More from Scott Mardis

Development stages of the common European eel

The Leptocephalus stage is at the bottom.

Supplemental Giant Eel Sea Serpent Illustrations from Scott Mardis

Laocoon Serpents

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n

[One of the most important traditions about sea serpents  killing people is the story of Laocoon and his sons during the Trojan War-DD.]

 

History

Laocoön is a Trojan priest of Poseidon^[2] (or Neptune), whose rules he had defied, either by marrying and having sons,^[3] or by having committed an impiety by making love with his wife in the presence of a cult image in a sanctuary.^[4] His minor role in the Epic Cycle narrating the Trojan War was of warning the Trojans in vain against accepting the Trojan Horse from the Greeks—"A deadly fraud is this," he said, "devised by the Achaean chiefs!"^[5]—and his subsequent divine execution by two serpents sent to Troy across the sea from the island of Tenedos, where the Greeks had temporarily camped.^[6]
Laocoön warned his fellow Trojans against the wooden horse presented to the city by the Greeks. In the Aeneid, Virgil gives Laocoön the famous line "Equō nē crēdite, Teucrī / Quidquid id est, timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentīs", or "Do not trust the Horse, Trojans / Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts." This line is the source of the saying: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

Death

 

Death of Laocoön from the Vatican Vergil.

The most detailed description of Laocoön's grisly fate was provided by Quintus Smyrnaeus in Posthomerica, a later, literary version of events following the Iliad. According to Quintus, Laocoön begged the Trojans to set fire to the horse to ensure it was not a trick. Athena, angry with him and the Trojans, shook the ground around Laocoön's feet and painfully blinded him. The Trojans, watching this unfold, assumed Laocoön was punished for the Trojans' mutilating and doubting Sinon, the undercover Greek soldier sent to convince the Trojans to let him and the horse inside their city walls. Thus, the Trojans wheeled the great wooden Horse in. Laocoön did not give up trying to convince the Trojans to burn the horse, and Athena makes him pay even further. She sends two giant sea serpents to strangle and kill him and his two sons.^[7] In another version of the story, it was said that Poseidon sent the sea serpents to strangle and kill Laocoön and his two sons.{Emphasis added by DD]
According to Apollodorus, it was Apollo who sent the two sea serpents. Laocoön had insulted Apollo by sleeping with his wife in front of the "divine image".^[8]
Virgil employed the motif in the Aeneid. The Trojans, according to Virgil, disregarded Laocoön's advice and were taken in by the deceitful testimony of Sinon; in his resulting anger, Laocoön threw his spear at the Horse. Minerva, who was supporting the Greeks, at this moment sent sea-serpents to strangle Laocoön and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus. "Laocoön, ostensibly sacrificing a bull to Neptune on behalf of the city (lines 201ff.), becomes himself the tragic victim, as the simile (lines 223–24) makes clear. In some sense, his death must be symbolic of the city as a whole," S. V. Tracy notes.^[9] According to the Hellenistic poet Euphorion of Chalcis, Laocoön is in fact punished for procreating upon holy ground sacred to Poseidon; only unlucky timing caused the Trojans to misinterpret his death as punishment for striking the Horse, which they bring into the city with disastrous consequences.^[10] The episode furnished the subject of Sophocles' lost tragedy, Laocoön.
In Aeneid, Virgil describes the circumstances of Laocoön's death:

From the Aeneid Ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno, clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit: qualis mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram taurus et incertam excussit cervice securim.

Literal English translation: At the same time he stretched forth to tear the knots with his hands his fillets soaked with saliva and black venom at the same time he lifted to heaven horrendous cries: like the bellowing when a wounded bull has fled from the altar and has shaken the ill-aimed axe from its neck.

John Dryden's translation:[11] With both his hands he labors at the knots; His holy fillets the blue venom blots; His roaring fills the flitting air around. Thus, when an ox receives a glancing wound, He breaks his bands, the fatal altar flies, And with loud bellowings breaks the yielding skies.

The death of Laocoön was famously depicted in a much-admired marble Laocoön and his Sons, attributed by Pliny the Elder to the Rhodian sculptors Agesander, Athenodoros, and Polydorus, which stands in the Vatican Museums, Rome. Copies have been executed by various artists, notably Baccio Bandinelli. These show the complete sculpture (with conjectural reconstructions of the missing pieces) and can be seen in Rhodes, at the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, Rome, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and in front of the Archaeological Museum, Odessa, Ukraine, amongst others.
The marble Laocoön provided the central image for Lessing's Laocoön, 1766, an aesthetic polemic directed against Winckelmann and the comte de Caylus. Daniel Albright reengages the role of the figure of Laocoön in aesthetic thought in his book Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Literature, Music, and Other Arts. [cite El Greco painting]
In addition to other literary references, John Barth employs a bust of Laocoön in his novella, The End of the Road. The R.E.M. song "Laughing" references Laocoön, rendering him female ("Laocoön and her two sons"). The marble's pose is parodied in the comic book Asterix and the Laurel Wreath. American author Joyce Carol Oates also references Laocoön in her 1989 novel American Appetites. In Stave V of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (1843), Scrooge awakes on Christmas morning, "making a perfect Laocoon of himself with his stockings". Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly begins with an extensive analysis of the Laocoön story.
In Hector Berlioz opera Les Troyens, the death of Laocoon is a pivotal moment of the first act after Aeneas entrance, sung by eight singers and a double choir ("ottetto et double chœur"). It begins with the verse "Châtiment effroyable" ("frightful punishment").

 

 

Since we are dealing with serpent-shaped SeaSerpents these were probably Giant eels. Heuvelmans makes mentions in several places about a larger version of the Mediterranean speckled moray, which he also calls he "Camoflage Eel" However, there is really very little support for the notion, only a couple of not really good reports. Instead I prefer the idea that the tradition was meant to refer to the more common "Megaconger" eels which have been occasionally reported as chasing human swimmers in the water (Such as the "20 foot Conger" seen chasing a swimming man off Singapore reported in Mysterious Monsters)

 

 

Longneck Map and Reconstruction Update

This updates the older map I had which indicated water monsters of North America, out of which the Longnecks were category 12. The upper part of the Mississippi River system has been added and "Pepie" put in as a key representative: actually the Mississippi river had been previously indicated and Lake Pepin is only a broadening of a stretch of the river. This is illustrating the notion that most sightings are Riverine and temporary: the creatures have moved into and out of several lakes over the past 150 years so really the focus should be on their use of the river rather than talking about their being "Lake Monsters". The same situation is what holds for the East Coast and West Coast of North America. Incidentally the occasional giant eels (Megaconger) overlap in much the same range. The Illustration below went with this map in the original work.

Below are some revised composite illustrations for the same two types. These are donations from somebody else and I made only minor changes along with adding the human figures for scale. On the top one I did feel the need to add some black lines for clarity. The perspective is different on the second one because the artist chose to make it parallel to the underwater photos at Loch Ness.

 

Reconstruction of the average Longneck using Loch Ness Monster data as typical of the series. The reconstruction has a sort of "Fish-eye effect rather tan being mounted directly from the side, and the tail angles away at an indefinite angle. The big hump on the back could alternatively have  been represented as three humps close together (as per Heuvelmans), according to the creator of the model
                      

 

The situation in the Pacific Norwest is complicated  because a movie company took some liberties with a story about a Sea Serpent which divided its time between Lake Washington and Puget Sound

 http://www.willatuk.com/willatuk/Who-is-Willatuk/who-is-willatuk.asp
The problem is that the name and "History" for Willatuk was entirely made up for the one amateur film and that film's time has cone and gone Nonetheless there HAS BEEN historically a Seattle/Puget Sound version of "Cadborosaurus" for some time, There has been a reported "Lake Washington Sea Serpent" for some time, consensus of opinion is that both of them look like a Plesiosaur, and the "Traditions" of the (Made-up) Willatonka tribe can be charitably looked upon as an overly enthusiastic white man's retelling of some Sisiutl stories, or their local equivalent. So all of the "Willatuk" material is made up, BUT it is probably no more misleading than much of the hype told about any other local "Sea Serpent" up to including the Loch Ness Monster.

 

Promotional materials for the Willatuk movie. These are all made up

scenes for publicity BUT they do correspond to genuine reports and Folklore

in such a way that they can be said to stand in for the genuine traditions.

