The Paranormal Database

Scapasaurus

Location: Holm (Orkney) - Deepdale
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: December 1941
Further Comments: The rotting corpse of a basking shark that washed up on the beach was mistaken as a Scapasaurus or sea monster, killed by depth charges.

Medieval boar.

Boar

Location: Holmrook (Cumbria) - Forest
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Wild boar have been reported living in this area of woodland.

Bigfoot

Location: Hopwas (Staffordshire) - Woodland
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 24 January 2015, 19:15h
Further Comments: According to the local press, a man walking his dogs through this woodland encountered a seven foot (2.13 metre) tall hairy biped. The creature walked across the track ahead of the witness and could be heard moving through the undergrowth.

Water Horse

Location: Hoy (Orkney) - Pegal Burn
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This creature would attack anyone using the bridge over the burn at night.

Water Horse

Location: Hoy (Orkney) - Runsigill Hill, Radwick
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The water horse that lived on the hill would attack people travelling along the road to Longhope.

An old postcard showing the Scapa coastline.

Soft Landing

Location: Hoy (Orkney) - Scapa Flow
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Attack in 1850s, diver sighting unknown
Further Comments: A young lad sitting on the rocks claimed he was attacked by a sea monster with a horse's mane - it tried (unsuccessfully) to clamp its teeth around his legs. Many years later, a diver reported descending to investigate a sunken German ship, only to realise he was standing on the back of a large sea monster that had made its home in the wreak.

Thick Necked Creature

Location: Hull (East Riding of Yorkshire) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1927-1930s
Further Comments: While travelling along the coast in heavy fog, the crew of a steamship spotted what they first mistook for a mast jutting out of the water. The 'mast' then moved to the side of the ship, the men realising that it was the neck of a large creature. It then drew a large black body from out the water, then dived and vanished. Sightings of the creature continued for several years.

Headless Bird Man

Location: Hythe (Kent) - Sandling Park
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 1963
Further Comments: A group of teenagers ran from a creature that emerged from behind a tree and approached them. It was described as man shaped but headless, completely black, had webbed feet, and a pair of large bat wings. Prior to this, they had watched a mysterious light flickering about the sky.

Carving of a merman in Chichester's St Mary's hospital.

Sea Folk

Location: Inchkeith (Fife) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area around the island was said to be home to many mermaids and kelpies.

Four Metre Eel

Location: Inchnadamph (Highland) - River in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: November 2003
Further Comments: This oversized eel (or eel-like creature) was seen swimming in the river - locals have claimed the creature has been around for the last ten years or so, both here and by Loch Assynt.

Coiled Serpent

Location: Instow (Devon) - Water between town and Bideford Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1911
Further Comments: This creature was seemingly disturbed by a passing boat and swam away, revealing rows of black fins that ran down the side of its twenty to thirty metre long body.

The River Ness passing through Inverness, Scotland.

First Nessie Sighting

Location: Inverness (Highland) - River Ness
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: AD 580
Further Comments: Contrary to popular belief, it was in the River Ness and not Loch Ness that St Columba drove away a water monster which had attacked and killed a local man. When told about the attack, the Saint asked one of his followers to swim across the river to fetch a boat on the opposite bank. As the creature surfaced to eat its latest victim, St Columba made the sign of the cross and the creature fled.

London Road in Ipswich.

Kangaroo

Location: Ipswich (Suffolk) - London Road
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 12 September 2011, around 16:00h
Further Comments: A driver and passenger reported seeing a young kangaroo travelling along a busy Ipswich road.

Man Eaten

Location: Isle of Arran (Ayrshire) - Thirty miles (south?) from Island
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 08 February 1827
Further Comments: A Quebec trading vessel claimed to have had a man consumed by a sixty-foot (18.3 metre) long serpent, as thick as a hogshead cask.

Resting Creature

Location: Isle of Arran (Ayrshire) - Unknown beach on the island
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 1931
Further Comments: This sea monster was observed resting on rocks - it was described as looking like a seal, though it had a parrot-like beak and was bigger than an elephant.

Long Necked Creature

Location: Isle of Canna (Highland) - Off the coast, and around surrounding islands
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1808
Further Comments: This creature, mistaken for a rock when first observed, was seen at various times by up to thirteen fishing boat crews. It was described as between 70 and 80 foot in length (21 - 24 metres) and possessing a long neck which it kept underwater whilst swimming.

White Figure

Location: Isle of Canna (Highland) - Sea, about quarter of the way between island and Skye
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1804
Further Comments: Neil McIntosh, steering a boat between the two islands in stormy weather, glimpsed a white human figure in the sea. McIntosh thought the creature to be a mermaid, although admitted he did not have much of an opportunity to examine it.

Dead Creature

Location: Isle of Hunda (Orkney) - Hope of Hunda
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: February 1942
Further Comments: The remains of a creature some 8.5 metres long were originally named as being that of a Scapasaurus, although later revealed to be a carcass of a basking shark.

Serpent

Location: Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) - Broad Bay area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa February 1830
Further Comments: A sea serpent spent a couple of weeks at this location, playing in the water. The creature, described as between 18 and 24 metres in length, had a mane like a horse and appeared white in colour.

Feolagan

Location: Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) - Kebock Head
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown (traditional)
Further Comments: The Feolagan was a small mouse-sized creature (or fairy) that would paralyse sheep by walking across the animal's back. The sheep would die unless the Feolagan was forced retrace its steps, or, if many sheep were affected, by capturing the Feolagan in a jar filled with salt and using the grains to cure the sheep.

Searrach Uisge

Location: Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) - Loch Suainbhal
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1856 onwards
Further Comments: Resembling a capsized boat, this creature has been reported swimming around for one and a half centuries. Locals say lambs were once offered annually to the creature.

Bumpy Beast

Location: Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) - Sea off the north of the island
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: May 1882
Further Comments: A German ship 15 kilometres off the coast reported a sea serpent around 40 metres in length, several bumps protruding from the water, along the creatures back. Sea serpents have also been reported at the southern side of the island.

An old woodcut of a tall sea monster.

Snakelike Beast

Location: Isle of Mull (Argyll and Bute) - Sea east of the island, and other nearby areas
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1808, and 1873
Further Comments: This creature, when first observed, possessed no fins, and was estimated to be twenty five metres in length. When seen again almost sixty years later, its speed was estimated to be around 15 kph, and was seen by several independent parties.

Mermaid

Location: Isle of Sanday (Highland) - Beach on north end of island
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1803
Further Comments: A mermaid perched on a rock threw herself into the sea when approached by two local men walking along the beach. After the mermaid entered the sea, the witnesses could see the creature's upper body resembled a woman.

Hybrid

Location: Isle of Sanday (Highland) - Exact area not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Folklorist Walter Traill Dennison recorded in 1893 that there were decedents of a union between a male selkie and a woman living on the island - you could tell who the offspring were because they had webbed hands and feet.