Old Mother Nightshade is a witch, feared by all apart from the young and foolish John Culpepper, who seeks her counsel after being rejected by a potential lover. She gives him a box of sweetmeats to present to the girl, and tells him to return in three days’ time. He does this, and the witch then tells him to shut his eyes. He opens them to discover he has been tied to a chair and Old Mother Nightshade has transformed into a wolf. She kills him, and the locals hear their various screams, but when they arrive on the scene she has gone, leaving only wolf paw-prints.

A version of the tale is on the Mysterious Britain website. Michael Wray gives a rendition in 13 Traditional Ghost Stories from Lincolnshire, as does Polly Howat in Ghosts and Legends of Lincolnshire and the Fen Country.