So if any of the locals takes to calling the Lake Washington Sea Serpent  "Willatuk" instead, they can probably be forgiven, because the made-up Sea serpent is near enough to the real traditions to pass. I do not know if any of it continues to "Stick" locally though. The basic idea that most experts including Heuvelmans have is that ALL Sea-serpent reports off the West Coast of North America, from Alaska to California are local variations on "Cadborosaurus". There is also something to be said for that idea and at the same time also it is an idea that is very misleading. At one point, "Cadborosaurus" was a made-up journalistic category, it was not the name of any longstanding tradition, but it was a convenient label that could be used to cover the whole range of reports which were coming in.
Eberhard lists Lake Washington as one which has "Monster" reports but only indicates that sturgeon were the cause of sightings in that area. Other sources indicate ongoing sightings of a "Reptile"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Washington

Here is a photo of the Lake Washington monster Sturgeon. Lake Washington is only a little way in from the sea and could easily have more than one kind of "Monster" in it. This is interestingly enough from a Swedish newspaper that wonders if the monster in lake Stosjon could not also be a similar type of sturgeon.

Giant Snakes of the Mediterranean and North Africa

Mediterranean Giant Snake
Large Snake of Southern Europe. Variant name: Colovia.
Physical description: Length, 6–33 feet. Green. Distribution: Southern Spain; southern France; northern and central Italy; Greece; Serbia. Significant sightings: On July 22, 1969, a 7- foot, green snake caused a traffic accident when it crossed a road near Chinchilla de Monte Aragón, Albicete Province, Spain. A 6-foot snake with a huge head was seen several times on a farm in Orihuela, Alicante Province, Spain, in June 1970. A monstrous serpent with a mane and a head like a baby’s was seen in July 1973 near Aceuche, Cáceres Province, Spain. Snakes up to 33 feet long have been seen on Ovcˇar Mountain near Cacˇak, Serbia. Near Ivanjica in the summer of 2000, a bus had to stop because a 33-foot snake was crossing the road. Possible explanation: Stray specimens of the poisonous Montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus), a gray, brownish, or olive-colored colubrid snake that can attain a length of 9 feet. It lives along the coasts of Spain, southern France, and Liguria in Italy; in North Africa from Morocco to Tunisia; and in Cyprus, Greece, and the Balkans. However, it may be expanding its range. Sources: Ulrich Magin, “European Dragons: The Tatzelwurm,” Pursuit, no. 73 (1986): 16–22; Bernard Heuvelmans, “Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals with Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned,” Cryptozoology 5 (1986): 1–26; Paolo Cortesi, “The Big Serpent,” INFO Journal, no. 71 (Autumn 1994): 49–50; Marcus Scibanicus, “Strange Creatures from Slavic Folklore,” North American BioFortean Review 3, no. 2 (October 2001): 56–63, http://www.strangeark.com/nabr/NABR7.pdf.
(Entry from George Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures, 2002)

Colovia Unknown Snake of Southern Europe.
Physical description: Serpentine. Length, 11 feet. Scaly. Distribution: Sicily, Italy. Significant sighting: A snakelike animal was tracked down and killed in a marsh near Siracusa, Sicily, in December 1933. It was destroyed because local superstition held that its appearance presaged disaster. Possible explanation: Escaped python or boa (Family Boidae). Source: Times (London), December 27 and 29, 1933.
(Entry from George Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures, 2002)


"In 193[3] there were reports of farmers near Syracuse, in Sicily, being menaced by a huge and unusual snake that supposedly had a head like a dinosaur. Hunting parties were organised, and it was killed."—Dragons, a Natural History by Dr Karl Shuker, 1995, Aurum Press Ltd, London.
http://www.fairservicenz.com/dinosaur/dinosaur-6.html
[The artwork is obviously not showing an 11 foot long creature and one more nearly 30 feet long is more likely. It is shown undulating in "Sea Serpent" style although the head seems to indicate the body is lying on its side and the undulations are therefore horizontal ones -DD]

http://www.jerryboucher.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ftl/ftl02.htm
1933 –  water monster seen in marshy area linked to sea (nr. Perugia, Italy); 11-foot reptile seen and killed, carcass later burnt (nr. Syracuse, Sicily); water monster seen at river mouth (River Ticino, Italy); 90-foot creature seen in water – later, a similar creature seen ashore (St. Lucia Lake, Natal, South Africa)

St Lucia Lake SS 1933 based on account given by Charles Higgs and family

One of Heuvelmans' more definite "SuperEels" of the large category,

 and I maintain that classification as one of the defining "Titanocongers"  

Saharan Crested Snake
Giant SNAKE of North Africa. Variant name: Taguerga.
Physical description: Length, 30–120 feet. Dark brown with black diamonds on back. Whitish below with dark-gray stripes. Pointed snout. Black crest about 4 inches long on head. Large, chestnut eyes. Thicker body segment about 13 feet long behind a thin neck. Rest of tail tapers to a point. Behavior: Drinks motor oil. Distribution: Algeria; Tunisia. Significant sightings: In 255 B.C. during the First Punic War, after a lengthy struggle in which catapults and siege engines were put to use, the legions of Roman consul Marius Atilius Regulus killed an enormous snake, 120 feet long, along the Wadi Majardah in Tunisia. Its skin and jaws were taken to Rome and publicly displayed in a temple until 133 B.C. Africanus Leo wrote in the sixteenth century that large, venomous dragons lived in caves in the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. Charles Tissot wrote in 1884 about a venomous snake in the Tunisian Sahara called the Taguerga, which grows 12–15 feet long. In 1958, Belkhouriss Abd el-Khader, an Algerian who served in the French army at Beni Ounif, Algeria, was bitten by a giant snake about 43 feet long. The snake was killed and its skin preserved, though it has since been lost. In 1959, a 120-foot snake with a crest 3 feet long was killed at a garrison near Aïn Sefra, Algeria, by a French battalion, the Twenty-Sixth Dragoons, commanded by Captains Grassin and Laveau. It had been trapped in a trench filled with branches by nomads and had just eaten a camel. The soldiers’ carbines were not sufficient to kill it, so they dispatched it with machine guns. On January 6 or 7, 1967, a crested serpent about 30 feet long was seen at the construction site of the Djorf-Torba dam east of Béchar, Algeria, by worker Hamza Rahmani, who wedged it against some rocks with his bulldozer. Its teeth were hooked and nearly 2.5 inches long. At Djorf-Torba in late 1967, Hamza Rahmani came across the track of a snake leading to barrels of oil that it had been in the habit of drinking. A few days later, he saw the snake coiled in the shadow of a pile of crushed rock. He estimated its length as 18–23 feet. Possible explanations: (1) The African rock python (Python sebae), though it only reaches a length of 30–33 feet. It lives in forests south of the Sahara, not in the desert, but it is possible some may subsist in remote pockets of tropical vegetation in North Africa. A Dr. Bougon thought that the Punic War snakeskin may actually have been a python’s intestine, which would be 120 feet long in a 33-foot snake. Charles Tissot thought the skin may have been artificially stretched. (2) The venomous Puff adder (Bitis arietans), which lives in southern Morocco and grows to only 4 feet 6 inches but can appear much larger. (3) The Horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), though it is only about 2 feet long. (4) An exaggerated Levantine viper (Vipera lebetina), known in Arabic as taguerjah. (5) An unknown species of viper 7 feet long, based on the size of the teeth recovered from the Djorf-Torba snake, if it was venomous. The small Many-horned viper (Bitis cornuta) of South Africa has a small crest. (6) An unknown species of python 33–48 feet long, also based on the size of the Djorf-Torba teeth, if they came from a nonvenomous snake. (7) A surviving Gigantophis garstini, a North African python that reached 30 feet and lived 55 million years ago. Sources: Valerius Maximus, Dictorum et factorum memorabilium libri novem, I. 8.19; Aulus Gellius, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, trans. John C. Rolfe (London: William Heinemann, 1927–1928), vol. 2, p. 101 (VII. 3); Dio Cassius, Roman History, X; Julius Obsequens, Prodigiorum liber, 29; Africanus Leo, A Geographical Historie of Africa (London: G. Bishop, 1600); Charles Tissot, Exploration scientifique de la Tunisie (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1884–1888), vol. 1, pp. 329–335; Bougon, “Les serpents de cent vingt pieds,” Le Naturaliste 23 (1901): 56–57; Bernard Heuvelmans, Les derniers dragons d’Afrique (Paris: Plon, 1978), pp. 19–43; Helfried Weyer and Henri Lhote, Sahara (Bern, Switzerland: Kümmerly and Frey, 1980).
(Entry from George Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures, 2002)

