had to leave one day to go fight in the war leaving behind his wife and child, and after many months had passed there was no news on his return leading the wife to think that he had been killed. On a dark cloudy morning, soldiers from the opposing army had crossed enemy territory and a few of them had entered Bradley Woods. They came across the woman who was weeping alone in her house, they wanted money and drink from her but she refused so they beat her and did other brutally awful things to her before snatching the child and leaving.

The day this took place was said to be on New Years Day and after this incident the woman was a totally different person. Mourning the loss of her child and what had happened to her, she from that day on dressed in black from head to toe. She continued to search the nearby woods to see if she could find her child but she it was all in vain. Black reminded her of the sky that morning and she did this to make herself angry and get revenge on not just the people that had done this to her but anyone that crossed her path, especially those with a smile on their face.

Surprisingly one afternoon her husband had returned from war, opening the door with a huge smile on his face but that quickly disappeared. The girl he once loved was no more, she sat in the dark covered in dirt while muttering revenge on everyone, she barely recognised her husband who asked where their child was and when he found out everything he was totally heartbroken. She blamed him for what had happened claiming if he never left then all of this wouldn't of taken place, he sadly blamed himself also. Trying to hold his wife and say he was sorry she in a fit of rage stabbed him in the abdomen and as he lay on the ground trying to say how sorry he was she shouted how much she hates him before watching him bleed out.

Over the years this legend became more well known amongst people living in the village of Bradley and some saying that if you go into the woods and say the words "Black Lady, Black Lady I've stolen your baby!" then she appears but as with all legends no one had ever seen the lady, well that was until recently where two teenage girls wandered into the woods to see if they could call out this lady and to their surprise they had got their wish.

They had heard about the local legend from a history lesson at school and took an interest in it, so they went out to pursue what they had heard about. They reached the house that the woman had lived in, which was now completely rundown and all that lived there was the rats and spiders that came in for some shelter. They both stood at the door entrance and said the supposed words that would summon the lady but no luck, they tried again but nothing, the sky started to get dark all of a sudden and the girls were about to leave. One of them said the saying one last time as they were about to walk away when in front of them a dark shadow appeared.

The shadow figure morphed into a lady who blathered out the words "You stole my baby now I steal you young lady". The girls ran away into the woods but the shadowy figure kept hovering behind them, the sound of terrifying girls screaming and the constant breaking of twigs they ran over had alerted some passers by. They came to the aid of one girl but the other one was missing, she cried for them to find her but they searched the woods endlessly and there was no sign of her ever being there. She was never found again and is put down as a mystery disappearance.

It's true that many have tried to summon The Black Lady of Bradley Woods and have failed but the thing is not all have tried  on the day her life was destroyed, the correct location and the exact time. If you want to see this lady then go to Bradley Woods on New Years Day, stand in her entrance way of her home at around the time of 5.20 pm and when the sky gets dark say the words "Black Lady, Black Lady I've stolen your baby" but you may not ever come back!!!!!