Other Water
Monsters
An astonishing variety of other faery water beasts have been identified around the British Isles. This chapter groups together these obscure monsters.
Shoopiltee
On Shetland there is a species of water horse called the shoopiltee. One authority on the folklore of the islands has described the creature as a water deity in special charge of the sea and streams. It can appear in a number of forms, such as a sea monster to fishermen or, on land, in the form of a Shetland pony (or shelty).201
This water beast lives in burns near to water mills and is generally retiring in nature, vanishing into the streams or in a flash of fire. Local people once sacrificed ale or pins and coins to it to ensure good catches at sea. Its tail is said to be something like a waterwheel or propeller. In its equine form, the shoopiltee will carry riders away, careering over cliffs and into the sea. Sometimes, too, it appears as the “njugl” (see next page), making it clear that there is a great deal of overlap between the different monsters—in the minds of Shetland islanders at least.202
Tacharan
This is a tiny kelpie or water sprite found in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Several fords and pools are named after it, indicating its usual habitat, and it’s also celebrated in ballads. The name implies “dwarf” and emphasises its diminutive dimensions; interestingly, the word is also found in the compound tacharan-sithe, meaning a faery child or changeling. This usage emphasises the supernatural aspects of the creatures.203
Njugls
Occupying a midway point between kelpies and water horses is the Shetland njugl (or niggle, neogle, nygel, or noggle). It has a horse’s body and a human head—although some accounts describe it as a trow-like kelpie in the shape of a grey-coloured pony with large glaring eyes and terrible teeth. Rather like the shoopiltee, its tail is sometimes said to resemble a waterwheel or a propeller, although this telltale feature is kept hidden between the hind legs most of the time.204
The njugl frequents lochs, burns, meadows, and marshy ground. It will appear to travellers as a docile and tame pony, tempting them to ride it by its quiet and attractive nature. However, once they have mounted it, it dashes for the water. When the njugl reaches or enters the water, it vanishes and is replaced by a blue flame. Unlike mainland specimens, it seems that riders can escape the horse before it’s too late, either by simply leaping off, by invoking a holy name, or by plunging a knife into the beast’s back.205
The njugl also appears near water mills and will stop the wheel turning so as to force the miller to come outside, at which point he finds a saddled grey pony quietly grazing. Once again, if he is foolish enough to mount it, the miller will get a ducking, being carried out to sea in a flash of fire. The njugl’s less malign habit is to surface suddenly and scare passing children. Only a silver bullet can kill the beast, but it can be scared off by throwing either a knife or a lighted brand or torch at it. Even a few sparks falling on the water seem sufficient to drive the njugl out to sea. Another proven remedy is to recite passages of scripture to the monster should you encounter one.206
Nuckelavee
This sea monster from Orkney was part horse and part terrifying man. The nuckelavee has been described as having a huge head like a man’s but with a pig’s snout and a very wide maw, from which came breath like steam. There is only one eye, and that is as red as fire. The body is like a horse’s but with fins as well as legs. In the middle of the back there sprouts what seems to be a rider, except that he has no legs but rather grows directly from the horse. Overall, the creature has no skin, just raw flesh with black blood visible flowing in yellow veins.207
The nuckelavee’s breath is venomous, and it is able to wreak destruction on the land, blighting crops and livestock and devouring anyone it meets, but at the same time, it seems oddly vulnerable. The monster doesn’t like fresh or running water, so it never appears in the rain, and it can’t cross flowing streams—a fact which of course gives those unlucky enough to meet it some hope of escape.208
The development of the kelp burning industry on the islands is believed to have driven the nuckelavee away with the noxious smell produced, although it took revenge by inflicting a cattle plague on the inhabitants.209
In the rest of northern Scotland, the role of the nuckelavee is performed by the uilebheist, a sea monster with several heads.
