SpiritHidden
Peg Powler
Green hair beneath the foam.
See it clearly
- What's there
- A wide tidal river with froth on its surface
- Legend from
- Teesside nursery bogey (Henderson)
- Best time
- Foggy nights (said)
- Tone
- Eerie
Keep back from the Tees, or green-haired Peg Powler will pull you under.
Peg Powler is a hag and water spirit said to live in the River Tees, which flows past Middlesbrough. Wikipedia says she drags children into the water if they go too near the edge, and parents invoked her to frighten children into good behaviour. The 19th-century folklorist William Henderson described her with green hair and 'an insatiable desire for human life'. The froth seen on parts of the Tees is called 'Peg Powler's suds' or 'Peg Powler's cream'. Elliott O'Donnell, in 1924, described her as luring men into the river by pretending to drown, appearing as a beautiful green-haired young woman.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.