[There are evidently some real and mundane snakes represented here plus two sets of larger reports which have unusual features. It may be that some of the European reports of giant snakes are Montpelier snakes as Heuvelmans suggests on his checklist, but that is only the reports in the realm of 6-9 feet long. It might also be that there are some large unknown vipers of North Africa in the same size range: these would be Bitis vipers and might have some sort of a spiny back crest. And there probably are pythons in North Africa surviving on the fringes of the desert. However there are also a couple of very unusual "Snakes" which include the "Dinosaur" headed ones in Sicily, the 33 foot long "Snakes" in Sicily and Serbia are more likely the medium-sized giant eels or "Megacongers" that have wandered overland in going from one body of water to another, as lesser eels are known to do. These are big and dull greyish or olive brown, more or less an even colouring all over. Some of the Saharan snakes belong to this category and they have a "Mane or fin" on the back (The same type is also reported in South Africa) More unusual and more arresting is the really huge giant eel, the Titanoconger, reported as 80-120 feet long, some specimens of which evidently get lost and are dying when looking for larger bodies of water in the Sahara. And I do not know what kind of creature was drinking out of the oil drums, or even if that had actually happened rather than being an excuse somebody had made up to account for stolen fuel supplies.--DD]

Avan-Yu Zuni Water Monster

http://www.zunilink.com/R953-Russell-Shack-avanyu-carving.htm

Russell Shack
Zuni fetish carving avanyu - black marble - 3" x 1"
#R953- Sold

[In this case, the Avanyu is a definite giany eel with fins up near the head, presumably in the "Megaconger" category-DD]

Cressie and Chessie, Part III, Great Orms, Lindorms and The Rest of The World

I just dug out an old preliminary draft for my 1995 Preliminary List of Cryptid Forms in Addition to Other Checklists (which finally saw print in the 2010 CFZ yearbook after going through several generations and much attrition) and I looked up the page pertaining to Unknown Giant Eels. This would have been about 2004 and one of the older submissions I had been making to the CFZ to show how the project was progressing. I "Showed my Work" at that stage of the game before being continually chided to condense and simplify the document.And so the list had come to item number 19 (following sharks and other fishes)


The Dragon Fafnir as a Lindorm, Note the ray-finned Pectoral fins behind the head.

19.A Giant green moray eel of 20-30 feet reported off of Fiji according to James Sweeny (A Pictoral History of Sea Monsters...)
20. A "Camoflage" or painted moray eel of the Mediterranean, of similar size, as suggested by Heuvelmans from some Sea-serpent sightings in Wake but not granted a formal category.
21 "Megaconger", a 20-30 foot long "Supereel"looking like a conger eel and evidently collecting most of the smaller series of reports in that category.It lives closer to shore in shallower waters and has a more even overall colouration than the larger "Supereels" as documented in Wake by Heuvelmana.
22 "Titanoconger" the larger "Conger-like" category of "Super-eels", both "Congers occasionally showing the pectoral fins as well as a long backfin. "Titanoconger" makes up the larger-sized section of reports in that categorry and tends to be seen more often at open sea, farther away from land, and displays the more marked separation into a dark back and a much lighter belly. Reports in this category run from 50 to 100 feet long and can be longer, but more likely exaggerated.
23. A "Turtlefaced" eel is also reported, but the category is poorly defined.
24. "Water Monsters were reported in the rivers of England, France, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, by Maurice Burton back at the time when he upheld the Giant eel theory as the identity for the Loch Ness Monster. these reports would have been made primarily in the later 1940s up to the early 1960s, involving eel-shapwed creatures mostly at 10-20 feet long, possibly sometimes larger, sometimes said to have heads like dogs. They would seem to be along the same lines as the Lindorms of Scandinavia and Horse eels of Scotland and ireland.
25. James Sweeny in Sea Monsters refers to information given to him by Professor Colin MacGregor of Loch Ness Investigation, to the effect that "They found the skeleton of a 40-foot long eel in a lake near Pasandru [Uruguay]" but unfortunately we have no idea who "They" were or if "They" had the expertise to know that it was an eel's skeleton and not a snake's or a Giant caecilian. I have had no further information beyond the suggestion that in that location this would have been identified as a skeleton of a "Minhocao". As a matter of fact, Ted Hollliday had noted that there was a parallel story that a Minhocao had become jammed between some rocks and was left to rot there, in Uruguay, which matched the story that a "Horse eel" had stuck in a culvert and was left to rot there. Holiday used the connection to suggest that the "Worms" were equivalent in both places.(In The Great Orm of Loch Ness, in a Footnote)
26. Certain Lake Monsters, especially in Eastern Canada, are specifically stated to be Giant eels 5 to 15 feet long [e.g., Cressie] Since similar forms are also stated to live in European rivers(as above), there is probably reason to say the one set tends to reinforce the other and therefore the case for both of them becomes that much stronger. Karl Shuker mentions a report by a scuba diver in Lake Memphremagog, Quebec, describing 10-foot-long Giant eels in 1955. It is probably also significant that the description of the creatures in these freshwater reports should also match the descriptions of the "megacongers" at sea (eg, Charles Gould's 20-foot-long congers seen off Singapore). It should also be noted that the "conger" part of the descriptions refers to the overall appearance and it need not imply they are closely related. Actual conger eels cannot live in fresh water.


Eastern Canadian Native Artist Norval Morrisson's Illustration for "the Mother of all Serpents" which could be taken as a parallel to the Goddess Sedna and making her "Mother of all SEA Serpents"-they do look rather like a bunch of eels.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindworm

Lindworms

Lindworm (cognate with Old Norse linnormr 'constrictor snake', Norwegian linnorm 'dragon', Swedish, lindorm, Danish , lindorm 'serpent', German Lindwurm 'dragon') in British heraldry, is a technical term for a wingless bipedal dragon (often said to have a venomous bite.)


Etymology
In modern Scandinavian languages, the cognate lindorm can refer to any 'serpent' or monstrous snake, but in Norwegian heraldry, it is also a technical term for a 'seaserpent' (sjøorm), although it may also stand for a 'lindworm' in British heraldry.


[It is possible this winged Lindworm means to show the rayed fins of an eellike fish: The head of the animal depicts a fishlike mouth and what could be gill covers-DD]
Generally, the word lindworm stood for the Latin word draco (whence Norse dreki), thus could refer to any draconic creature, from a real life constrictor snake to a legendary dragon. In European mythology and folklore, creatures identified as a 'lindworm' may be winged or wingless, plus quadrapedal, bipedal or limbless. However late persistent tradition designates the lindworm as having no limbs, or just front claws (so that it must slither) in contrast to wyverns that have only hind-quarters (and possible claws on the end of its wings) and in contrast to dragons which have four limbs and may either be winged or wingless.

Lindworms in [Folk}tales

.......The dragon Fáfnir from the Norse Völsunga saga appears in the German Nibelungenlied as a lindwurm that lived near Worms.


Another German tale from the 13th century tells of a lindworm that lived near Klagenfurt. Flooding threatened travelers along the river, and the presence of a dragon was blamed. The story tells that a Duke offered a reward for anyone who could capture it, so some young men tied a bull to a chain, and when the lindworm swallowed the bull, it was hooked like a fish and killed.[citation needed] The head of a 1590 lindworm statue in Klagenfurt is modeled on the skull of a wooly rhinoceros found in a nearby quarry in 1335. It has been cited as the earliest reconstruction of an extinct animal.[1][2]

The shed skin of a lindworm was believed to greatly increase a person's knowledge about nature and medicine.[3]

[This Lindorm definitely has short fins and not wings. although they are a mite far back-DD]



















[Lambton Worm showing a line of nine circular openings on the side of the neck-a trait sometimes mistakenly attributed to Super-Eels: in reality it occurs on Lampreys and not on higher forms of fishes at all-DD]
A "dragon" with the head of a "salamander" features in the legend of the Lambton Worm. The dragon who was caught in the River Wear when it was young. The fisherman who caught it only caught it because he skipped church to go fish. The dragon was dropped in a well and after about 3–4 years became a beast and started terrorizing the countryside of Durham while the fisherman who caught it was away at the Crusades. The villagers caught on and left a sacrifice of milk for the creature, and when the fisher returned home, it was prophesied that he would be the only one who could kill it. He was given armor with bladed spikes to protect himself from the worm's crushing, coiling weight, but he had to kill the first living thing he saw. His father arranged it so that after the lindworm was killed, he would blow a horn and a hound dog would be released and the son would kill that instead of a human. Eventually the Son cut its head off but instead of releasing the dog the father ran to his son. The prophesy also said if the son did not kill the first living thing he saw his family would be cursed for 9 generations; however the son could not kill his father so his family was cursed. Bram Stoker used this legend in his short story Lair of the White Worm.

The sighting of a "whiteworm" once was thought to be an exceptional sign of good luck.[4][This may have been because of the White dragon being the emblem of a certain tribe or State, for which see the prophesy of Merlin concerning the battling of the red and white dragons]
......

Late belief in lindorm in Sweden

The belief in the reality of a lindorm, a giant limbless serpent, persisted well into the 19th century in some parts. The Swedish folklorist Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius collected in the mid 19th century stories of legendary creatures in Sweden. He met several people in Småland, Sweden that said they had encountered giant snakes, sometimes equipped with a long mane. He gathered around 50 eyewitness reports, and in 1884 he set up a big reward for a captured specimen, dead or alive. [5] Hyltén-Cavallius was ridiculed by Swedish scholars, and since nobody ever managed to claim the reward, it resulted in a cryptozoological defeat. Rumours about lindworms as actual animals in Småland rapidly died out (Sjögren, 1980).