Shellycoat
On Loch Lomond, just where the River Ettrick flows into the lake, there lives a foal covered in seaweed and seashells, which is called Shellycoat. It is a benign beast and merely plays tricks on local people and, in any event, its approach is always announced by the rattling of its shells. For example, two men travelling at night heard a voice crying “Lost! Lost!” They followed it but were led up the river for miles until they realised that they were being “led” by the horse. Shellycoat then galloped off ahead, laughing at their predicament.210
Shellycoat is also known around the east coast of Lowland Scotland. Here, it’s reputed to have a touchy temper, so that those who offend it might expect to be thrashed and the sound of its shell coat rattling will instil fear. As a result, the creature has had various local names along the lines of “smiter” or “beater.” One man at Leith on the shore of the Firth of Forth so annoyed the Shellycoat there that it picked him up with its teeth and tossed him to and fro until he was dead. Rather like a selkie, the source of Shellycoat’s power is said to be that shell-covered coat, which could be removed and hidden under a rock on the shore.211
The Boobrie
The boobrie is a mysterious being of the Scottish Highlands that often appears as a bird but which can also take the form of either a water horse or a water bull (in which cases it’s called the tarbh boibhre). Its call sounds like a bull bellowing, although it is said to prefer horse shape. As a bird, the boobrie has a long neck and bill and webbed feet with large claws. It inhabits inland lochs and will consume calves, sheep, and otters.212
Biasd na Srogaig
This creature is unique to the Isle of Skye and seems to be some sort of horse. The name means “the beast of the horn,” and it is evidently a sort of unicorn, which has a single horn on its forehead as well as very long and very clumsy and ungainly legs. It lives in lochs and is mainly used as a “bogey” to scare children now.
A related creature is the “big beast of Lochawe,” which was reputed to have twelve legs and to look like a horse—or sometimes an eel. It would be heard in the winter, breaking the ice on the surface of the loch.213
Manx Horses
On the Isle of Man, there are two horselike faery beasts, the cabbyl ushtey (water horse) and the glashtyn, glashtin, or glashan. The horse lives both in rivers and in the sea. It poses a constant threat to the islanders’ livestock, as it will emerge from watercourses and rip cattle to pieces. Sometimes it even carries off children. The cabbyl is white or brown in colour, and there are said to be several in rivers and marshy spots across the island. In the parish of Lonan, a cabbyl ushtey or cabbyl vooir (big horse) has frequently been seen at twilight on the seashore or on the tracks leading up the cliffs. It is said to be white or dun coloured, and it can travel as easily in the sea as upon the land. It might carry off unwary riders who mount it, but unlike the Scottish examples, these victims do not drown but find that they can breathe underwater. The cabbyl might, too, consent to be haltered and used by farmers; it’s very strong and easily hauls up loads of seaweed from the beaches to fertilise the fields.214
The hob-like glashtyn, who undertakes heavy labour on farms, is also, curiously, known to appear in the guise of a water horse. This dark grey colt is found in several locations across the island, haunting boggy fields and pools and emerging at night onto meadows and lake banks. Sometimes it is seen mixing with herds of mountain ponies. The glashtyn in horse form seemed to be quite small, and there are no mentions of it posing a threat to either livestock or humans; in the shape of a one-year old lamb it would get amongst the flocks in the fold and cause mischief but no harm. The glashtyn has been known to give people a fright by galloping off if they are foolhardy enough to mount it. Luckily, it’s possible to jump clear of these Manx beasts, something that’s not possible with the Scottish equivalents. If you ever come across a solitary horse on the Isle of Man, examine it carefully before getting too close. If it has human ears, you’re dealing with a glashtyn.215
It’s interesting to note that the glashtyn, with its horse and human forms, is closely mirrored by the glaistig of the Scottish Highlands. This being, which I’ll describe in detail in part 2 later, may appear as either a woman or as a pony, in which form it may help people across rivers in a flood. It may also take equine form merely to play tricks on people, such as nibbling at the thatch of their cottages at night.216
