The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Strange Creatures from around the Isle


Brenin Llwyd, or Grey King.

Brenin Llwyd

Location: Eryri (Snowdonia) (Gwynedd) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The Brenin Llwyd, or Grey King, could be classed as a hairy man entity. It has scared dogs and is weary of any kind of light.

Hungry Worm

Location: Eryri (Snowdonia) (Gwynedd) - Llyn-y-Gadair
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Eighteenth Century
Further Comments: A group of men swimming across this lake were attacked by a large worm-like monster. One of the people was grabbed and consumed by the beast.

Fish Man

Location: Exeter (Devon) - Coastline
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 1737
Further Comments: Fishermen on the shore caught a four foot tall humanoid, with duck-like feet and a tail protruding from its back. The creature tried to escape but was killed when the fishermen beat it with sticks. Another fish-man was caught a few months later in the same area, though this one was described with more seal-like qualities.

Giant Bat

Location: Exeter (Devon) - Magdalen Road
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 25 May 2000
Further Comments: A witness walking down the road late at night stated he watched a giant bat, with a wingspan of 1.2 metres, swoop around the churchyard along this road.

Capybara

Location: Eyemouth (Borders) - A1, south of town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 2006 and June 2009
Further Comments: This large rodent, not native to the UK, was spotted in 2006, sitting in the middle of the A1. Another creature, or possibly the same one, was spotted three years later at Reston.

Vanishing Twitchers

Location: Eynhallow (Orkney) - Exact location unknown
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 14 July 1990
Further Comments: Two birdwatchers that vanished without trace on the island after arriving with 86 other people were thought by locals to have been taken by merfolk. An extensive search by the coastguard could find no trace of the missing people.


Old postcard of Falmouth Bay.

Morgawr Monster

Location: Falmouth (Cornwall) - Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1975 / 1976 onwards
Further Comments: This huge lizard was seen several times during 1976 - one witness managed to take a couple of photographs of the creature. Several years prior to this sighting, two fishermen reportedly caught a hairy monster about six metres in length, five kilometres off the coast. In the mid-1980s a student volunteer witnessed what he described as a 'dinosaur powering out to sea'.

Hopping Creature

Location: Falmouth (Cornwall) - Between Swanpool and Maenporth
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2007-2009
Further Comments: Several witnesses came forward over the first few months of 2009 claiming to have spotted a strange creature in bushes and trees in the area. Descriptions varied slightly between sightings, with one witness describing it as slightly larger than a dog, with a cat's face, walking on its hind legs. Another witness said it hopped away.

Guardian Beast

Location: Fern (Angus) - Castle of Vayne (ruins)
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Protecting a wealth of gold and jewels, this monster tends to remain hidden unless threatened by treasure hunters. Nearby, in a rock comprised of sandstone, there is said to be the imprint of a kelpie's hoof, and the demon horse itself is said to live in a nearby pool.

Sea Beast

Location: Filey (North Yorkshire) - Off Filey Brigg
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Sea monster seen in 1934
Further Comments: A coastguard reported a large sea monster with large glowing eyes off the coast here, its neck reaching 250cm from the water, its body a further 10 metres in length. A local legend tells how a dragon was killed by locals close to the location where the monster was seen.

Humped Creature

Location: Fintown (County Donegal) - Lough Muck
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1885
Further Comments: A female witness reported seeing a strange creature with two humps in the lough.

Giraffe's Neck

Location: Firth of Clyde (Argyll and Bute) - Cumbrae Islands - waters off Great Cumbrae
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: August 1911
Further Comments: A partly submerged creature with a neck not dissimilar to that of a giraffe, though it had the head of a camel, was seen in the waters by several fishermen.

Black Creature

Location: Firth of Forth (Fife) - Waters of
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1873 / 1939
Further Comments: The earlier sighting here lasted around fifteen minutes, and the serpentine creature was seen by over one hundred people. The twentieth century sighting was of a totally different creature, this time brown in colour and possessing a horse's head with large eyes.

Small Bear

Location: Fiskerton (Lincolnshire) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: This displaced animal was seen by several witnesses in different places, all within the same evening.

Luminous Water Horse

Location: Flemingston (South Glamorgan) - River Thaw and marshy land in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Early Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The water horse found here helped an old man cross the marshland without incident. Within hours of appearing, the marsh was flooded by a freak tide. Another story says that people can often feel frightened in the area for no real reason.


An old postcard showing the Forest of Dean.

Moose-Pig

Location: Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1802
Further Comments: A massive wild boar was said to live in the forest, large enough to knock down trees. A group of farmers hunted the creature but were unable to find the beast.

Little Man

Location: Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) - Poolway Colliery (no longer operational)
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: April 1926
Further Comments: 'A little, brown, man-like creature' was found at this mine - witnesses used sticks to move it, but it was 'lost' a short time later.

Well Dweller

Location: Fornham All Saints (Suffolk) - Well in the village (exact location unknown)
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: An old story, most likely told to prevent children playing too close to the well, said a mermaid waited in the water at the bottom. She was ready to drown children who touched the water's edge.

Nygel

Location: Foula (Shetland) - Mills with water wheels
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Nygel was a water horse that appeared to hang around locations with water wheels, using its teeth to stop the wheel turning. It had a tail that arched over its back. One story said the creature entered a home of a local man; the occupant fled, and the building was left empty for thirty years.

Monster Attack

Location: Fraserburgh (Aberdeenshire) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1903
Further Comments: The fishing boat Glengrant reported coming under attack by a sixty metre long beast, with a horse's head, though the teeth were long and pointed. The monster only stopped ramming the boat after being shot by a crewman.

Bigfoot

Location: Friskney (Lincolnshire) - Friskney Nature Reserve
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 2014
Further Comments: After hearing of hairy hominid sightings in this area, the British Bigfoot Research Organisation visited the reserve and took a photograph which they later discovered showed a shadowy figure standing behind a tree.

Water Cow

Location: Gairloch (Highland) - Loch na Beiste
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1840
Further Comments: To kill the water cow, said to be the size of an upturned boat, the landowner tried to drain the loch. When this failed, he poured quicklime into the water to poison the creature.

Gallan Whale

Location: Gallan Head, Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1690
Further Comments: Martin Martin reported that a large mystery whale terrorised the fishing boats of Gallan Head. It would deliberately sink the boats before returning to eat the crew.

Sea Monster

Location: Galley Head (County Cork) - Sea off Galley Head, heading towards Queenstown
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 26 April 1907
Further Comments: Captain J.C. Robinson, famous for assisting in the rescue of 712 Titanic survivors, encountered a sea monster while acting Chief Officer of the Campania. The creature, which Robinson sketched, had a neck which rose eight or nine feet (243 - 274 centimetres) out of the water, the trunk of which was twelve inches (30 centimetres) thick.


An old postcard of Galway Bay.

Pig Fish

Location: Galway (County Galway) - Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 28 June 1885
Further Comments: A sea monster caught by a fishing crew was seen by thousands of people. The creature was described as nine and a half feet (2.9 metres) long, weighed 136 kilograms and had silvery skin. The head had a long pig-like snout, cow-like eyes, and two rows of teeth, each tooth around two inches (5 centimetres) in length. The creature also had an underbelly of sharp thorns. The Dublin Museum later identified the creature as a bramble shark.

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