The Paranormal Database

Shaggy Creature

Location: A1075 (Norfolk) - Between Thetford and East Wretham, half a mile from the level crossing
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1986, and 22 December 2007
Further Comments: Driving towards Thetford from the direction of Watton, this witness spotted a large, long haired creature coloured greyish white. It had small ears, a long snout, large eyes, and stood on four legs. The witness drove past the beast three times in total, ensuring a good look at it; on the third pass the creature rose on its hind legs, taking an almost human form, and stood between six to eight feet tall. The driver quickly returned home, only returning two days later to look at the area again - the creature had gone, but there were tracks at the site suggesting something had been dragged. Another witness, a similar creature in December 2007, but said it was greyer in colour with black patches.

An overdramatic imagining of an Earth Hound.

Earth Hound

Location: Aberdeen (Aberdeenshire) - Churchyard, Mastrick
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1915
Further Comments: Earth hounds are said to be the size of a rat, but with a dog-like head and feet of a mole. They live in churchyards and eat the recently buried. A dead earth hound may have been ploughed up in the Mastrick churchyard.

Urisk

Location: Aberfoyle (Stirling) - Goblin's Cave, north base of Ben Venue
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This cave and the surrounding area are said to be the meeting place of many Urisk.

Genaprugwirion

Location: Abersoch (Gwynedd) - Burrows in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown - twentieth century?
Further Comments: Also known as a cenaprugwirion, this lizard is around thirty centimetres long with an orange head and large eyes. Karl Shuker has speculated that the creature is a tuatara, a living fossil found in New Zealand.

An old magic lantern slide of Aberystwyth.

Bathing Mermaid

Location: Aberystwyth (Dyfed) - Cliffs near the town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 1826
Further Comments: Twelve people watched a beautiful pale woman washing herself in the sea, with what appeared to be a black tail splashing around behind her.

Scaled Creature

Location: Achill Sound (County Mayo) - Glendarry Lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1960s
Further Comments: One witness said that this lake monster looked like a dinosaur, with scales running down the back. Another viewer observed the monster on the lake bank - he described it as four metres in length, with a long neck and a sheep's head. It moved in little 'hops'. A photograph taken in 1968 of the monsters is unconvincing.

Humped Creature

Location: Achmore, Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) - Loch Urabhal
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 27 July 1961
Further Comments: While fishing, two teachers watched a small headed creature with a single hump swim past their boat some thirty-five metres away. It surfaced three times before disappearing.

Nuckelavee

Location: All over isles (Orkney) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A hybrid, sea living creature, the Nuckelavee was described as having the features of both a mighty horse and its rider. The rider was legless and appeared to grow straight out of the horse's back. Its head was ten times the size of a normal human head, possessing a very wide mouth that jutted out like a pig's snout, and a single red eye that blazed with flame. It was both hairless and skinless. Nuckelavee's breath was toxic and it was responsible for the 'Mortasheen', a fatal disease of cattle.

The Otter King

Location: All over the region (Outer Hebrides) - No exact location given
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: Martin Martin recorded the tradition of a large otter with a white spot upon its breast. It was said that the king otter was always accompanied by seven normal otters. The pelt of the Otter King was said to offer magical properties to those who owned it.

Horse Dog

Location: Alloa (Clackmannanshire) - Inglewood Pond
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1975 and 1997
Further Comments: Previously spotted in 1975 by two women, the 1997 witness reported seeing a strange horse with the legs of a dog prancing around the woods in broad daylight. The entity quickly vanished.

Bigfoot

Location: Arbroath (Angus) - Woodland in the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: Local press reported that Charmaine Frase joined the British Bigfoot Research team having, as a child, twice encountering a tall figure in woodland. The creature was said to be seven foot (2.13 metres) with wide shoulders and no neck.

Drowned Man

Location: Aros, Isle of Mull (Argyll and Bute) - Loch Frisa
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While the specifics may vary from tale to tale, the loch is named as home to a water horse that drowned a local man known for his dissolute lifestyle.