[On the contrary, Ivan Sanderson received a letter saying that belief in Lindwurms persisted up into the present day, and he thought that the Lindwurms wwere the same thing as Tatzelwurms, both of them the smaller-sized version of what he called the "Great Orms". He cites all of this in his book Investigating the Unexplained, 1976.-DD]

The Great Orm








http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%81ga





Nāga From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
For the modern ethnic group, see Naga people. For other uses, see Naga (disambiguation).

Nāga (Sanskrit: नाग, IAST: nāgá, Burmese: နဂါး, IPA: [nəɡá]; Javanese: någå, Khmer: នាគ neak, Thai: นาค nak, Chinese: 那伽) is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very great snake—specifically the King Cobra, found in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed "Nāgas"; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī or nāginī
.......
In Hinduism

Compare with Tiamat and Apsu. [The Vedic Ahi or Vritra]

Stories involving the nāgas are still very much a part of contemporary cultural traditions in predominantly Hindu regions of Asia (India, Nepal, and the island of Bali). In India, nāgas are considered nature spirits and the protectors of springs, wells and rivers. They bring rain, and thus fertility, but are also thought to bring disasters such as floods and drought. According to traditions nāgas are only malevolent to humans when they have been mistreated. They are susceptible to mankind's disrespectful actions in relation to the environment. They are also associated with waters—rivers, lakes, seas, and wells—and are generally regarded as guardians of treasure. According to Beer (1999),[page needed] Naga and cintamani are often depicted together and associated directly in the literature.

They are objects of great reverence in some parts of southern India where it is believed that they bring fertility and prosperity to their venerators. Expensive and grand rituals like Nagamandala[4] are conducted in their honor (see Nagaradhane). In India, certain communities called Nagavanshi consider themselves descendants of Nagas.

Varuna, the Vedic god of storms, is viewed as the King of the nāgas. Nāgas live in Pātāla, the seventh of the "nether" dimensions or realms.[5] They are children of Kashyapa and Kadru. Among the prominent nāgas of Hinduism are Manasa, Sesha, and Vasuki.

The nāgas also carry the elixir of life and immortality. Garuda once brought it to them and put a cup with elixir on the ground but it was taken away by Indra. However, few drops remained on the grass. The nāgas licked up the drops, but in doing so, cut their tongues on the grass, and since then their tongues have been forked.[6]

Vishnu is originally portrayed in the form sheltered by a Shesha naga or reclining on Shesha, but the iconography has been extended to other deities as well. The serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms: around the neck,[7] use as a sacred thread (Sanskrit: yajñyopavīta)[8] wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne.[9] Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.[10]

Nagas are also snakes that may take human form. They tend to be very curious.

Patanjali as Adi-SeshaMaehle (2007: p.?) affirms that according to tradition, Patañjali is held to be an incarnation of Ādi S'esha.

In Buddhism
Mucalinda sheltering Gautama Buddha at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, ThailandTraditions about nāgas are also very common in all the Buddhist countries of Asia. In many countries, the nāga concept has been merged with local traditions of great and wise serpents or dragons. In Tibet, the nāga was equated with the klu, wits that dwell in lakes or underground streams and guard treasure. In China, the nāga was equated with the lóng or Chinese dragon. [Several types of Chinese dragons were known as "Curled" or "Coiled" dragons, and they could be entirely legless and serpentine. See below-DD]

The Buddhist nāga generally has the form of a great cobra-like snake, usually with a single head but sometimes with many. At least some of the nāgas are capable of using magic powers to transform themselves into a human semblance. In Buddhist painting, the nāga is sometimes portrayed as a human being with a snake or dragon extending over his head. One nāga, in human form, attempted to become a monk; when telling it that such ordination was impossible, the Buddha told it how to ensure that it would be reborn a man, able to become a monk.

Gigantic naga protecting Buddha amongst the other sculptures of Bunleua Sulilat's Sala Keoku. Nāgas are believed to both live on Mount Sumeru, among the other minor deities, and in various parts of the human-inhabited earth. Some of them are water-dwellers, living in streams or the mer; others are earth-dwellers, living in underground caverns.

The nāgas are the servants of Virūpākṣa (Pāli: Virūpakkha), one of the Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as a guard upon Mount Sumeru, protecting the devas of Trāyastriṃśa from attack by the Asuras.

Among the notable nāgas of Buddhist tradition is Mucalinda, protector of the Buddha. In the Vajrayana and Mahasiddha traditions according to Beer (1999),[page needed] many notable fully enlightened nagas also transmitted and/or transported terma into and out of the human realm that had been elementally encoded by adepts.

Norbu (1999: p.?) states that according to tradition the Prajnaparamita terma teachings are held to have been conferred upon Nagarjuna by Nagaraja, the King of the nagas, who had been guarding them at the bottom of a lake. Refer Lotus Sutra.






Painting Representing an Alleged sighting of a Naga








Naga Statue


Other traditions
A naga at the steps of a building in the Wat Phra Kaew in BangkokFor Malay sailors, nāgas are a type of dragon with many heads; in Thailand and Java, the nāga is a wealthy underworld deity. In Laos they are beaked water serpents. Phaya Naga, Water Dragon, is a well-known dragon in Thailand. People in Thailand see it as a holy creature and worship it in the temple. It allegedly lives in Mekong river.

In Lake Chinni In Malay and Orang Asli traditions, the lake Chinni, located in Pahang is home to a naga called Sri Gumum. Depending on legend versions, her predecessor Sri Pahang or her son left the lake and later fought a naga called Sri Kemboja. Kemboja is the former name of what is Cambodia. Like the naga legends there, there are stories about an ancient empire in lake Chinni, although the stories are not linked to the naga legends.[11][12]

In Cambodia
Cambodian Naga at the Royal Palace in Phnom PenhIn a Cambodian legend, the nāga were a reptilian race of beings who possessed a large empire or kingdom in the Pacific Ocean region. See Kaliya. The Nāga King's daughter married an Indian Brahmana named Kaundinya, and from their union sprang the Cambodian people. Therefore still Cambodians say that they are "Born from the Nāga".

The Seven-Headed Nāga serpents depicted as statues on Cambodian temples, such as Angkor Wat, apparently represent the seven races within Nāga society, which has a mythological, or symbolic, association with "the seven colors of the rainbow". Furthermore, Cambodian Nāga possess numerological symbolism in the number of their heads. Odd-headed Nāga symbolise the Male Energy, Infinity, Timelessness, and Immortality. This is because, numerologically, all odd numbers come from One (1). Even-headed Nāga are said to be "Female, representing Physicality, Mortality, Temporality, and the Earth."

In the Mekong
The legend of the Nāga is a strong and sacred belief held by Thai and Lao people living along the Mekong River. Many pay their respects to the river because they believe the Nāga still rule in it, and locals hold an annual sacrifice for the Nāga. Each ceremony depends on how each village earns its living from the Mekong River — for instance, through fishing or transport. Local residents believe that the Nāga can protect them from danger, so they are likely to make a sacrifice to Nāga before taking a boat trip along the Mekong River.
Also, every year on the night of 15th day of 11th month in the Lao lunar calendar at the end of Vassa, an unusual phenomenon occurs in the area of the Mekong River stretching over 20 kilometres between Pak-Ngeum and Phonephisai districts in Nong Khai province, Thailand. Fireballs appear to rise from the river into the nighttime sky. Local villagers believe that Nāga under Mekong River shoot the fireballs into the air to celebrate the end of Vassa, because Nāga meditate during this time.[13]

A photograph on display in bars, restaurants, guesthouses, and markets around Thailand captioned, Queen of Nagas seized by American Army at Mekhong River, Laos Military Base on June 27, 1973 with the length of 7.80 meters is a hoax. The photograph is actually that taken by USN LT DeeDee Van Wormer, of an oarfish found in late 1996 by US Navy SEAL trainees on the coast of Coronado, California.[14][15]

In 2000, Richard Freeman from the Centre for Fortean Zoology visited the area and talked with witnesses who claimed to have seen gigantic snakes far larger than any python. The general description was of a 60 foot serpent with black scales that had a greenish sheen. Freeman speculated that the nāga legend was based on a real animal, possibly a giant madtsoiid snake.[16]
http://www.cfz.org.uk/expeditions/00naga/naga1.htm


Although spoken of as a "Gigantic" snake, Freeman's informants spoke of a type of black snake 15 to 20 feet long with a head the size of a football. This could well refer to the same sort of Giant Eel as the rest of the reports are speaking of. Similar reports of Nagas eminate from Borneo, Indonesia and the Philippines. An even larger type of Naga (Nyan) is in the Sea-Serpent class and spoken of as being hundreds of yards long-it is clearly based on reports of the standing waves effect in a long wake again. Some of the definitive "Megaconger" reports are from this region (eg, Singapore) and otherwise fall into the "Naga" pattern.





















