The Paranormal Database

Brief Visitor

Location: Lough Graney (County Clare) - Waters of the Lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Every seven years (exact time unknown)
Further Comments: Said to resemble a giant eel, this monstrous creature appears only once every seven years.

Peist

Location: Lough Leane (County Kerry) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lough is said to be home to a lake monster.

Dobhar Chu

Location: Lough Mask (County Mayo) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Seventeen century, and 16 June 1963
Further Comments: A man walking along the bank of Lough Mask had a narrow escape when a water beast jumped from the water and tried to drag him into the water. The man managed to escape and ran for his life. Another version of the story says the beast killed him. A creature seen in the lough during the 1960s was described as eel-like with two humps. Folklore claims the lake to have been created by either fairies or a giant.

Peist

Location: Lough Melvin (County Fermanagh) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This Site of Special Scientific Interest is home to another local peist.

Frightful Beast

Location: Lough Ree (County Westmeath) - Waters of the lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 800 AD and twentieth century
Further Comments: One very old story says that a swimmer was torn to pieces by a monster after trying to leave a small island in this body of water. A creature was seen in 1954 by several people while out fishing. One of the witnesses, Georgina Carberry, suffered nightmares weeks after the event. Possibly because of this sighting, Captain Lionel Leslie set out to capture the beast using explosives in the first instance and a long net in the second, but with no success. In 1959, two English fishermen claimed their boat had been pulled around the lough by a creature (they escaped by cutting their fishing line) and in 1960 three clergymen observed a serpent-like beast. More recently, it has been speculated that the lake is home to a giant eel.

Abducted Woman

Location: Lough Sheelin (County Meath) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A farmer spotted a beautiful woman leave the lough and forced her to return to his farmhouse. Eventually she agreed to stay with him, on the condition that she never glazed upon the lake again. Twenty years passed and the farmer and the mermaid had several children. While waiting for the farmer to return from the fields on a clear day, the mermaid spotted the lough in the distance and fled towards it, never to be seen again.

Suileach

Location: Lough Swilly (County Donegal) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Sixth century
Further Comments: Suileach was a huge creature with many eyes and spread terror throughout the county. The creature is thought to have been killed by Saint Colum Cuille in the sixth century.

Unknown Creature

Location: Lough Waskel (County Donegal) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1940s?
Further Comments: A fisherman is said to have caught a strange brown creature covered in creamy blotches here.

Lough Ness Monster

Location: Loughborough (Leicestershire) - Charnwood Water
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 23 October 2017
Further Comments: A duck was seen being pulled underwater by an unidentified creature. The attacker was christened the 'Lough Ness Monster', though is most likely a pike.

Circular Creature

Location: Lower Lough Bray (County Wicklow) - Waters of the lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 03 June 1963
Further Comments: Two friends watching the Lough spotted a large, dark grey circular body rise from the lake, almost four metres in circumference. The head, positioned slightly away from the body, stood ninety centimetres out of the water.

An old postcard showing Lower Lough Erne in County Fermanagh.

Peist

Location: Lower Lough Erne (County Fermanagh) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A type of monster which could only be slain by a hero or saint, little more is known about the peist said to lurk in the area.

Cro Sith

Location: Luskentyre, Harris (Outer Hebrides) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Cro sith were fairy cattle that lived under the sea, occasionally coming ashore. When they did reach land, local farmers would try and catch them to add them to their own herds.

Blind Creature

Location: Lydford (Devon) - Farm near Lydford Gorge
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 5 April 1983, 03:00h
Further Comments: Maurice Knowles, a farmer, reported encountering a strange dog-like creature on his land. It resembled a Great Dane, though it had a snout like a pig's, and only slits where eyes should have been. The creature ran away only when Maurice shouted at it.

Humped Creature

Location: Mallaig (Highland) - Sea
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late 1950s
Further Comments: The crews of two fishing boats were reported to have encountered a humped creature several metres in length moving through the water. A column of spines ran down the monster's back and it possessed a head like a tortoise with a large mouth.

An old postcard of the Malvern Hills.

Eagle Man

Location: Malvern Hills (Hereford & Worcester) - Exact area unknown
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown - circa late twentieth century?
Further Comments: Two women and their partners out hillwalking were hounded by a large eagle-like figure. All four people were left terrified by their encounter, and one of the women collapsed with shock. One man with whom they discussed their encounter with suggested it was a 'gatekeeper entity'.

Old postcard of Margate, Kent.

Sea Horse

Location: Margate (Kent) - Sea near the Lido Baths
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1950
Further Comments: A pair of swimmers watched as a 60cm neck rose from the water close to their location - they reported the serpent had horse like ears.

Cornish Owlman

Location: Mawnan (Cornwall) - Near church
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 17 April 1976, onwards
Further Comments: This man-sized creature was seen several times over a period of years - a giant owl with glowing red eyes and pincers for feet. All the witnesses would appear to have been teenage or younger girls.

Strange Carving

Location: Melbury Osmund (Dorset) - Church of St Osmund
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A carving in the church shows a strange creature entangled in a thicket.

Best not to date mermaids (public domain).

Mermaid

Location: Mersey Estuary (Lancashire) - Black Rock
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A sailor once fell in love with a mermaid here. The woman gave him a golden ring, informed the sailor that she would be back in five days to meet him. Five days later, the man died.

Kelpie

Location: Middleham (North Yorkshire) - River Ure
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After the sun goes down, a water beast was said to emerge from the river and start hunting. It was said to take at least one human life per year.

Long Snake

Location: Milford Haven (Dyfed) - Off coast, viable from the Shipwright public house
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 06 March 2003
Further Comments: A small group at the pub watched a snake-like creature, between 10 - 15 metres in length, a short distance off the shoreline.

An Each-uisge.

Battling Bull

Location: Monach Isles (Outer Hebrides) - Loch Nan Buadh
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small village close to Loch Nan Buadh was terrified by an Each-uisge that lived there. Eventually the villagers unleashed a specially bred bull upon the Each-uisge - after an epic struggle, both animals disappeared below the waters.

Creature from Sea Monsters Unmasked by Henry Lee, 1883.

Two Metre Tall Neck

Location: Montrose (Angus) - Just over a kilometre offshore, 16 kilometres southeast of town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1903
Further Comments: The crew of the Rosa reported this monster's appendage which rose from the sea by their boat. It looked around before diving again.

Mermaid

Location: Morridge Moor (Staffordshire) - The Black Mere, also known as the Blake Mere
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Appears at midnight, daily
Further Comments: This fishy female comes to the surface of the pool at night, ready to pull any witnesses down to the dark waters where they remain forever.

U Boat Sighting

Location: Muckle Flugga (Shetland) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 28 July 1918
Further Comments: The German submarine U108 encountered a giant marine saurian, estimated to be 18 to 24 metres in length.