Classes

Boggarts are well known in Northern English Folklore as a shape-shifting spirit. The boggart is a relative of the far-more-friendly Brownie. Brownies appear in English folktales as household helpers who take great personal responsibility for the homes in which they live and bring good luck to the homeowner. They clean up messes, complete unfinished chores, make bread, harvest grain, herd sheep, and mend broken tools and clothes. In return for their labors, they are entitled each evening to a bowl of milk or cream and a piece of cake. An offer of any greater award is taken as an insult. Household boggarts are said to be dark, hairy, and ugly with overlarge hands and feet. They also dress in rags.

Grindylows fall in the special category of supernatural beings known as "nursery bogies." Never really taken seriously by adults, nursery bogies have been invented to scare children away from dangerous or forbidden activities. Grindylows have the face of a hag, with long green hair, pointy green fangs, and a gaping mouth. To get rid of these pests, all that really is needed is a swift kick in the head. Yorkshire in England is the only place where grindylows are part of the local folklore.

Hags dwell in the Brtish Isles where some are said to be benevolent spirits associated with harvests and spinning, others are said to be witchlike creatures who torment and even eat people. One is an ancient spirit, responsible for changing the weather and and fashioning the landscape. But they all have a few things in common: they are women, they are old, and they are hideous. The most famous hag in England is Black Annis a one-eyed cannibal with blue skin, long white teeth, and claws of iron. She dwells in the hills of Leicestershire.