Oriental warriors shown fighting Serpent-dragons or "Wyrms"(="Wurms or Orms") Japanese traditon recognises serpentine "River dragons" up to 30 feet long which could well also be the same sort of Giant Eels as spoken of elsewhere. Note that once again one example is shown with ragged but definitely ray-finned pectoral fins coming out of the body just behind the head,


"Tamatori being Pursued by the Dragon", Japanese illustration. Please note that the "Dragon" once again has rayed fins back behind the head and could thus be another Giant Eel.

















Nyaminyami, a "Fish-Dragon" guardian of the Zambezi, sometimes also construed as a Giant Eel Lake Monster (the name is related to several "congo Dragon" names for other Water-Monsters in Central Africa)













Eels are a very important part of the traditional Maori economy in New Zealand. It is therefore no wonder that one of the important categories of forms taken by Taniwhas include Giant Eels. Supernatural eels are also represented in the carved bone ornaments known as Koropepe, two examples shown here. The design is very old and may derive from Neolithic China and Taiwan (see below)




















Prehistoric Chinese jade dragon made into a "C" shape. This is a form that would later be called a Chi dragon. It seems to be the Chinese version of the Celtic Horse-eel.





















A large snakelike creature is said to dwell in the Amur River and it is the Black Dragon that gives the river its common Chinese name of "Black Dragon River". One of the local names for it as a "Great serpent" is Murdur. It would seem to be the same sort of creature that Eberhart lists as living further to the Northeast under the name Primor'ye Giant Snake. On page 443 of Mysterious Creatures (v 2) it is described as being from 15 to 30 feet long and says that some reports mention small legs. The creatures were mentioned in an article in STRANGE Magazine in 1994. The "Black Dragon" fits the same description and the "Small legs" would mean the pectoral fins. Other creatures matching this description were reported occasionally on land in Italy and Sicily (and probably Serbia) in the 1500s, in the 1930s, and again more recently. On one of these occasions the "Big black snake" was said to have a head like a "Brontosaurus" (Once again the blunted snout)




Giant Eel Sea Monsters are occasionally reported from Southern Alaska to the Northwest Coast area, even as far south as California, but the reports are not well distinguished from other sea monster reports in the same area. Some depictions do illustrate the Sea monster as having pectoral fins close to the head and no hind fins: in Native lore, these are commonly called "Sea serpents" (but not distingushed from anything else that might also be called a "Sea serpent")


{"Cadborosaurus" shown as a sort of Eel, from one of the standard Internet Cryptozoology sites. Artist's name is on it]




Finishing up in South America on our world tour, we find that reports of Giant eels tend to be lumped in with Giant snakes. It will come as rather a surprise to most Cryptozoologists that the common name used as reference for them in the Parana River system (and some areas further to the south as well) is "Minhocao", or to say, "The great worm" in Portugese. (I am certain that there is a Spanish-language equivalent for "Great Worms" which are supposed to have a magical "dragonstone" in its head, but I do not know what it might be. Perhaps it is enough to say "Culebron")

Minhocao del Rio portrayed as an eel, with once again the blunted snout and short fins coming out of the body just behind the head.













And below, A Minhocao out for a swim on the River. Neither one of these creatures seem to be represented as being especially large.




http://xfilesmisterioso.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

Monday, July 13, 2009 THE MINHOCÃO [Babel Fish Translation]

The people that resides in the vicinity of the well of Rio Cuiabá still tell-the legend of "Minhocão" a subterranean creature known also by frequenters of the rivers in the South of the country, in the early days of colonial times. Presents itself as a huge snake of as much as 60 to 70 feet long and six feet in diameter. Its action is pernicious, provoking landslides of edges, sinking ships and destroying homes and roads.

The minhocão is ubiquitous and amphibian. It is a myth that is perpetuated in the imagination of the peasants, the legend is known throughout the State of Mato Grosso.

Account that the lagoon from storage in Tramandaí (R/S) was the abode of the Minhocão, a monstrous snake eyes and tongue of fire green and by the head. In addition to turning our boats, ate the chickens and the pigs from the edge. Today the people believe she returned to her natural habitat, the sea.


Some describe the Goliath Minhocão as a serpent with wide eyes and bright. They say that came on top of the water, sliding and that its head high seemed like the bow of a boat with two eye headlamps. The monster at other times, saracoteia and espana waters and howls so terribly that other animals on earth are taken from paralysis.

In the Amazon, the minhocão is the infamous boiúna, or cobra grande, a myth that terrorizes the children, women and many gullible caboclos. No lack of people talk about this haunt that presents itself so great, as it imposes the immense Amazonian stage. It is regarded as the guardian of the night and after each storm appears in the form of Rainbow. Is also connected to the Universal deluge.

It is believed that it is because of anaconda running all these legends that the popular imagination comes weaving.

There is the smallest debt in the calculation of measures among the various snakes of the world our Anaconda is one of the largest, which can reach, according to recent estimates there are more than 14 metres. Note that a serpent with half this size, can stifle a man to squeeze it.

It was the fear in combine with the lie that has led the Anaconda that José Spider says to have seen, in 1722, in the Madeira River, which he said measure 40 steps. CITES-also a copy shot by famed Explorer Fawcett, measuring 20 metres.

The same we can say that that swallowed a whole horse in Goiás, according to the narrative very diligently Gadner in his work "trips to Brazil".

On occasion the Press publishes the story of a fabulous suruci captured and killed, always in the Amazon region. One of the most sensational stories was the three youths who camped in the forest and were sleeping. In the morning one of the boys had disappeared and his colleagues to find it had the terrible surprise, was being devoured by an Anaconda.

Below the narration had a note for anyone venturing to penetrate the forest alone, because really it offers many dangers.


SYMBOLISM

The snake or Serpent is the animal that caused mythical and symbolic interpretations. Very strange Animal, crawler, echoes the beginnings of time, as a source of sin and of all terrors. Ambiguous, masculine or feminine, Chthonic or cosmic, she defies their contradictions. Is the expression of original night.

Closely tied to Earth, she lives in dark holes, in a subterranean region, which for the ancient was the underworld, so it is important for the Geobiology and Feng Shui.

While the primordial God, the Serpent is linked to the fertilizadora rain and fertility. Primitive beliefs in common was the assertion that the snakes met with women could impregnate them. It was thought that the bite of a snake was responsible for a girl's first menstruation.

If conceives the idea according to which the Rainbow is a serpent that if desaltera at sea, precepts also accepted among the Bororo people of South America, South Africa and India. Rolled into itself is the symbol of the philosopher's stone of Alchemy and represents infinity. She rolled and biting the tail is the oldest symbol of the world.

The serpent also the spirit of the primordial Water that sometimes is terrible in its cholera. In the Greek cosmogênese, according to Hesiod's Theogony, she is the "Ocean". Nine of his turns encompass the circle of the world, while the tenth, resvalada under the world, so the Styx. In Greek mythology, Aquelôo, the largest river of ancient Greece, metamorfoseou into a serpent to face Hercules.

It is considered that the serpent possesses the power of self renewal, because of its ability to change and renew your skin. This mutant gave rise to beliefs that give him the power of immortality.

But this deity is also destructive. The womb of the Earth is ophidian and attracts and absorbs as a womb of death rapacious, all creatures to meet and fertilize. Indeed, so deep, death and destruction are linked to the life and birth.

