Peg Powler is a

hag HAG is a Swiss maker of model trains. The company was founded by Hugo and Alwin Gahler on 1 April 1944 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The Gahler brothers originally manufactured model trains in O scale but due to competition, particularly by Mär ...

and

water spirit A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures: African Some water spirits in traditional African religion include: * Mami Wata is a transcultural pantheon of water spirits and deities of the African dias ...

English folklore English folklore consists of the myths and legends of England, including the English region's mythical creatures, traditional recipes, urban legends, proverbs, superstitions, and folktales. Its cultural history is rooted in Celtic, Christia ...

who inhabits the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has bee ...

. Similar to the Grindylow, Jenny Greenteeth, and Nelly Longarms, she drags children into the water if they get too close to the edge. She is regarded as a bogeyman figure who is invoked by parents to frighten children into proper behavior.Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 323–324. . The 19th century folklorist William Henderson describes Peg Powler as having green hair and "an insatiable desire for human life" and she is said to lure people into the river to drown or be devoured. The foam or froth which is often seen floating on certain parts of the Tees is called "Peg Powler's suds" or "Peg Powler's cream". A similar creature named Nanny Powler is said to haunt the

River Skerne The River Skerne is a tributary of the River Tees. It flows through County Durham in England. Course The Skerne is about long and begins in Magnesian Limestone hills between Trimdon and Trimdon Grange and ends at Hurworth Place where it j ...

, a tributary of the Tees.

Michael Denham Michael Aislabie Denham (1801''1841 England Census'', ''1851 England Census'' – 10 September 1859) was an English merchant and collector of folklore. Life A native of Gainford, County Durham, Denham was in business at Kingston-upon-Hull in the e ...

regards her as either the sister or daughter of Peg Powler.

Elliott O'Donnell Elliott O'Donnell (27 February 1872 – 8 May 1965) was an English author known primarily for his books about ghosts. He claimed to have seen a ghost, described as an elemental figure covered with spots, when he was five years old. He also claime ...

paints a somewhat different picture of Peg Powler in his 1924 book ''Ghosts, Helpful and Harmful''. He describes her as a spirit who lures men and boys to their doom in the River Tees by appearing as a beautiful young woman with green hair and pretending to drown so that her victim will enter the water in an attempt to save her. She may even appear on land on foggy nights and lead men astray until they stumble into the river. The Peg Powler myth is at the heart of the novel ''

Ironopolis Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the are ...

'' by

Glen James Brown A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

References

County Durham folklore English legendary characters Female legendary creatures Northumbrian folklore Water spirits Hags Bogeymen {{europe-myth-stub