New Research on Morag

Legend of Loch Ness to be overshadowed as new monster mystery is unearthed

THE Loch Ness monster may have some competition from another elusive Scottish beastie, as stories of Morag the monster dating back more than 100 years have been unearthed by academics.

By: Charlotte Meredith

Published: Tue, February 26, 2013

 

        The legend of Loch Ness has a new rival in the form of Morag
  

Morag is said to be a mysterious creature that inhabits the deepest, darkest depths of Loch Morar, in the Lochaber area of the Highlands– just 70 miles away from Loch Ness.

Alexander Carmichael, a prolific gatherer of folklore at the turn of the last century, gathered stories about her from people living near the loch.

Now, his scripts – which date from 1902 – have been unearthed by the Carmichael Watson project at the University of Edinburgh library.
The creature is paradoxically described as both a beautiful and ethereal mermaid-like character, and also as a horrifying grim reaper whose sighting was viewed as a death omen.

In the first text, Carmichael states: "Morag is always seen before a death and before a drowning."

A second text reads: "There is a creature in Loch Morar and she is called Morag. She is never seen save when one of the hereditary people of the place dies.

"The last time she was seen was when Aeneas Macdonnell died in 1898.

"The Morag is peculiar to Loch Morar. She is seen in broad daylight and by many persons, including church persons.

"She appears in a black heap or ball slowing and deliberately rising in the water and moving along like a boat water-logged.

"The Morag is much disliked and is called by many uncomplimentary terms."

Morag is often described as a mermaid-like creature

She appears in a black heap or ball slowing and deliberately rising in the water and moving along like a boat water-logged.

Alexander Carmichael

Dr Donald Stewart, a senior researcher on the project, surprisingly discovered the texts while browsing through a "mad mixture" of folklore collected by Carmichael over 50 years.

"We were so pleased when we found them, it was just totally unexpected," he said.

Speaking about the findings for the first time, the academic ominously said: "Clearly, there's something going on in Loch Morar, whatever it is.

"It shows that there were other monsters vying for popularity and Nessie happened to win out in the end. But there were a lot more of them out there."

A final description of the monster, penned by Carmichael at a later date, retains Morag's association with death but sees her take on more human characteristics.

He wrote: "Like the other water deities, she is half-human, half-fish. The lower portions of her body is in the form of a grilse and the upper in the form of a small woman of highly developed breasts with long flowing yellow hair falling down her snow white back and breast.

"She is represented as being fair, beautiful and very timid and never seen save when one of the Morar family dies or when the clan falls in battle.

More recent sightings have depicted Morag as a humped serpent-like creature similar to the more famous Nessie.

Morag is said to be a mysterious creature that inhabits the deepest, darkest depths of Loch Morar

The first recorded sighting of Morag in  Loch Morar – the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles – was in 1887, while in 1948 nine people in a boat claimed to have seen a 20ft-long creature in the loch.

Several books have been written about the elusive monster, including the Search For Morag tells of John MacVarish, barman at the Morar Hotel, who claimed he saw Morag on 27 August, 1968, while fishing on the loch.

He said: “I never saw any features, no eyes or anything like that. It was a snake-like head, very small compared to the size of the neck – flattish, a flat type of head. It was very dark, nearly black. It looked as if it was paddling itself along.”

His daughter, Eleanor Read, 63, said her father always stood by his story, adding: “He was not the sort of man to make things up.”

In 1969, two men claimed to have accidentally hit the creature in their boat. Morag is said to have disappeared after one of the men hit it with an oar while his companion opened fire with a rifle.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh University’s recent discovery of a new blood-biting super predator species could shine new light on the Loch Ness monster according to experts.

Scientists at Edinburgh University discovered the new species last week, the ancient bones of the creature were found in a clay pit near Peterborough over 100 years ago.

The new evidence suggests that the creature is distantly related to the modern day crocodile.
 

[Although recently a "Nessie" sort of creature is reported on Loch Morar, there is a good possibility that the historical mermaid-like Morag is based on a kind of seal that got stuck in the Loch: and over the years other kinds of creatures have been seen there as well. The Loch also has sightings described as being like big salamanders, and some sightings also seem to fall into the Master-otter category. - DD]