Believe the batacs of Malaysia, that a cosmic serpent, living in subterranean regions, will destroy the world. Gemano-Scandinavian mythology, the Midgard Serpent, which covers the whole world with its rings will cause the end of the times, on the occasion of Ragnarok.
Text researched and developed by Rosane Volpatto

Bibliography consulted
The Amazon-Gaston de Bettencourt
The Cobra Grande-article by Leticia Falcão, found in the Amazon View Magazine, issue No. 28
Animal Symbolism Jean-Paul Ronecker
The mysteries of Woman-m. Esther Harding
Myths and legends of Rio Grande do Sul-Antonio Augusto Fagundes
The legend of the Big Snake: discussions about imagination and reality.Grace do Socorro Araújo de Almeida Macedo










Two More portraits for Minhocao of more recent vintage: please once again note the lungfish-shaped pectoral fins shown on the latter example. "Lungfish-shaped" forefins are indeed also occasionaly also reported in other places.

http://www.rosanevolpatto.trd.br/Minhocao.html

Published by Gil Gonçalves in 03:00

http://www.abrasoffa.org.br/folclore/lendas/minhocao.htm

Minhocao the [Babel Fish]

a gigantesco, half fish half serpent, who lives in the water where it turns boats, and on Earth, subterraneo, overlapping towns, bridges and other constructes.
Myth without borders in Brazil this being, recorded by many scholars and "seen" by all cr modules that describe him as "a huge, black bicho, half fish, half snake, that goes up and down this river in hours, chasing people and embarkses; just a Raban, to send to the bottom a boat as ours. sometimes takes the form of a Surubim, of a size never seen; other, also m says, turns into a passaro great white, with a pesco the stringy in an earthworm, and perhaps for this reason, which is called the minhocao ".
The narrative, recorded in the late 19th century: testimony of boatmen of San Francisco S River, has the same for the than occurs in first built the Via Anchieta, Sao Paulo, second count some falls aras who worked as pe es: an excerpt, in the midst of serra, had her tra ado changed as pe es: an excerpt, in the midst of serra, had her tra ado changed due to an minhoc which devastate buildings, the, night, all that was done during the day for the incr modules, still with the result that one viaduct was never finished ...
















The main article conflates the Minhocao and the Sucuriju gigante: I have turned the Sucuriju part into another colour. These last two illustrations are also interesting because they show that sometimes the Minhocao will travel together like a mass of Eels, and the last photo shows that sometimes the "Minhocao" is actually another "Patagonian Plesiosaur". That illustration is meant to go for either the big rivers associated with the Amazon, or with the Parana River around Uruguay. Either one would work. It is also important to see that much of the material ascribed to the Minhocao and the Sucuriju Gigante is of a Mythological nature.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

Cressie and Chessie Part II, Giant Eels in Scotland and Ireland

I shall be reprinting most of a very interesting message board on the topic because it gives a different perspective than I could and hence it does not have my bias on the subject but presents an alternative voice. This board has the heading: Yuku free message boards.Shark Attack Archives The Shark and Marine Life learning centre Cryptozoology Paranormal Activity Open Forum Links to other interesting sites.Freshwater eels in relation to Nessie...

Horse-eel:
"a great conger eel, seven yards long, and as thick as a bull in the body with a mane on its back like a horse."

-Thomas Croker, 19th century folklorist




HORSE-EELS
The true Irish serpent, uncoiled. Once known to country peasants and fishermen as great pests, hazardous and troublesome. To the naturalists and scholars they were nothing more than a product of superstition, a dream spawned of primitive fear. But the horse-eels (as they're called in certain regions) have been quite real in spite of their lack of formal recognition. They may have reached frightening sizes but they were not monsters. They may have been immortalized in folklore and legends but their mortality has been tested time and time again. Now as we enter the 21st century, study of these mysterious aquatic beasts is long overdue.

Thomas Croker based his definition (above) on the numerous stories he collected traveling throughout Connaught. Certainly this outline is consistent with contemporary sightings but there's one significant detail lacking from his description: limbs. Creating much confusion is how the term "horse-eel" is used to describe what's frequently described as two entirely separate figures. One being a serpentine-shaped creatures with a horse's mane, the other being an amphibious quadruped beast that holds a disturbing likeness to the shape of a horse. Since both are sometimes reported within the same bodies of water it would seem most likely that they are, somehow, the same type of animal. Yet descriptions remain uniformed in describing either a horse-shaped animal or an eel-shaped beast, without any clear mixture of both. Perhaps the differences are on account of varying stages of a metamorphosis but for the sake of simplification the term horse-eel will be designated here as referring towards the more eel-like reports.

HAIR-EELS OF SCOTLAND
Documented accounts of horse-eels are not exclusive to Irish lakes. They've been record in brackish waters and on at least one instance, observed entering a stream from the ocean. It should then come as little surprise that they have been recorded in Scottish waters as well. And yes, even in the most famous of Scotland's great dark lakes: Loch Ness.
An acclaimed scientist and former member of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau, Dr. Roy P. Mackal wrote the most extensive examination of all presentable data pertaining to the Loch Ness phenomenon in his book The Monsters of Loch Ness. After systematically analyzing extensive volumes of information including hundreds of sightings, Dr. Mackal was left with the final impression that the most plausible identity for the Ness animals was either a long-necked amphibian or a thick-bodied eel. Understandably, it wouldn't have benefited his reputation to propose that two very different unknown animals were occasionally sharing the same loch. But while the archetype long-necked monster is so commonly affiliated with the "Loch Ness Monster," the presence of giant thick-bodied eels was long known to residents around the lake. Mackal came to realize this after conversing with locals who expressed their acceptance (or belief in) what they called "hair" or "horse" -eels:
The general impression is that the "eel" was somehow, in addition to size, peculiar in some way as compared to the garden variety of small eel. In a few cases this peculiarity was identified with a mane, frill, or fin; or, in some instances, the witness implied when pressed that eel was the best identification he could make, but he could not explain why the term "hair eel" or "horse eel" was used (except perhaps that these terms are an integral part of the vocabulary of the region).
Roy Mackal, "The Monsters of Loch Ness" [Page 147]

As implied by Mackal, eel should only be considered a default reference; automatically classing them with a familiar local animal of comparable shape. The basis for such names is likely one and the same as in regions of Ireland where the term "horse-eel" is used. That being that the animals sport what appears to be a mane like that of a horse.[Mackal thought this would be the back fin-DD]

KILLS AND CAPTURES
There are a number of instances recorded where animals fitting the description of a horse-eel (if not identified outright as being such) were caught by some means or even killed. Ironically, though these events offered the best view of a specimen only the sparsest of descriptions have been passed along in many cases.

One such instance occurred around the turn of the 20th century at the Caledonian Canal near Corpach, Scotland. Workers were clearing out the canal when they came upon a strange animal described as a resembling an eel but it "was much larger than any eel ever seen and it had a long mane." There are two accounts of this incident, one in which the workers found the animal dead, the other stating it was alive and then killed. An interesting but unnecessary side note to this report is that the workers even suspected the animal had come down from Loch Ness (the canal linked with Ness). Their reasoning appears as sound enough considering the number of 'giant eel' reports that would be harvested from the loch in decades to come.

A good twenty of thirty years prior two more specimens of agreeing composition where found in Connemara, Ireland. Horse-eels had long been reputed to inhabit various pools and loughs of County Galway's bog lands. During a drought sometime around 1880, two such animals reportedly found themselves immobilized at separate locations. When the normally gushing waters linking lakes and rivers became reduced to a pathetic drizzle a large horse-eel was discovered lodged beneath a bridge by Ballynahinch Castle. The beast was described as thirty feet long and "as thick as a horse." A carpenter was assigned to produce a spear capable of slaying the great creature but before the plan could be carried through rains arrived to wash the fortunate beast free.

Luck was not in store for a second specimen that found itself stuck in a culvert linking Lough Derrylea with Lough Crolan. Presumably only portions of the animal were visible as it was inside a subterranean cylinder but locals described it as a sort of "hideous" oversized eel. It was left to die and eventually rotted away.

Back now to Scotland where Elizabeth Campbell wrote in her book In Search of Morag of a tradition she'd uncovered around Loch Morar regarding an incident (or possibly a number of incidences) where a fisherman (or fishermen) hooked a 'hideous hairy eel-like creature." This startling catch was deemed so repulsive that it was thrown back. No further details were provided but this wouldn't be the only allusion to hair-eels in Loch Morar. Campbell quotes one local who vented his frustration over the monster hype. He claimed that there was no monster in Loch Morar, only a 30-foot eel!

The final case is very vague but worthy of mention. Sometime in the in 1700s a Scottish water monster was killed and transported by farm cart to the village of Stornoway. It resembled a sort of 'huge conger eel' but was taken from a freshwater lake.

All of these easily fall beneath Croker's definition even down to that last one giving the conger likeness. There's nothing about long-necks or humped backs, just large eel-like animals with thick bodies that sometimes sported a sort of hairy "mane". Of course, these are quite brief descriptions and some sightings allude to additional features but for now we're provided with a general outline to go by.

THE HIGHLAND SEA SERPENT
While researching for his book In Search Of Lake Monsters, Peter Costello uncovered the following article from the London Times dated March 6, 1856:

The Sea Serpent in the Highlands

The village of Leurbost, Parish of Lochs, Lewis, is at present the scene of an unusual occurrence. This is no less than the appearance in one of the inland fresh-water lakes of an animal which from its great size and dimensions has not a little puzzled our island naturalists. Some suppose him to be a description of the hitherto mythological water-kelpie; while others refer it to the minute descriptions of the "sea-serpent," which are revived from time to time in the newspaper columns. It has been repeatedly seen within the last fortnight by crowds of people, many of whom have come from the remotest parts of the parish to witness the uncommon spectacle. The animal is described by some as being in appearance and size like "a large peat stack," while others affirm that a "six-oared boat" could pass between the huge fins, which are occasionally visible. All, however, agree in describing its form as that of an eel; and we have heard one, whose evidence we can rely upon, state that in length he supposed it to be about 40 feet. It is probable that it is no more than a conger eel after all, animals of this description having been caught in the Highland lakes which have attained huge size. He is currently reported to have swallowed a blanket inadvertently left on the bank by a girl herding cattle. A sportsman ensconced himself with a rifle in the vicinity of the loch during a whole day, hoping to get a shot, but did no execution.

