The North-West of Ireland has been a bit of a hot
bed for sightings of unusual aquatic animals over the years, most notably the
so called horse eels of Connemara;
supposedly large eels with a mane and a horse-like head. The belief in these
creatures was popularised by author Ted Holiday in his book The Dragon and the Disc.
Connemara certainly boasts a large number of
loughs, some isolated but many close together in a fairly small area, offering
a potentially useful resource for any foraging aquatic predator.
Google maps
Author and researcher Gary
Cunningham has been investigating the horse
eel phenomenon for over 20 years and has met a number of the original
witnesses. He has also recorded several more modern day encounters, some of
which have been published in The Mystery
Animals of Ireland.
The following account however has never been
previously published but was collected by Gary in 2013. This is certainly an
interesting sighting and may have a rather unusual explanation.
But let’s start at the beginning….
Lough Fee
Lough
Fee is a breath-taking lake, surrounded by steep picturesque hills. It forms part
of the Culfin River system, which includes Lough Muck and is about 2 miles from
the coast. It is around 2 miles long and a third of a mile wide. A road runs beside the lough which leads to
the coast. There are very few inhabitants in the area.
Google maps
On 1st August 2012, local man, PM watched a large unidentified animal swimming in Lough Fee. The day was
warm and the lough was mirror calm. The creature was first seen near a large
island in the Lough at around 10am, and PM took it at first sight for
someone in an inflatable dinghy. On closer observation however, he realised
that it was an animal which appeared to be white, similar to but larger than a
horse and weighing perhaps 2-3 tons. It was swimming away from his line of sight
and appeared to be using its front limbs to swim while keeping its head, neck
and shoulder region above the surface of the water. The animal appeared to have
ears, a square mouth and lips with a very horse-like head. It also appeared to
have a fin on its neck which Mortimer compared to that seen on eels such as
congers. He watched the animal for about 5 minutes before it submerged. It then
travelled onward to the far shore of the lough before disappearing. Under his
supervision Gary Cunningham produced the interesting drawing above.
The authors subsequently spent several hours with PM and his family in 2014. It was obvious that PM had definitely seen something which he couldn’t explain. He also related that his mother had heard tales of waterhorses in the area, but this appears to be the only recorded sighting of an unknown animal from Lough Fee.
Was it a horse-eel, waterhorse, or was there another possible, explanation (albeit rather difficult to believe), which may help explain some unusual sightings in years gone by which have added to Irish folklore?
The creature reminded me of something, I just couldn’t put my finger on it…
To be continued.
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