The Paranormal Database

Part fish, part man, all medieval.

Selkie Prince

Location: Papa Stour (Shetland) - Exact location not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A group of hunters who arrived at the island killed and skinned many seals before a violent storm began to batter the island - unbeknown to the hunters, a selkie prince was amongst the seals. The hunters finally returned the skins to the remaining seals, after which the storm ceased.

Great Auk

Location: Papa Westray (Orkney) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: Reports of an extinct Great Auk being spotted alive on a beach 142 years after the last confirmed sighting turned out to be nothing more than a hoax.

Wallabies

Location: Peak District (Derbyshire) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A small colony of Red Neck wallabies exists in the Peak District, after escaping their private zoo after the Second World War.

No Mermaid Here

Location: Peel (Isle of Man) - Sea off Peel
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1964
Further Comments: A Canadian newspaper reported that the Mayor of Peel and others had seen a mermaid off the coast and were offering a reward for the creature's capture. The story turned out to be a fake.

White Animal

Location: Pen-y-bryn (Dyfed) - Cardigan to Cilgerran road
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2008, around 00:30h
Further Comments: While travelling home to Cilgerran, this witness spotted a large white animal behind a fence which was described as a cross between 'a deer and a big cat'.

Dog Faced Beast

Location: Pentland Firth (Orkney) - Waters of
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1919 / 1920s
Further Comments: The body of water was home to a sea creature with a long thick neck and a small head resembling that of a dog. It swam under one witness's boat.

Tall Creature

Location: Pentland Skerries (Orkney) - Sea
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1937
Further Comments: Observed by a lone lighthouse keeper, this sea monster was seen to rise almost ten metres clear of the waves. A smaller creature had been seen fifteen years earlier by a fishing boat crew and a holiday maker.

Mermaids

Location: Perranuthnoe (Cornwall) - Cudden Point, off the coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This area is another haunt for the Cornish merfolk.

Big Black Horse

Location: Peterhead (Aberdeenshire) - River Ugie by Inverugie Castle
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Having seen a big black horse grazing on the banks of the Ugie, a local man was warned that it was a kelpie. He found a 'waith-horse' bridle and managed to control the creature, setting it free once it had carried enough stones to make a bridge over the river.

Serpent

Location: Pillmore (County Cork) - Barrel Rocks (off coast)
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1850
Further Comments: While likely fictitious, one story written by Roger W Travers and published in the Cork Constitution claimed that he and four others had encountered a large serpent with no visible appendages. The creature's eyes were about nine inches (23 centimetres) across, while a grooved shell-like substance covered the upper part of its back. The men shot at the creature, which promptly swam off.

Tall Creature

Location: Port Eynon (aka Port Einon) (West Glamorgan) - Around one mile west of Eynon Point
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 11 June 1879
Further Comments: Standing on the shore, a witness spotted a seven foot (2.1 metre) tall, round, object moving down the channel. The shape disappeared and reappeared several times, slowing moving away from the witness.

Protected Boats

Location: Port Henderson (Highland) - Rocks along the coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: Local boat builder Roderick Mackenzie managed to sneak up on a sleeping mermaid and grabbed her by the hair. She requested that he let her go and in return would grant him a wish. Mackenzie wished that any boat he made would never sink, a tradition that was said to hold true throughout his career.

Merman

Location: Portgordon (Moray) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 15 August 1814
Further Comments: This figure normally warned of ill fortune at sea - if the crew of a fishing vessel spotted him, they would return to port for the day. Two fishermen spotted two of the creatures in 1814 - one they described as black in colour, with curly hair and long arms, while the other was female with long hair.

Mermaid or Whale

Location: Porthleven (Cornwall) - Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 14 September 1786
Further Comments: Following a storm, a large creature was discovered on the beach. It was alive, until concerned locals beat and stabbed the creature to death. The creature measured just under 49 feet (15 metres) from head to tail, had a back tougher than a turtle's shell, and two stubby arms. While some of the creature's killers named it as a whale, others were not so sure and declared it to have been a mermaid.

Church Ope Cove, Portland.

Mermaid

Location: Portland (Dorset) - Church Ope Cove
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story says that a mermaid came ashore here but died soon after being discovered by local people heading to church.

The coastline of Portland.

Veasta

Location: Portland (Dorset) - Sea
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1457, 1757, 1995
Further Comments: This sea monster is reported to have the head of a seahorse but the tail of a fish. Robert Westwood, in his 'Mysterious Places of Dorset', points out that the earlier sighting in 1457 was said to be a giant cockerel which emerged from the sea and crowed three times before submerging.

Creature

Location: Portree, Isle of Skye (Highland) - Woman's Loch, by Sithean Beinne Bho'idhich
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A water monster has been reported inhabiting the loch.

Battered Serpent

Location: Portscatho (Cornwall) - Gerrans Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1876
Further Comments: Caught by two fishermen who found the beast wrapped around their offshore crabbing equipment, they proceeded to hit it with an oar before finally killing the creature on nearby rocks.

Pooka would often take the form of a horse.

Pooka

Location: Poulaphouca Reservoir (County Wicklow) - Beneath the waters
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Pre-1944
Further Comments: This valley may have been home to a pooka before being flooded to create the reservoir.

Rotting Sea Serpent

Location: Praa Sands (Cornwall) - Beach
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1933
Further Comments: The body of what was thought to be a sea monster was later identified as a rotting basking shark.

Serpent?

Location: Preston (Lancashire) - River Ribble
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1999
Further Comments: Sheila Smith reported seeing a serpent in the waters of the river. It was thought that the creature was likely to have been an eel.

Black Shape

Location: Red Wharf Bay (Gwynedd) - Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: February 1975
Further Comments: Staff at the Minydon hotel watched a ten meter long black shape swim by, both the front part of the creature and the end of the tail protruding from the water. Several other sightings of strange sea creatures were reported in the area throughout the year.

Fake Bear

Location: Rendlesham (Suffolk) - Green in the forest
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: March 2009
Further Comments: In what was later to be revealed to be a hoax, local press carried a story that a family spotted what they first thought was a large dog moving through the trees. As they watched it, they realised that the creature was larger than any dog. Experts talking to the local press said it was unlikely that a bear could survive in the forest.

Pond in Rendlesham, Suffolk.

Rake

Location: Rendlesham (Suffolk) - Pond shaped like an 'S'
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This freshwater mermaid was reputed to be armed with a rake, ready to drag in any children who strayed too close.

Portrait of a rather cross cockatrice.

Cockatrice

Location: Renwick (Cumbria) - Church
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1733?
Further Comments: This mythical creature, made up of pieces of dragon, serpent, and cockerel, took up residence in the church when it fell into ruin. A local man named John Tallantire (or Tallantine) killed the creature using a branch from a rowan tree (or hawthorn), though some locals say it is still seen flying about at dusk.