There are a number of significant highlights to be taken from this article:
1. "All...agree in describing its form as that of an eel...."
While there were some early accounts of plesiosaur-like/long-necked animals in Highland lakes, so too were there reports of large eel-type creatures such as this one. The difference not being limited to a choice of words but rather because of the distinct variations in form. However, confusion arises when reports such as this become meshed in as one and the same as the popular "Nessie" mold and, disregarding the given details, interpreted as somehow describing the long-necked model regardless of the contradictory features. Thus traditionally an article like this would have been tossed amongst long-neck accounts suggesting Nessie had kin further north. But the conger-likeness and especially the mention of parted fins (see below) both point to the proper identity as a horse-eel. It's significant to note that in Scotland you'll find reports of both creatures, yet in Ireland there is a complete lack of any 'long-neck' reports (aside from the cloudy Achill Island case [Possible Master-Otter-DD]).

Here is a brief excerpt taken from Dr. Mackal's Monsters of Loch Ness showing only a few of the eel-type animals reported in Loch Ness. Note the mane and conger likeness of the first two.
Summer 1885 Roderick Matheson
"...the biggest eel I ever saw in my life, neck like a horse with a mane."
July 14, 1930 Ian Milne Reported seeing undulating humps of something he likened to an enormous conger eel.
June, 1933 Mr. A. Ross Witnessed a "giant eel" 25 ft long, 5 ft. max diameter, used tail powerfully when swimming. When in motion body created a series of humps. Seen 15 times.
August, 1933 Mrs. MacDonald
Much like a great eel but thicker, portioned 3 feet out of water.


This is just a quick list. There are other sightings where something 'serpentine' was observed but in some cases their sparse details make them easily associated with natural illusions. You'll note also that these sightings take place prior or right at the start of the Loch Ness Monster media hype. That is to say, before the plesiosaur became the monster tourists anticipated seeing. In addition Loch Awe was at one time said to be void of fishing as local people claimed there were great eels in the loch "big as ane horse with ane Incrediblie length" (Costello).
2. "Some suppose him to be a description of the hitherto mythological water-kelpie..."
Water-kelpie is the same as 'Each Usiage' or the more commonly known as the water-horse. The article is a prime example of the problem within terminology regarding the proper traditional name for these animals. Just as in parts of Ireland "water-horse" receives dual usage for horse-looking creatures on shore and lengthy eel or worm like animal in lakes. From the article one sees that this confusion over terminology has been around for a while.
3. "It is probable that it is...a conger eel...having been caught in the Highland lakes..."
One very intriguing element of this article that is all too easy to overlook is the reasoning for proposing that the creature may have been a conger. This may have been the first but definitely wouldn't be the last time the conger theory is promoted but what is very peculiar is how the columnist mentions congers of "huge size" being caught in Highland lakes. Congers (which are capable of reaching intimidating size, though rarely past nine feet, let alone forty) are a salt-water fish. They are only found in the ocean and as stated, cannot (to our present knowledge) survive for very long in freshwater. Their endurance in brackish waters is thought to be brief before becoming fatal. This is not the only casual passage acknowledging freshwater congers that I've come across in the course of this study, thus making freshwater congers a mystery within a mystery.
4. "...others affirm that a "six-oared boat" could pass between the huge fins, which are occasionally visible."
This passage may come off a little puzzling but it's referring the distance between surfacing 'fins.' When the animal raises it's limbs above the water, the distance between them is wide enough that a boat could pass through. Though it certainly sounds strange it is very significant when one realizes that a seemingly identical spectacle was reported in an Irish account. [The distance between the fins is of course the width of the body: the intention here, however, is that the "Humps" are described as "Fins"-DD]

Disentangling the Celtic Serpent

Horse-Eel Analysis

The Sightings Map offers a number of modern reports of horse-eels throughout Ireland. Of them the most thorough in detail are well documented sightings from Lough Ree, Lough Fadda and Lough Nahooin. By compiling the data obtained from these cases and all other related sightings one finds consist traits and characteristics of one of nature's most elusive creatures.

Morphology
HEAD: Compared to the number of recorded sightings available, reports detailing the head make up a very small percentage. Part of the reason is most likely because of the frequent generalization of the creature's resemblance to a great eel may automatically imply the head was eel-like as well.

The horse-eel's head for the most part appears quite blunt though there are a few that liken it to that of a horse's or cow's. In the Lough Nahooin case it was "pole-like," round "like a kettle," almost featureless. During a visit in 1998, witness Stephen Coyne made a quick sketch where the head could best be compared to a large thumb sticking straight out of the water. Unlike long-neck sightings, most (if not all) Irish reports have the head fused with the 'neck', without any breaking angle. This was apparent in the other two most detailed reports: Lough Fadda 1954 and Lough Ree 1960.


[All oof the illustrations had been removed by the time I got to the message board but they can be looked up in the original sources-DD]
Drawing of the Lough Ree animal by one of the priests. Head and neck appear fused.
(© Peter Costello; In Search of Lake Monsters 1974)


Sketch provided by a witness depicting an unusual swimming creature seen in Lough Nahooin. There is a slight distinction between head and neck but no angle between them.(Copyright 1998)


Artist's impression of the Lough Fadda "monster".
( Copyright Orbis Publishing; The Unexplained, 1992). Corrections made in 2001 by "Ann", a surviving member of the four 1954 Fadda witnesses. Not shown but explained was the presence of "bulges", either horns or eyes, on the head.



Final product after corrective modifications. Note how the under-slung placement of the mouth coincides with the sketch of the Nahooin animal.


There appear to be only a vague few instances where the head was dubbed 'horse-shaped'. Perhaps the blunt relatively featureless heads belong to juvenile animals which will become elongated in shape as they age. On that note, the three sightings that offered the best view of the head also describe animals that were relatively small in comparison to other reports.
•MOUTH: Only the Nahooin and Fadda sightings gave any mention of the mouth. Of course, in both instances the animals were deemed as hostile because they were approaching with their mouths open, hence making it something a memorable feature! Georgina Carberry described it as being 'shark-shaped'. The husband and wife who watched the Nahooin animal agreed the mouth was "under-slung" which would just as well comply with the description of that of a shark's. The mouth interiors were cited as pale in both instances. Neither noticed teeth. Water was said to be seen squirting out of the mouth of the Nahooin creature.

•EYES or HORNS: Protrudences emitting from the head have been noted in several instances. In some cases they've been described as horns, in others it was assumed they were the eyes. Additional possibilities worth considering are extended nostrils or ears.
•Lough Auna, unnamed Welsh Guard- Observed an object "watching him" with two horns or protruding eyes.
•Lough Fadda, "Ann"- Noted prominent eyes towards the front of the head.
•Lough Nahooin, Mrs. Coyne- According to Holiday, amongst the family who watched the animal it was the mother, wife of the primary witness, who came nearest on shore to the patrolling creature and had spotted a pair of horn-like features on the creature's head.
•Lough Muck, Unnamed Woman- An unnamed witness wading in the lake watched as a strange creature swam towards her suggesting menacing intent. It was said to have two large eyes "in or about 3 inches each way".
•Lough Brin, Unnamed- Cited the beast Bran had "two big eyes in his forehead".

MANE: Beyond size, the mane is the easily the most conspicuous feature of the horse-eel, clearly the inspiration for their very name. However, in the three most detailed cases mentioned above, no mane is described. A possible explanation for this absence is that the Fadda, Nahooin and Ree sightings all involved younger specimens. Manes are present on reports of greater sized creatures, most notably in the 20-40 ft range. Whether it is actual hair or merely a dorsal fin remains inconclusive. In a few instances where a specimen was obtained or killed, thus offering a defining opportunity to examine the animal completely, the mane is likened as hair. Case in point being the alleged killing at the Caledonian Canal which mentioned a "long mane." Likewise the "repulsive eels" caught in Loch Morar where described as hairy. (A further indication that hair-eels are reported in Loch Ness is how there "maned" Nessie sightings concur with a single fused head and neck, which, as explained, is a distinct characteristic of horse-eels.)

