jenny greenteeth

Jenny Greenteeth depicted by Brian Froud in 'Faeries', 1978

One of my favourite English folkloric characters, Jenny Greenteeth lurks in ponds waiting for children, who she pulls down into the watery depths to drown. She is characterised by her green skin and hair - suggestive of water weeds swirling through the stagnant murk, and her sharp fang like teeth give her an air of menace. She is a threatening and mysterious character - no doubt she is a warning to children not to stray too near deep water. She is also associated with duckweed - which forms a dense carpet like covering over ponds and lakes and might be a temptation to young ones to attempt walking on water.

Jenny Green Teeth was a site specific installation in Beacon Country Park in Skelmersdale by Bernie Velvick. The artwork is inspired by a Lancashire legend ‘Jenny Green Teeth’ who lurks in standing water to capture unwary children and draw them down into her watery domain.

According to Charlotte Burne's 'Shropshire Folkore', Greenteeth was "an old woman who lurks beneath the green weeds that cover stagnant ponds; Ellesmere children were warned that if they venture too near such places, she will stretch out her long arms and drag them to her'. Katharine Briggs notes in her 'Dictionary of Fairies', (1976) that Greenteeth is one of the 'nursery bogies' - so called as their stories are told to nursery aged children, often as a precautionary tale.

A woman in 1980's Merseyside described Greenteeth as having 'pale green skin, green teeth, very long green locks of hair, long green fingers with long nails, and she was very thin with a pointed chin and very big eyes.'

The belief in malicious water spirits is one which has persisted across many cultures worldwide, and there are many similar folkloric characters present in other countries with varying attributes.

derivatives: Grindylow, Ginny Greenteeth, Jeannie Greenteeth, Wicked Jenny, or Peg o' Nell