Shadowy Creature

Location: Bagley Wood (Berkshire) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: May 2015
Further Comments: Walking through the woods after dusk, a couple found themselves chased by a large shadowy quadruped that stood just over a metre tall. One of the witnesses said it did not move like a deer or a dog. The woods is also reputedly home to a phantom highwayman.

An old postcard of Bala Lake in Wales.

Lost City

Location: Bala (Gwynedd) - Bala Lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: City unknown, Teggie observed March 1995
Further Comments: The first town of Bala is said to be concealed under the waters of this lake. In addition, a monster seen in 1995 and nicknamed 'Teggie' by locals, was described as resembling a humped crocodile, although a story published in the same year claimed recent sightings of the creature were a hoax. Teggie sightings date back to the 1960s, and the creature may have first been encountered by two men boating in the lake.

Stoned Monster

Location: Ballybay (County Monaghan) - Lough Major
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1911 or 1912
Further Comments: Three boys watched a weird water creature playing in the lake - they threw stones at the creature and ran when it approached them. They stated it had a hairy, horned head.

Great Fish

Location: Ballycotton (County Cork) - Somewhere between Ballycotton and Old Head of Kinsale
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa May 1906
Further Comments: A fishing vessel reported being attacked by a dark fish the size of a whale. The fish rammed the boat several times, only ceasing the assault when the captain ordered the engines to be killed; after half an hour, the fish disappeared.

Large Eel

Location: Ballynahinch (County Galway) - Bridge near to Ballynahinch Castle
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1880s
Further Comments: A long eel-like creature remained stuck under this bridge for two days.

AI impression of a thick, black eel under the lough.

Thick Eel

Location: Ballyronan (County Derry / County Londonderry) - Lough Neagh
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: Two people in a two man kayak quickly headed towards the shore after spotting a long black creature under the water with a body the thickness of two human legs. A local legend says that Lough Neagh is also home to fairies, who can be heard laughing, and that the lough was created when someone forgot that they had left the cover off a magic well.

Humanoid Beast

Location: Balvaig (Argyll and Bute) - Area in and around sea, and Grador Rock
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Incredibly ugly to look at, this monster would sit for many hours on the rock. One man went too close, and he was later found with his flesh clawed off.

Long Serpent

Location: Banff (Aberdeenshire) - Off coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1896
Further Comments: Eight crewmen of a lugger reported seeing a sea creature three hundred feet (ninety metres) long, with three huge humps. The beast made as much noise as a steamer while moving.

Shape Changers

Location: Bantry (County Cork) - Bay cliffs
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The mermaids said to live in this area would be capable of changing their shape as they came on to land. They would also be seen sitting on the rocks play harps.

Snake-like Creature

Location: Barmouth (Gwynedd) - Menai Straits
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1805
Further Comments: A ship was attacked by a sea serpent, which wrapped itself around the ships mast until the crew hit back - it fell back into the sea but followed the vessel for two more days before disappearing.

An old postcard of Barmouth Bay in Wales.

Sea Monsters

Location: Barmouth (Gwynedd) - Waters of the bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late twentieth century / early twenty-first century
Further Comments: Several sightings of various strange creatures have been over recent years, from the traditional sea serpent to a creature resembling a giant turtle with an egg shaped head and two spines jutting from its back. A blurred photograph taken in January 2016 that national press claimed was the monster was more than likely to have been a log.

Shagfoal

Location: Barnack (Northamptonshire) - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Similar to (or maybe identical to) a shuck, the Shagfoal is reported to resemble a large, black longhaired bear.

Women with Child

Location: Barra (Outer Hebrides) - Reef in Caolas Cumhan
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: Crofter Colin Campbell raised his rifle to fire at what he thought was an otter eating a fish but stopped when he realised the creature was a mermaid holding a child. The creature dived into the sea after Campbell made a noise.