Lough Fahy creature

 

Lough Fahy

53.53251, -10.16187

 https://www.google.com/maps/@53.5305793,-10.1650318,3a,75y,94.83h,94.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqVLVnXxzcDezzJLZO-Nm1Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

Length 0.4 miles (620 m)Width 0.3 miles (457 m)

This freshwater lake is situated on Omey Island, a small uninhabited island off the coast of Galway which can be reached at low tide. It occupies 30% of the island and is a known habitat for otters. In 2003, Irish artist Sean Corcoran and his family had an encounter with an unusual animal whilst camping on the Island.

 

We were asleep in our tent when we heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the lake about 20 metres away. We listened for a while but curiosity got the better of us. I strapped on my little head torch and we crept out in the pitch black. Close to the shore I turned on the torch. What a shock! A vicious snarl right below us like a loud hiss followed immediately by a huge splash. We were both nearly knocked over with the fright but I tried my best to keep my head steady to see what it was. It swam the width of the lake from west to east in what seemed like a matter of seconds. It moved quietly but left a fairly big wake. When it got to the other side it clambered up onto a boulder at the water’s edge. It turned around, stood up on its hind legs (that appeared to be orange) and gave the most haunting screech. My wife's account of the incident give or take is the same as mine. Its body was dark, and I'd say it was about the size of a large Labrador, and about five foot tall when standing. It turned and disappeared into the darkness of the area that I call the Heart.

 

Corcoran went on to produce a sketch of the beast and this sighting has subsequently been linked with Irish creature the dobhar-chú.

Although the report does sounds very much like a surprise encounter with a very large otter, the family were adamant that the animal was nearly the size of a man when it reared up. In addition the orange coloured flippers are a unique feature for any indigenous mammal. The only animal that could be said to have something similar to this feature might be a juvenile walrus, which would also attain the sort of size described and in fact several walruses have been sighted around Connacht in recent years.

As a footnote to this episode, radio host Shane Dunphy spent a night at Omey Island in 2013 looking for its mystery inhabitant. He managed to record an eerie wailing sound. However despite the acoustics of the recording being slightly distorted and amplified, the authors found a strong similarity to the cries of a mink.

Fahy Lough animal (Bango Art)

 

Taken from our book

 

 

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Lough Brin-Christmas 1954

 

 

 

 

In late 1954 a local farmer had the first of what would turn out to be a number of strange sightings from Lough Brin in Co Kerry.

 

When forty year old farmer Timothy O Sullivan saw what he termed a monster in Lough Brin beside his home at Cappa, Blackwater, and Killarney on Christmas Day, he went home to procure his shotgun to shoot it but on returning the monster disappeared. Mr O Sullivan told this to our Killarney correspondent when he visited him yesterday. Lough Brin is at the foot of Cappa Mountain behind which is the MacGillicuddy Rocks and is 23 miles from the Kenmare and Killarney road. The lake is one mile long and a half mile wide and is very deep being 35 fathoms in places. It is a popular trout lake for anglers during the summer. Describing his experience on Christmas Day Mr O Sullivan said that he left his home about 3 0` clock to look at the cows. When passing the lake he saw two objects on the water which he took to be wild duck. However a back then surfaced and he saw that the two objects were fins each measuring about two feet long and two feet high. He judged that the monster was about 12 feet long at least. As he stood watching the object was only about 60 yards from the shore at the time. He saw it going under water and appearing again four times. He then returned home for his shotgun which he would ordinarily have with him only that it was Christmas Day. He returned to the lake with his wife and both of them saw a strange object but before he was able to fire it disappeared and did not again come to the surface. Asking his wife her opinion of the length of the monster she said it was twelve feet at least. Speaking to other people in the district our correspondent found a real belief in the existence of phenomena in the lake. Recalled was the story from a young boy named John O Mahoney who about 15 years ago told how he escaped from a monster which was basking on the shore of the lake and it had four short legs. At the time no attention was paid to the story related by the boy. O Mahony has since emigrated to America. Another man says that he has heard large splashes in the lake at night while still another recounts that from the top of a mountain he saw a huge wave in the centre of the lake. Mr O Sullivan told our correspondent that the old people used to speak of a big worm in the lake which they thought was the ghost of Finn MacCool who was hunting in the woods around Killarney, his dog Bran followed a deer over the mountains. The deer escaped and Bran was drowned in Lough Brin, which is called after the dog. Although Mr O Sullivan has kept an eye on the lake since Christmas he has not again seen the monster.

 

Irish Examiner-Monday 3^rd January 1955

 

Sightings continued over the next year or so and further information revealed a possible reason for this intrusion, suggesting the possibility of a foraging predator.

 

The monster which has been appearing during the past two years on Lough Brin about 14 miles from Kenmare has been seen twice in the water in the past week. The lake a beautiful and lonely stretch of water is situated about 4 miles from Glencar. The monster was seen by a local farmer Mr James Doyle and his wife and also by Mr O Sullivan whose land adjoins Lough Brin and whose dwelling house overlooks the lake. Mr Doyle told our correspondent that he had seen the monster this week. Although the evening was misty he thought that it was about 11 feet long and humped like a camel. The local farmers said that Lough Brin had been well filled with brown trout and provided excellent fishing. Salmon also made their way up the River Blackwater into the lake. Now they claim that there is not a fish in the lake and presume that the fish have been devoured by the monster. They also state that they have made representations to the Kerry Fishery Board to have the lake dragged in the hope of finding the monster but that nothing has been done about it. The monster apparently only appears on misty afternoons and swims for a time on the surface of the water then dives to reappear a second and a third time.

