Everyday Canvas

An Urban Legend Echoed Worldwide

Prompt: Using an urban legend, write your opinion on what you find entertaining or unsettling.

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The Black Lady of Bradley Woods is the belief in a town in Lincolnshire, England. According to the legend, bandits attacked a woman who lived by the side of the woods and whose husband was away and took her child with them when they left. The husband never returned and the woman went mad looking for her child in the woods. Legend has it that her ghost still wanders the woods and shows up if someone says, “"Black lady, black lady, I’ve stolen your baby!" three times.

True or not it is a sad story, but another sad story like it appears as a widespread legend throughout the region of Hispanic America. La Llorona or "The Weeping Woman" is the ghost who lost her children and cries as she looks for them near a river.

That these two legends are so similar shows that as humans we are not so different. I am sure, if researched further, similar legends can be found in other cultures, too, such as the legends of Lamia in Greek mythology and Rusalka in the Russian lore. In comparison, The Black Lady of Bradley Woods is a tame one as she is only looking for her children. The other ladies have eaten children or have been made to eat them.

In whichever way they resemble, these ladies are all ghosts who in their lifetime went mad because of children. This brings to mind all the mothers who fly off the handle when their children misbehave. Isn’t it maddening when a child goes against a mother’s every effort to turn him/her into a decent person? I wonder if these urban legends sprung from the actions of mothers who lost it. I might be right in that.