Ireland is truly a
beautiful place.
Not only does it boast a
unique Celtic heritage and culture brimming with magickal tales and mythology,
but it also has a colourful history of aquatic mystery animals and monsters. However
the true nature of this Irish aquatic bestiary has become blurred and obscured
due to the rich tapestry of folklore and religion in which it has become
entwined and tangled.
In recent year’s
researchers have investigated traditional tales of water-horses, horse-eels
and the dobhar-chú, and on occasion have uncovered modern-day accounts
which have then taken on a pseudo-life of their own, spawning numerous Irish
equivalents to the Loch Ness Monster. This in turn has created much bigger
phantom phenomena which doesn’t really exist.
There are so many facets to these fokloric entities, from the aughisky or water-horse to the so called horse-eels of Connemara and of course the Dobhar-chu. For those who relish this phenomena a good place to start are The National Folklore Archives incorporating The Schools Collection; local folkloric belief as transcribed by teachers 1937/8. There are endless hours of fun to be had reviewing the various regional stories, from the belief in fairies to aquatic monsters.
The authors of The Seal Serpent, Rob Cornes and Gary Cunningham have just completed a comprehensive review of the aquatic monster-lore of Ireland. We document in chronological order the various historic and folkloric tales from the four regions; Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht as well as attempt to evaluate the complex and complicated origin of the water-horse, the reality of the dobhar-chu and the horse-eels of Connemara. In fact in the case of the horse-eels we present the most comprehensive overview to date incorporating our own research and findings, the result of 20 years investigation into the mystery.
From lake monsters to sea serpents, hoaxes to Mermaids and monstrous eels, Irish Aquatic Monsters a Survey and Definitive Guide has them all.
