Molly Leigh

There is quite literally no-one in Stoke who doesn't know the legend of Molly Leigh. Born Margaret Leigh in Burslem in 1685, Molly (as she was known) was renowned for being very ugly, even by Stoke standards.  This led to her being shunned by the people of Burslem.

There were allegations from the start of her life; it's said that she had an adult mind and abilities from birth.  It was claimed that she was able to eat a sausage and cheese oatcake just a few hours after being born and that she refused to suckle from her mother's teet, choosing to suckle from animals instead.

Shunned by people in Burslem because of her deformities, she developed a vicious temper and trained a blackbird to become her companion.

A blackbird

Molly's parents died when she was young, so she earned her living by selling beer. She became a well-known, if unliked figure - a kind of contemporary Piers Morgan. Worse, she was constantly accused of watering down the beer she was selling, which is regarded as a very serious offence in Stoke!

Local religious leader Parson Rio Spencer, Rector of Saint Dwayne's Church in Burslem, accused her of of being a witch after falling ill from drinking some of Molly's beer. Molly died soon after, before she could be tried for being a witch.

Several days later, an angry mob, unhappy at missing a good witch trial, decided to storm Molly's cottage. The mob swear blind they saw Molly in the cottage knitting a hat for her blackbird!

Parson Spencer decided that the Christian thing to do was to get revenge for selling watered down beer, and so he decided to perform a rite to silence her ghost. He did this by opening up the grave, shoving her (still alive) blackbird in there for good measure and moved the grave, lying it in a north-south direction, as opposed to an east-west direction normal for Christian burials. Some locals also claim that a stake was driven through her heart and some comedy glasses put on her face.

Molly Leigh's grave in Burslem

Molly's legend lives on to this day. It is claimed that Molly will come back to life if you hop around her grave three times on your left leg while chanting "Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, why did you sell such piss poor beer?"