There’s also a second fae horse on the Isle of Man called the cabbyl oie or “night horse,” who appears to be of largely benign disposition and may just be another manifestation of the cabbyl ushtey. He roams the roads of the island at night and will willingly carry travellers who are out late home to their doors. However, if the horse takes a dislike to the person it’s carrying, it may toss them off or even carry them away into a river or the sea (unless they’ve protected themselves with a blessing). There is also a possible third type of faery horse, called by some the “spirit horse.” Galloping hooves have frequently been heard across the island without there being any horses in the vicinity who might have produced the sound. Other witnesses have seen a white horse, often high on the mountains, and some strange hooved tracks have also been found.217
Ceffyl y Dwr
The Welsh ceffyl y dwr (water horse) closely resembles Scottish equivalents. Its appearance heralds drownings, and it may even cause these itself, carrying off unwary riders into lakes—or into the sky. However, a clergyman is able to ride one of the ceffyl without danger, just so long as he remains silent for the duration of his journey.218
There is also an isolated report of the Welsh sea-horse. These are very shy and extremely seldom seen, but they will occasionally come ashore, both in the day as well as at night, and graze in fields. The slightest noise will spook them, though, at which they will flee to the sea or vanish into the clouds.219
Tangie
On Orkney and Shetland, tangy can be another name for the sea-trow (chapter 1), but there was also a sea-horse called the tangie that rides on the waves, stirring them up. He is said to try to catch mortal girls as wives by suddenly rushing up the shore on the surf. Tangie is very distinctive, being cream coloured with a white mane and blue eyes. Sometimes the tangie gets mixed up with the kelpie and the each uisge, so that there are also reports of tangies appearing as black horses that will gallop away with unsuspecting riders over cliffs, turning into blue flames as they plunge into the waves.220
Water Fuathan
The fuathan are a large group of vicious beings, many of which are water sprites living in salt- and freshwater, particularly around river crossings and waterfalls. The name has been glossed as meaning “the spirit of panic” or as “evil spirit.” It derives from a verb meaning “to hate” and may most simply be translated as spectre or phantom.221
Amongst the fuathan are numbered many creatures that might also be called urisks (see part 2 for “land fuathan”) as well as the fideal and the cuachag, which were mentioned earlier. Because the term applies to such a wide range of supernatural beasts, it’s not safe to generalise about their temperaments. Some can be friendly and harmless, but probably the majority are dangerous monsters and are so called in Gaelic—athach. The fideal lived in Loch na Fideil near Gairloch and lured men into the water, perhaps by challenging them to fight, where she hugged them until they drowned. The fuath known as the cuachag inhabited the river in Glen Cuaich and was similarly perilous, causing floods and being appeased with offerings.222
Some fuathan seem to have a sort of communal moral function, policing the usage of bodies of water and their resources, over and above their pure nastiness. In the Hebrides it was regarded as wrongful to kill fish during the spawning season—for understandable reasons. If you did, you would be cursed and a fuath would pursue you. Several stories are told to illustrate how this social crime was punished. A man called Alexander, of Buaile Mor on South Uist, was fishing in a stream one night when he saw a figure approaching downstream. He called to the stranger to step away from the water so as not to frighten the fish; the man complied but then Alexander realised something like a mill wheel was rolling towards him. Hurriedly, he gathered up his catch and gear and made off. The fish he’d caught he hid under a rock and then headed for the nearest house. Crossing the moor, however, he was repeatedly thrown down. The next morning, returning to collect his catch, Alexander found that all had gone save for one he had ripped the head off by standing on it during his hurried departure the night before. A second man called Ronald, who lived at Bornish, was fishing with a net at spawning time. When he tried to haul in his net, he realised a gigantic man held the other end. Ronald fled but was pursued all the way home by the fuath. Alasdair Mor of Skye was another who was fishing during the night at spawning time when he was joined by an unknown figure. In this case, when dawn came, his companion disappeared in a flash of flame and all the fish they had landed together turned out to have disappeared. Lastly, three men who went fishing at Hornary found a man unknown to them standing on the stepping stone in the stream they meant to net. He held out his hand and helped two across; to the third he said, “Your hour is not yet come.” The other two fell ill and soon died.223
Conclusions
Very little is known about many of the water beasts described in this last chapter of part 1. Many do not conform to the clearer boundaries that applied to many of the beasts I described earlier. Whilst it was often possible to separate out freshwater and marine dwellers, several of these last creatures may be found in both environments.
