The Paranormal Database

Famh

Location: Cairngorn Mountain Range (Highland) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This author is not sure if this is a joke, but... the Famh is said to be a strange dog/mole hybrid (Dole? Mog?), which possesses a vicious set of teeth and a disproportionately sized mouth. It lurks in the mountain range, shying away from human contact. The area is also haunted by a piper, who is seen standing on the tallest peaks, and is heard playing at night.

Mer Children

Location: Calf of Man (Isle of Man) - Rocky area, exact location not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1810
Further Comments: Three men from Douglas found two merchildren on the rocks. One was already dead, but they saved the second child and took it to their town. The creature was described as around 60.3 centimetres in length and brown in colour, although the scales around its tail were slightly violet, and the hair on its head light green.

Child Killer

Location: Callander (Perth and Kinross) - Loch Venachar
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1800
Further Comments: The water horse in this loch was blamed for the deaths of children who were attempting to cross the water.

Wallaby

Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - Howgate Road area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 14 November 2019
Further Comments: Seen from a distance of one metre, the wallaby left the witness and was last seen heading towards the allotments.

Goat Headed Monster

Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - River Cam close to Stourbridge Common (or not, as the case may be)
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1276
Further Comments: Lady Eveline Camilla (Newton) Gurdon claimed this monster encounter possibly happened in Suffolk, while the 'Every Day Book' placed it in Cambridge. They were both wrong - it comes from Poland; the story is from 'The Doome Warning All Men to the Judgemente' and reads: Fishers toke a disfigured divell, in a certain Stoure (which is a mighty gathering togither of waters from some narrow lake of the sea), a horrible monster with a goat's head, and eyes shyning lyke fyre, whereuppon they were all afrayde and ranne awaye; and that ghoste plunged himselfe under the ice, and running tippe and downe in the stoure made a terrible noyse and sound.

Shorted Armed Mermaid

Location: Campbeltown (Argyll and Bute) - Kintyre Peninsula
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 18 October 1811
Further Comments: Watched by a farmer for two hours, this mermaid had a pale upper body and a red/grey tail covered in hair. Its face was human, with deep-set eyes and short neck. The creature combed the hair on its head with what looked like short, stubby arms before diving into the water and washing its torso.

Long Necked Creature

Location: Campbeltown Loch (Argyll and Bute) - Kilkerran Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: Two local men reported this creature after watching it splashing around in the waters. They described it as having the head and neck of a giraffe, and although the body remained submerged, a dorsal fin could be seen.

Gorilla?

Location: Cannock (Staffordshire) - Cannock Chase Park
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa July 2008
Further Comments: A group of friends walking through the area in the early hours of the morning spotted a tall dark figure which quickly ducked down - one of the group approached the figure, only to hear it run off. Walking back towards their car, two of the group heard a roar which they believed sounded like a silver backed gorilla. One person also reported red eyes glaring at them from the bushes.

Red Sea Monster

Location: Canvey Island (Essex) - Exact location unknown
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 1953 and 11 August 1954
Further Comments: Two unidentified sea creatures were found dead on the island within a year of each other. Both were less than a metre in size, brown-red in colour, possessing sharp teeth, large eyes, gills, and what appeared to be two legs and feet.

Coat Tearer

Location: Caolas, Tiree (Argyll and Bute) - Loch an Air
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One man had a lucky escape from a water horse that emerged from the loch. As the man fled, the creature paused to rip apart a coat that had been left behind, which gave the potential victim enough time to reach his home where his barking dogs drove the water horse away.

River Taff, Cardiff.

Whirlpool

Location: Cardiff (South Glamorgan) - River Taff
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A water monster was once thought to live in this river. A whirlpool would be seen to form as the monster consumed drowned bodies.

An old postcard of Carlingford Lough in County Louth.

Eel-like Creature

Location: Carlingford (County Louth) - Carlingford Lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The lough is said to be home to a lake monster which resembles a rather large eel. The site featured in a few news outlets in 2019 after Adrian Shine, a Loch Ness Monster hunter, was invited to investigate the waters.

Growling

Location: Carlton-in-Cleveland (Yorkshire) - Hills in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Early 2011?
Further Comments: While moving equipment ready for a rave, this witness and several friends reporting hearing growling from the darkness which appeared to follow them. The witness described the sound as 'seriously weird', a cross between a snarl and a howl.

Fiery Water Horse

Location: Carmarthen (Dyfed) - River Towy
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The water horse which would wait by the banks of the Towy had balls of fire for eyes, and breath of a furnace.

Grey Water Horse

Location: Carmarthen Bay (Dyfed) - Shore line
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This water horse waits on the shores of the bay for a gullible person to approach. One man took the horse and used the creature to drive his cart. Shortly after, the horse dragged man and cart into the sea where they were never seen again.

Large Black Figure

Location: Carmyllie (Angus) - Close to a disused sandstone quarry (area now redeveloped)
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Early 1980s
Further Comments: A woman walking her dog encountered a seven foot (2.13 metre) tall black figure with wide shoulders and no neck. The dog became excited; the witness screamed and fled.

Strange Creature

Location: Carrigaline (County Cork) - Drake's Pool
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1860s
Further Comments: A large animal was said to have made this location its home. Although no description of the creature was properly given, it was said to have been large and hunted for food on land. Local men tried to capture the beast but were unable to do so. After several years, the creature left the area, thought to have gone out to sea.

Wood engraving of a merman by the sea.

Teenager

Location: Castlemartin (Dyfed) - Off the coast in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1782
Further Comments: Henry Reynolds spotted a merman off the coast which he initially believed to be a pale skinned teenager before noticing its brown tail which waved about. While the body and arms looked human, the arms and hands looked too short and thick, while the creature's nose was long and sharp. Reynolds went to find other witnesses, but by the time he returned, the merman had gone.

Horse-Like Monster

Location: Cauldshiels Loch (Borders) - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late eighteenth / early nineteenth century
Further Comments: Sir Walter Scott wrote that people he had known had encountered a horse-like monster in this loch.

Dark Blue Bird

Location: Chapel le Dale (Yorkshire) - Cave system in village
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Three people reported seeing a large flying creature, 'much larger than a bat', slowly glide past them as they explored the first cavern of these caves.

Pointy Humps

Location: Chapel St Leonards (Lincolnshire) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 16 October 1966
Further Comments: Two witnesses reported seeing seven pointed humps coming out of the sea, together with a serpentine head.

Large Bird

Location: Chard (Somerset) - High Street
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: February 1975
Further Comments: A witness watched a huge bird, with a fourteen foot wingspan, pass overhead. Moving with great haste, it quickly disappeared over nearby shops.

Bear

Location: Charlbury (Oxfordshire) - Wychwood area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Early 1990s
Further Comments: A bear was said to have taken up residence in the surrounding woodland. Described as dark brown and the size of a sheepdog, the creature's footprints were also discovered, although it is not known whether they were formally identified as belonging to a bear.

Mermaid

Location: Child's Ercall (Shropshire) - Pool
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This mermaid was so upset at the way she was treated by onlookers, she drove to the bottom of the pool and never returned. It was thought that she guarded a mass of treasure.

Green Faced Monkey

Location: Churston (Devon) - Woodland
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: This four foot high fella was seen over a dozen times over the summer months, running along the floor of the woods. He may not have survived the winter, as no reports were forthcoming the following year.