Irish Examiner-Wednesday August 16^th 1956

 

Is there more than one monster lurking in the placid waters of Lough Brin? That is the question which is now agitating the minds of the people living on the shores of this mountain tarn which lies at the back of the MacGillycuddy Reeks and is about 23 miles from Killarney. Following a report received from Mr Timothy O Sullivan, the 41 year old farmer whose home is on the side of Cappa Mountain which gently slopes to the lake, our Killarney Staff Reporter visited Lough Brin on Sunday. Timothy O Sullivan was the first man to report the appearance of this phenomenon in Lough Brin which he saw on Christmas day 1954. On that day he got the impression that the monster was 12 feet long and had two fins. At the time it was 60 yards from the shore and dived and surfaced four times. Since the presence of the monster became known it has been seen on several occasions and the different reports of locals and visitors now lead the residents to believe that there is more than one monster in the lake. Mr O Sullivan now believes that those unknown creatures must be breeding in the lake. He recently saw one basking on the shore of the lake. Describing its appearance he said” It had skin like an eel and was black in colour. It had a head like a snake and in appearance was like a reptile. It had four short legs which enabled it to travel at a very quick pace”. He added “They can travel as quick on land as in the water”. What makes the locals believe that the creatures are propagating in the lake is that in all recent reports different accounts have been given as to the shape and form. Some describe the “smaller fry” as being five feet long while those who have seen the larger creatures say they are about ten feet long with two humps on their backs which were originally taken to be fins. Lough Brin is one mile long and half a mile wide and in some parts it is 35 fathoms deep.

 

Kerryman- Saturday 1^st September 1956

 

Sixty-five years old retired farmer Daniel O'Shea of Dromlusk, spotted the jaw bone as he walked along the banks of the river which, flows from, the lake into Kenmare Bay. “I got curious when I saw this strange object in, the river bed and waded into the river and pulled it out," Mr. O'Shea said. After washing off the silt and sand he saw that it was the upper part of the jaw of some strange creature. It had two rows of teeth, each measuring about, and one inch square. The bone was twenty inches long from, the back of the skull to the tip of the snout. Unfortunately, the snout was broken off and. the two sides of the jaw separated.” Mr O'Shea believes that the rest of the remains may be buried in the silt at the lower end of a, deep pool, in, the river. However, present flood conditions would make a search for them, very difficult and it is not proposed, to look for them until the waters subside. It will be recalled that, six years ago a monster was reported to have been seen in, the lake by many local people. They said it was about 12 feet long and had two huge fins on its back. Lough Brin is at the foot of Cappa Mountain and is approached, off the road which, leads through, the mountains to Sneem from Moll's Gap on the main, Killarney Kenmare road. In the locality there is a real belief in the phenomena in, the lake. Older people there still, tell stories of a huge “worm “in the lake. A young boy named John O'Mahony is said to have seen, the monster basking on the shore of the lake some twenty years ago. He stated at the time that it had four legs .Other people talk of seeing: huge waves in the lake and one local farmer claims to have fired a shot at the monster.

Kerryman –Saturday 16^th December 1961

 

Google Street View

Abridged from Irish Aquatic Monsters

 

Lough Shanaheever

 

Lough Shanaheever

53.50444,-10.00528

 

 

 

The position of this lough is interesting as Lough Auna lies to the top right (see previous post). A small, shallow tributary connects them both.

 

 

 

 

1950s

The most famous report describes how a local man, Michael Canning, checked on a pregnant donkey on his way to work. He saw an animal circling the donkey and presumed it was a new-born foal. In his words; it was long…rather a bit high. It was black. The neck seemed a bit long. He later claimed that the animal had ears and legs. When asked about the presence of a tail, he stated that he had not seen one and was convinced that what he had seen had not been an otter.

2005

In May 2005, 17 year old S.L. had a sighting at Shanaheever. He saw an animal pulling itself along the river bank which he at first took to be a fox chasing ducks. It was 3-5 ft. (0.9-1.5 m) long with a relatively long neck and two front limbs that looked like flippers. He continued to watch it for half an hour before it hopped into the lough and swam away. 

 

 

Conclusion

Canning’s report is intriguing, He subsequently claimed that it was not an otter; it was too big and lacked a definitive tail. In keeping with all the accounts from Connemara there does not appear to be any large unknown animal involved the loughs are far too small. Therefore if it came from the sea the only explanation is a pinniped. However the indigenous pinnipeds of Europe do not have visible external ears and wouldn’t really be able to circle a donkey in the manner described. This has led the authors to speculate that it may have been an escaped sea-lion, a non-indigenous species to Europe, based on our research which has suggested that many of these creatures escaped form zoos, menageries and collections or were deliberately released. Such an explanation might also explain similar encounters from other areas during the same period of time. The 2005 sighting however does sound very much like an indigenous pinniped.

 

Google Street View

https://www.google.com/maps/place/53%C2%B030'16.0%22N+10%C2%B000'19.0%22W/@53.5020083,-10.0010905,3a,75y,324.13h,102.92t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1stZAE24m5iQZJZQFH7ueufQ!2e0!5s20190801T000000!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d53.50444!4d-10.00528