On this day in 1729 Thomas Stevenson was riding to Hedley on the Hill in Northumberland when he saw something very peculiar coming towards him. Sometimes it had the form of a man, sometimes a foal - the only thing that was constant about the creature was the impish expression. Stevenson braced himself. the shape-shifter grabbed his bridle and beat him with it, dragging him three miles to Coalburns before running away amidst peals of laughter.
The man had been waylaid by the notorious boggle, the Hedley Kow. confusion and cruel pranks were its calling cards, but it usually drew the line at anything that caused lasting injury or death. The boggle's favourite tricks included upsetting cooking pots, undoing all the day's knitting and, at its most malicious, routing the horses of men riding to summon midwives. The Kow had several favourite shapes, including a donkey, and a horse; and it was quite happy to transmogrify into a pile of straw. It was also able to appear as any number of people at one time, and always ended its annoying stint with frenzied laughter.
The Hedley Kow was last spotted in the 19th century. There used to be a whole genus of similar shape-shifting practical-jokers in Britain: some were known as Kows, while others went under such names as Brag, Shagfoal and Dunnie. On one occasion a Kow even appeared as a cow.
