The Paranormal Database

An old woodcut of a mermaid swimming past a sailing ship.

Mermaids

Location: Deerness (Orkney) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: These women of the water were seen dozens of times during the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. One was said to have been shot, but the body was not recovered.

Rea

Location: Diss (Norfolk) - Surrounding area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: January - April 2024
Further Comments: The bird reported as an emu which popped up around the area several times would eventually prove to be a rhea, whom the locals named Chris. After being on the run from his owner for four months, Chris was caught and returned home.

Piranha

Location: Doncaster (South Yorkshire) - Martinwells Lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: April 2019
Further Comments: The carcasses of two dead piranha were found on the shore of the lake causing concern to people in the area. The environment department of the local council said it was unlikely that the toothed fish had lived in the lake.

Gorilla?

Location: Dorchester (Dorset) - Unnamed Park
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: March 2013
Further Comments: A teenager photographed a strange creature close to her home in parkland, before it ran up a tree and disappeared. The teenager said the creature resembled and moved like a small gorilla, although the nearby Monkey World attraction denied they were missing any of their animals.

Wildmen

Location: Dorchester (Dorset) - Yellowham Hill
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown (but not recent)
Further Comments: This area was once thought to be the home of large hairy men, who abducted women.

Humanoid Creature

Location: Dorrington (Lincolnshire) - Area near the Railway bridge
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 1970
Further Comments: A man who spotted a half-man, half-animal entity was so scared he called the police. Various postmen in the village talked of seeing strange things, but it is unclear whether these are the same entity as the November sighting. It has also been speculated that the sighting may be connected to an old Anglo-Saxon burial ground close to the bridge. Reports of the area being haunted by a Shag Foal go back almost one hundred years.

Vampire Birds

Location: Driffield (East Riding of Yorkshire) - Kester Farm
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 09 March 1947
Further Comments: The People newspaper reported that a farmer lost three sheep to 'vampire' birds during the harsh winter conditions. Other newspapers were a little less dramatic, blaming starving crows and foxes.

Centaur?

Location: Drogheda (County Louth) - Unnamed road in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1966
Further Comments: Two people travelling by car had to stop and wait for a couple of minutes after a horse with a human's face blocked the road. The terrified couple were frozen with fear and when the creature suddenly vanished, they turned around and drove home.

Armed Creature

Location: Drumate Lough (also referred to as Dromate) (County Monaghan) - Waters of the lough
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: August 1944
Further Comments: A farmer claimed to have shot at a creature in this lough after it passed within two metres on his boat. The monster, described as being seven-foot (2.13 metres) in length, had two arms that had claws (or webbing). The creature dived under the surface.

Playful Creature

Location: Dunbar (Lothian) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 1939
Further Comments: A father and daughter watched a sea monster playing in the waters just off the coast for 30 minutes.

Treasure Guardians

Location: Duncansby Head (Highland) - Cave system off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A team of mermaids and mermen are reported to guard a hidden cave full of treasure.

Ape-like Creature

Location: Dundee (Angus) - A92 Five Roads Roundabout
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: August 2005, 03:40h
Further Comments: Driving home from work, this witness watched as a tall, dark brown hairy figure crossed the road in three strides. The driver had to stop to avoid hitting the figure.

Hairy Man

Location: Dundee (Angus) - A92, approaching Tay Road Bridge
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: A driver reported in the local press that he had encountered a tall (around 2.7 metres) dark figure in woodland as he drove past.

Tall Hairy Man

Location: Dundonald (Ayrshire) - Dundonald castle area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1994
Further Comments: While out with her dogs, a holiday maker saw a three metre tall man, with red glowing eyes and long grey hair that covered his body. The creature moved away, and the woman thought it better not to pursue.

Muirdris

Location: Dundrum (County Down) - Dundrum Bay, was known as Lough Rudraige
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When Fergus mac Leti, a king of Ulster, first encountered the monster known as Muirdris, his face was left permanently contorted in terror. To prevent the king from finding out, all mirrors were banned in his company. Seven years later, Fergus discovered the truth and returned to Dundrum Bay to kill the monster. After a battle which lasted two days, the king killed the beast but himself died soon after from exhaustion.

Enchanted Eel

Location: Dunkettle (County Cork) - Lake close to small graveyard
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This eel must have been of great size, as it terrorised the neighbourhood, eating sheep and cattle. A man tending the graveyard encountered the creature one morning and severed its tail with a hook. Enraged, the creature attacked but the man managed to run away. What happened to the creature after that is undocumented, but the man in question died a few days later, and one of the headstones in the graveyard is said to be decorated with a hook and an eel.

Water Horse

Location: Dunmanway (County Cork) - Lake Attariff
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1963 (or 1966)
Further Comments: Mr W J. Wood was trout fishing at this lough when he observed a three metre long dark brown creature some ninety metres away. Wood said that the creature had a head like a calf which was held above the water line. After a couple of minutes, the creature sank beneath the water. A Japanese film crew visited the lake in 2004 to search for the monster, without success.

Captured Fisherman

Location: Dunnet Bay (Highland) - Underwater sea cave
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A good looking fisherman once caught the eye of a mermaid who fell in love with him - she kidnapped the fellow and held him in a secret cave under the sea, where he remains to this day...

Illustration from An Essay Towards a Natural History of Serpents.

Long Serpent

Location: Dunrobin (Highland) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1873
Further Comments: Observed several times around this period, this creature would remain visible for long periods of time.

Sir Guy on horseback.

Dun Cow

Location: Dunsmore Heath (Warwickshire) - Fields in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to have been used to scare children into going to bed, the Dun Cow of Dunsmore Heath was of massive size, and sported eighteen teats. The beast was slain by Guy of Warwick.

Hairy Creature

Location: E11 (Greater London) - Hollow Ponds area, Epping Forest, Wanstead
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 2008
Further Comments: During an evening fishing trip, Michael Kent reported encountering a dark hairy figure, standing around four foot tall. The creature vanished into the bushes.

Short Hairy Creature

Location: E18 (Greater London) - Love Lane area, Woodford Bridge
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 2008
Further Comments: A local paper reported that Irene Dainty encountered a four foot, hairy creature with large feet and animal-like eyes close to her home. The creature ran off and jumped over the wall of the nearby Three Jolly Wheelers public house.

Swan Eater

Location: E20 (Greater London) - Lea River, Olympic Park
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late 2011
Further Comments: Users of the river had reported the swan population had been dropping, and in November 2011 one witness watched a large Canada goose being quickly pulled under the water. Opinions of what is snacking on the local bird life have ranged from the exotic (escaped or released alligator or python) to the reasonable (catfish or pike).

Bear Hunt

Location: E8 (Greater London) - Hackney marshes
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 27 December 1981, and May 2012
Further Comments: Four children reported seeing a bear in the marshland at Hackney in 1981- investigators discovered large paw prints in the snow but failed to find the animal. In 2012, student Helen Murray took two photographs of a large black haired creature in the area.

Croc

Location: E8 (Greater London) - River Lea
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: After witnesses watched a Canada goose pulled under the water never to reappear, several people declared the attack must have been by a crocodile. However, experts said the attacker was much more likely to have been a large pike.