Differences aside, the basic lesson in all cases is to be extremely cautious. Be careful when you are alone near any body of water and be extremely wary of any person or animal you meet there. Other than merfolk (and they’re not to be trusted 100 percent), water beasts are malevolent and deadly. Although a few lucky and well-prepared individuals have managed to get the better of them, most humans who have had close encounters have done well to have a lucky escape. Fascinating as the water beasts may be, they should be avoided, or at the very least approached with the utmost care.
201. Hibbert, Shetland Isles, 525, 565.
202. J. Haldane Burgess, “Some Shetland Folk-lore,” Scottish Review 25, 92.
203. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica, vol. 2, 367.
204. County Folk-lore 3, 189; James Nicolson, Shetland (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1984), 55–59.
205. Blind, “New Finds in Shetlandic,” Gentleman’s Magazine, no. 252 (January–June 1882): 369.
206. Marwick, The Folklore of Orkney, 23; Saxby, Shetland Traditional Lore, 140; J. Haldane Burgess, “Some Shetland Folk-lore,” Scottish Review 25, 92.
207. Dennison, “Orkney Folk-lore: Sea Myths,” in Scottish Antiquary 5, 131.
208. Douglas, Scottish Faery and Folk Tales, 197.
209. Marwick, The Folklore of Orkney, 23.
210. Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of, 543; Folk-lore and Legends, 184; Stephen Oliver, the Younger [pseud.], Rambles in Northumberland, and on the Scottish Border […] (London: Chapman and Hall: 1835), 97; Douglas, Scottish Faery and Folk Tales, 181; Briggs, Dictionary of Fairies, “Shellycoat.”
211. Spence, Minor Traditions, 17–18.
212. Henderson, Survivals in Belief, 145; Campbell, Popular Tales, vol. 4, 307.
213. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands, 217–8.
214. Gill, A Manx Scrapbook, 226; Douglas, “Restoring to Use Our,” 19.
215. Roeder, Manx Folk-Tales, 25; Moore, Folklore of the Isle of Man, chapter 4; C. Roeder, ed., Manx Notes & Queries, With an Account of […] (Douglas: S. K. Broadbent & Co. Ltd., 1904), 98; Gill, A Manx Scrapbook, chapter 4; Gill, A Third Manx Scrapbook, chapter 3, section 6; Campbell, Popular Tales, vol. 1, xlvi; Douglas, “Restoring to Use Our,” 18.
216. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands, 180, 183.
217. Gill, A Manx Scrapbook, chapter 4; Moore, The Folk-lore of the, chapter 4; Roeder, Manx Folk-Tales, 22; Train, Isle of Man, vol. 2, chapter 18; Gill, A Third Manx Scrapbook, chapter 2.
218. Owen, Welsh Folk-lore, 138.
219. Blind, “New Finds,” Gentleman’s Magazine, no. 252 (January–June 1882), 478.
220. Saxby, Shetland Traditional Lore, 140; George Stewart, Shetland Fireside Tales; Or, The Hermit of Trosswickness (Lerwick: T & J Manson, 1892), 136.
221. Campbell and Hall, Strange Things, 249.
222. Mackenzie, Scottish Folk-Lore and Folk Life, 235–36; Nicholson, Golspie, 78–79.
223. A. Goodrich-Freer, “The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides,” Folklore 10 (1899): 273–4.