Black Lady of Bradley Woods

[1] She appears dressed in black, and certainly at nearby Nunsthorpe (now a suburb of Grimsby), there was a convent until the Reformation.

This theory gives no reason as to why the Black Lady should have moved from Nunsthorpe to Bradley Woods, 2 miles (3 km) away.

Another possible explanation is that she was a spinster who at one time lived a life of isolation in her cottage in the woods far enough away from the village.

If village children had come across a woman living on her own in the woods, who became angry when her privacy and solitude was breached, then imaginary tales of witchcraft could have exaggerated the legend.

As she was leaving her cottage, the woman was set upon by three horsemen who brutally raped her before snatching the baby boy and riding off laughing into the woods.