The Paranormal Database

Man Shaped

Location: Loch Anlaimh, Coll (Argyll and Bute) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Strange sounds heard coming from the loch were blamed on the water horse. A shepherd once encountered a stranger by the loch who had water weed on his head. The stranger walked into the loch, resulting in people believing the water horse had taken human form.

Basking Beast

Location: Loch Arkaig (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: October 1857
Further Comments: This creature, with a head like that of a horse and a single hump, rested ten metres from the shoreline, before slowing sinking beneath the water. A legend says that the Jacobites once hid a collection of treasure in the waters of the loch, where it remains.

Horse Headed Beast

Location: Loch Assynt (Highland) - Waters of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1850s
Further Comments: Seen twice during the 1850s by the same witness, the man claimed the creature had a horse's head.

An old postcard showing Loch Awe.

Huge Monster

Location: Loch Awe (Argyll and Bute) - Waters of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Sixteenth century onwards
Further Comments: The loch is another large body of water in Scotland that is said to contain a large beastie, this time reputed to resemble a twelve legged eel. The creature is said to come ashore during winter. Another version of the story says the creature resembles a large bull.

Drowned Rider

Location: Loch Bhasapol(?), Tiree (Argyll and Bute) - Loch and nearby moorland
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: Upon discovering a horse on the moors, a man mounted the creature only for it to bolt and run at breakneck speed around the area. Both man and beast eventually plunged into the loch. The rider did not survive.

Fantastic Horse

Location: Loch Borralan (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This loch monster will disguise itself as a radiant white horse, enabling it to walk up to victims before pulling them into the loch's murky waters.

Water Kelpie

Location: Loch Borrolan (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When two fishermen vanished along the banks of the loch, the only items a search party could find were a brace of fish, two fishing rods, and large hoof prints in the sand which came from and disappeared back into the loch.

Monster

Location: Loch Canisp (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The loch is said to be home of an unidentified water beast.

Horse Man

Location: Loch Chuaich (aka Loch Quoich) (Highland) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A water horse that lived in the loch would often be seen floating around on its side. On one occasion the creature took the form of a man and tried to enter a former soldier's home. Bullets did not harm the water horse, but a silver coin fired from the gun drove the creature away.

Kelpie

Location: Loch Coruisk (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lake monster would take the form of a beautiful horse which would try to drown anyone who tried to mount it.

The Seal People

Location: Loch Duich (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area is home to a colony of seal people - sea creature while in the water, human when they climb out... Mermaids have also been reported, as have sea serpents.

Screaming Monster

Location: Loch Duvat, Eriskay (Outer Hebrides) - North side of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1893
Further Comments: While out looking for a horse that escaped his farm in the mist, a farmer saw what he thought was his missing beast in the loch. As he approached, he realised he was looking at a water monster; the creature gave an unearthly yell, sending the farmer running home and disturbing all the wildlife around the water.

Each Uisge

Location: Loch Earn (Perth and Kinross) - Waters of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This water horse would entice people to sit upon its back before drowning the unsuspecting victim. One story says that the creature lived in Loch Tay but was driven out so moved here.

Loch Eil, Scotland.

Water Creature

Location: Loch Eil (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This loch is home to another one of Scotland's lake monsters, though there appears to be only one recording sighting. This described a black worm-like head with a three foot (ninety centimetre) neck which quickly vanished beneath the surface of the water.

Fictious illustration from Detective Weekly of a creature emerging from a loch.

Long Necked Monster

Location: Loch Feith an Leothaid (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: A creature with a neck between four and five feet high popped up next to a man rowing his boat across this loch.

Tall Serpent

Location: Loch Fyne (Argyll and Bute) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 1570
Further Comments: This creature was reported to be the size of a ship's mast when it surfaced from the water. At a much later date, a carcass of an unidentified creature was found on the banks of the loch.

My Little Water Pony

Location: Loch Garget Beag (Highland) - Banks of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Summer 1938
Further Comments: While walking with a friend and carrying a heavy bag of venison, Mary Falconer of Achlyness spotted thirteen ponies which resembled her neighbours. As she approached one, intending to borrow it to carry her bag, Falconer noticed that one horse's mane contained strands of water weed. The string of ponies then bolted into the loch, vanishing beneath the water.

Water Horse

Location: Loch Garten (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Another body of water thought to be home to one of these formally unidentified creatures, this loch monster was described as a cross between a horse and a black bull which possessed incredible strength.

Water Horse House

Location: Loch Garve (Highland) - Underwater
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This freshwater monster had a house built for him and his mortal bride - the general area of the property is known as the water there never freezes because of the home's open fire!

Black Creature

Location: Loch Hourn (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: Four witnesses observed a ninety-six foot (twenty-nine metre) long black beast swimming in the loch, its body forming humps as it moved.

Loch Linnhe, Scotland.

Horned Creature

Location: Loch Linnhe (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1940s-1960s
Further Comments: During the 1940s a witness said that she had seen a long necked creature swimming in the loch. The creature had a long neck, dark brown skin, small black eyes and stubby rounded horns. There were further sightings of a humped creature in the 1950s and 1960s. It is worth noting that Loch Linnhe Is connected directly to the sea, so it is always possible that something a little more prosaic entered the loch (although a dolphin does not readily match the long necked entity description of the 1940s...).

Water Beast

Location: Loch Lochy (Highland) - Corriegour Lodge Hotel, Fort William
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: September 1996
Further Comments: Seen by staff and residents of the hotel, this three-humped creature swam on the surface of the loch. Reports of a monster here date back to 1930 and before.

A photograph of Loch Lomond, circa 1960.

Hipotam

Location: Loch Lomond (Argyll and Bute) - Waters of the loch, especially where it is joined with the River Enrick
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1653 onwards
Further Comments: An early description of the loch stated it had 'waves without wind, fish without fins and a floating island' - this is thought to be a reference to the water horses, or hipotam, that swam in the waters, although crannogs, small artificial islands, would be constructed in lochs by wealthy families. A Mr and Mrs Haggerty spotted a humped back crossing the loch on 22 September 1964, while in 1980 another couple watched a head and neck emerge from the water before submerging thirty seconds later.

Loch Lurgainn in the Highlands of Scotland.

Water Horse

Location: Loch Lurgainn (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This loch is another traditional haunt of the mythical water horse.

Loch Maree in Scotland.

Upside Down Boat

Location: Loch Maree (Highland) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 25 August (ritual)
Further Comments: This creature possessed a hump very similar to that of a rowing boat turned upside down. A local man gained some notoriety when he tried (unsuccessfully) to drain the loch while searching for the beast. Until around the 1750s, bulls were sacrificed on 25 August to appease the water monster. The water of the loch was said to cure 'lunacy', but nothing could ever be taken from the area in case the illness returned.