The Paranormal Database

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

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Highland Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Long Necked Creature

Location: Kyle of Lochalsh - Water separating Skye to mainland
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1893
Further Comments: A married couple in their yacht encountered a serpent with a neck as tall as their boat's mast. It moved towards them, but slowly sunk beneath the water before it came too close.

Tordeas

Location: Kylesku - Kylesku Ferry Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Last seen mid twentieth century, but reoccurs once a year (exact date unknown)
Further Comments: The ghost of this man, killed during a fight with his own son, appears once a year and stands at the base of the ladder from which he was pushed.

Thomas MacKay

Location: Lairg - Manse (no longer standing) and general area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century?
Further Comments: Since dying in 1803, the Reverend Thomas MacKay has been seen in the area where he once lived.

Glowing Light

Location: Latheronwheel - High vantage point overlooking village
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1900s
Further Comments: A strange light that loitered along the coast was thought by locals to be a warning to a shipping disaster that happened off the coast the following day.

Beithir

Location: Loch a' Mhuillidh - Area around the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown, but active during the summer months
Further Comments: This large water snake was said to be around three metres in length.

Gabriel

Location: Loch Achanalt - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This water beastie, nicknamed Gabriel, is reputed to be reptilian and some fifteen metres in length.

Basking Beast

Location: Loch Arkaig - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: October 1857
Further Comments: This creature, with a head like that of a horse and a single hump, rested ten metres from the shoreline, before slowing sinking beneath the water. A legend says that the Jacobites once hid a collection of treasure in the waters of the loch, where it remains.

Fighting

Location: Loch Ashie - Shores around, and to the moors east of, Loch Ashie and Loch Duntelchaig
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 May (reoccurring), last seen 1870/71, heard 1999
Further Comments: Accompanied by silence, a battle has been seen raging once a year on the muddy banks of this loch. It was said to have been last heard during the summer of 1999.

Sounds of Murder

Location: Loch Assynt - Banks of the loch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 11 March (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The site where a debt ridden schoolmaster killed a peddler for his gold is marked once a year by the sounds of the crime being re-enacted - the crack of something hard being brought down on the salesman's head, followed by footsteps, a body being dragged, and the splash as the corpse is thrown into the water.

Horse Headed Beast

Location: Loch Assynt - Waters of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1850s
Further Comments: Seen twice during the 1850s by the same witness, the man claimed the creature had a horse's head.

Baritone

Location: Loch Avon (aka Loch A'an) - Little stream leading to the loch, above and to the right of the Shelton Stone
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1900(?), after midday
Further Comments: Several times around this area, a witness visiting the area to sketch, would hear the clear notes of a baritone. The voice, loud and clear, sounded no further than ten feet (three metres) away, although the witness could never find the source.

Fantastic Horse

Location: Loch Borralan - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This loch monster will disguise itself as a radiant white horse, enabling it to walk up to victims before pulling them into the loch's murky waters.

Water Kelpie

Location: Loch Borrolan - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When two fishermen vanished along the banks of the loch, the only items a search party could find were a brace of fish, two fishing rods, and large hoof prints in the sand which came from and disappeared back into the loch.

Monster

Location: Loch Canisp - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The loch is said to be home of an unidentified water beast.

Horse Man

Location: Loch Chuaich (aka Loch Quoich) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A water horse that lived in the loch would often be seen floating around on its side. On one occasion the creature took the form of a man and tried to enter a former soldier's home. Bullets did not harm the water horse, but a silver coin fired from the gun drove the creature away.

Vanishing Car

Location: Loch Cluanie - A87 running alongside the loch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1940s
Further Comments: This car would be seen from the distance, vanishing as it moved closer to the witness.

Kelpie

Location: Loch Coruisk - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lake monster would take the form of a beautiful horse which would try to drown anyone who tried to mount it.

White Horse

Location: Loch Dornoch - Straight piece of road lined with trees on both sides
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2001
Further Comments: Witness Mr Morrison stopped his car suddenly when he encountered a white horse ridden by a Victorian man in the middle of the road. Both entities vanished quickly into the distance.

The Seal People

Location: Loch Duich - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area is home to a colony of seal people - sea creature while in the water, human when they climb out... Mermaids have also been reported, as have sea serpents.


Loch Eil, Scotland.

Water Creature

Location: Loch Eil - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This loch is home to another one of Scotland's lake monsters, though there appears to be only one recording sighting. This described a black worm-like head with a three foot (ninety centimetre) neck which quickly vanished beneath the surface of the water.

Hanging Butler

Location: Loch Ericht region - Benaldar Cottage
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A small hut designed as a mountaineer's rest, this cottage is reportedly haunted by a manservant who could stand life no more.


Fictious illustration from Detective Weekly of a creature emerging from a loch.

Long Necked Monster

Location: Loch Feith an Leothaid - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1930s
Further Comments: A creature with a neck between four and five feet high popped up next to a man rowing his boat across this loch.

My Little Water Pony

Location: Loch Garget Beag - Banks of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Summer 1938
Further Comments: While walking with a friend and carrying a heavy bag of venison, Mary Falconer of Achlyness spotted thirteen ponies which resembled her neighbours. As she approached one, intending to borrow it to carry her bag, Falconer noticed that one horse's mane contained strands of water weed. The string of ponies then bolted into the loch, vanishing beneath the water.

Water Horse

Location: Loch Garten - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Another body of water thought to be home to one of these formally unidentified creatures, this loch monster was described as a cross between a horse and a black bull which possessed incredible strength.

Water Horse House

Location: Loch Garve - Underwater
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This freshwater monster had a house built for him and his mortal bride - the general area of the property is known as the water there never freezes because of the home's open fire!

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