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 3rd 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 16th 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 1st 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 16th December 1961
Abridged from Irish Aquatic Monsters