An anonymous witness was quoted by F.W. Holiday as describing the mane as standing up "like bristle or a fin." Notably, he went on to say that it was only noticed on one of the surfaced humps but "not all of them."

A mane may be an indication of sexual dimorphism which would account for it's absence in some reports. If the mane were composed of actual hair then the identity of the horse-eel would certainly lean towards that of a mammals.
BODY: We have two groupings as to the body's form. There's the "thick as a horse" depictions on one side alluding to the creature's having a swollen central region and then there's the 'thick as a man's thigh' crowd. The latter seeming to imply a continuous size throughout the majority of its length, like a snake. These thinner types are sometimes described forming surfaced "loops" where the body is actually displayed in an arch (or several arches) above the water. Obviously this would not be achievable with a thick central body for balance sake. (Presently I'm wary about 'loop' sightings but strangely this arching formation is almost a universal trademark in lake monster sightings all over the world.) Sizes have been reported up to 40 feet in length. [Proportion of thickness to length is hard to gague but is given as thickness=1/10 of length in the chunkier examples cited-DD]
•Thomas Croker- "...thick as a bull..."
•Trapped beneath Ballynahinch Castle's bridge- "...thick as a horse..." [could be a yard thick]
•Lough Nahooin, Stephen Coyne (earlier sighting)- Wide as a car with a white underbelly.
•Lough Absidealy tradition- An eel lurked in the lake as thick as a man's thigh.
LIMBS: Paddles or fins have been reported during displaying and rolling behavior. A front pair most likely exist but a rear set is less certain.
•London Times dated March 6, 1856- "...huge fins...occasionally visible."
•Lough Brin, Timothy O'Sullivan- Rising and falling fins first mistaken for ducks. They stood about two feet tall and two feet long, twelve feet apart from each other.
TAIL: Georgina Carberry is presently the only one to describe a "split" or forked tail in a sighting. But there's been vague references to flukes elsewhere. The Lough Neagh monster was reputed to have a tail "like [=used as?] a propeller." Otherwise there appears to be nothing unexpected about the tail making it unique from that of an eels. If Georgina was accurate in her observation, a fluke would serve as a heavy indication that horse-eels are in fact some form of mammal as it would imply undulating propulsion. [The Lough Fadda "v shaped tail is something I have always maintained was due to the appearance from the wake-DD]
•Lough Fadda, Georgina Carberry- "....'twas a kind of fork- a V-shaped tail." (In an interview in 2001 "Ann" who was on the boat with Georgina commented that she hadn't noticed any tail.)
•Lough Absidealy witness- "...exactly like the tail end of a huge conger eel."
•Lough Nahooin, SC- A flat tail would appear, once came up near the head demonstrating considerable flexibility.
•Crolan Lough, Tom Connelly- "It was the shape of an eel- an eel-shape." Seen rising out of the water about a foot and half.
SKIN: Descriptions of the skin are notably uniformed: black, oily, shiny; basically eel-like. Tom Joyce said in his first sighting the skin of the object was "glittery" in the sunlight. Skin for the most part has been one of the more consistent anatomical details that is well replicated in each instance it's been described. Once again though, Georgina Carberry makes another peculiar observation that stands out. She explained to Holiday that the whole body had 'movement,' it seemed "wormy" or "creepy." Without elaborating too much further she went on to say that the "body seemed to have movement all over it all the time." Interesting but until this feature is cited once more there's little that can be concluded on that note. While coloration is always dark or black, the ventral side has been described a pale color.

Beastie Behavior
Curiosity or Aggression
Logic dictates that if the horse-eels are natural creatures then they'll someday be fitted amongst appropriate zoological groupings and find themselves sharing a genus and family with more recognizable fauna. But for those unsuspecting individuals down at the lake's shore who looked up and suddenly became frightfully aware of a large beast rushing towards them like a menacing torpedo, these creatures will always remain monsters in the purest and most primitive sense of the word. Thus we are brought to the most disturbing character traits of the horse-eel: aggressive behavior. Their seemingly absence of fear towards humans has even brought them out of the water and onto shore in some accounts, presumably, with hostile intent in mind. But is this really aggression or rather a bold sense of curiosity? Is there really a justification for the sinister legacy water monsters received in Celtic mythology?
Gort- Amongst the cache of local tales collected by Lady Gregory during her travels through Connaught are several describing encounters with lake creatures. One of them tells of a swimmer who was said to have had a narrowing experience in a lake near Gort:
The lake down there is an enchanted place, and the old people told me that one time they were swimming there, and a man had gone out into the middle and they saw something like a giant eel make for him, and they called out, "If ever you were a great swimmer show us now how you can swim to the shore," for they wouldn't frighten him by saying what was behind him. So he swam to the shore, and he only got there when the thing behind him was in the place where he was. For there are *%@#$ things in lakes.
Lough Muck- Cyril Dieckhoff was informed in 1934 of a frightening experience that had occurred years earlier in Lough Muck of Dongeal County:
This happened in my own time, about 1885. A young woman waded out as far as she could off the Shore of Lough Muck to pull bog-bean, and when stopped heard a splash no distance from her. She looked and there was an animal making towards her. She made for the shore as fast as she could.
Lough Nahooin- This most crucial sighting may not have occurred at all had not for the peiste's ominous attraction to the family's dog. When the primary witness first spotted the object lying motionless in the reeds he mistakenly assumed it was his dog and called out to it. But to his surprise the dog arrived running along side the lake shore, until it spotted the object itself and began barking. Aroused by the noise, the creature became animated and began swimming towards the dog with its mouth open in what his owner rationally interpreted as a threatening gesture. When he walked over to support his pet the peiste responded by retreating to the opposite side of the lake, and then returning, in what became a series of laps. It continued this odd patrol for such a duration of time that the remaining members of the family were summoned to the spot but would all eventually leave out of boredom. What might have happened had the creature originally reached the dog before its owner is something that we can only speculate upon.
Lough Auna- An unnamed Welsh guard found he wasn't alone while fishing late one night off the shore of Lough Auna. Through the moonlight he noticed an unusual object floating in the water with two bulges, possibly eyes or horns, emitting from it and apparently "watching" him. Uncomfortable but not frightened the Welshman walked further down the shore line only to have the object follow. He continued on some more but the aquatic stalker only matched his pace until he finally broke out into a terrified sprint away from the lake. After an enduring run he arrived in front of Tom Joyce's house where Tom was outside saying goodnight to a departing friend.
Lough Shanakeever- The testimony of the guardsman was easy for Tom Joyce to accept. Growing up by Lough Shanakeever he'd heard many (to quote him exactly: "many, many, many, many...") stories of the horse-eels chasing people away from the lake's shore. One that stood out in particular happened to a Mrs. Whalen while she was attending her peat turf near the edge of Lough Auna sometime in the early 1900s. Her work had lasted into the evening when suddenly there was a commotion in the water and a "Horse-Eel" came right up out of the lake and onto the bank beside her. Deciding the turf could wait, Mrs. Whalen immediately fled from the spot and was quite reluctant to return for some time. She said the front had the appearance of a horse but the end tapered off like an eel. Tom was quite clear to point out that this type of 'event' was well known back then yet to his knowledge none of these encounters resulted in any physical harm.
Lough Fadda- In the 1954 encounter the beast was deemed hostile because the animal swam towards the group with its mouth open. While it did eventually turn away and dive out of view, the lasting affects of the experience reportedly had negative repercussions on the mental health of the witnesses. Georgina admitted to having nightmares after the event. I've been told that another member of that party presently living in a retirement home still to this day begs her family to avoid Lough Fadda.
Aside from the question as to whether these instances represent either curiosity or aggression, these reports are special in that they present reactions. Most sightings entail an observer spying an animal from a distance until it's gone from view. But here we have cases where the animal was aware of the observer. If nothing else this would say something about their sensory ability. But what does such behavior imply? Why would such a large animal speed out of the water in order to reach an unsuspecting person on the shore?

Naturally, as sober as this topic needs to be approached there is of course going to be that instinctive nagging that immediately insists that the mysterious unknown is always laced with threat. For many witnesses the very instant a sighting unfolds the haunting dragons of childhood fears are suddenly unleashed into reality. So, in facing the darkest explanation for this kind of behavior it must be asked if these examples might be instances of failed predation. Initially the idea would appear absurd. Surely, if these beasts were "man-eaters" we'd have a few fatalities on record by now. Or at least something modern besides the old folk tales. And more so, farm animals would surely be a more present and obtainable prey but as of yet I've never heard of any connections involving missing livestock around monster haunts (nonetheless, something worth double checking during the next trip).

It's been proposed that horse-eels come in from the ocean to lay their eggs or give birth. The theory would make sense out of why single individuals are willing to occupy such small bodies of water for their large size. Aggressive behavior then could be means of defending their procreative territory from intruders. It no doubt worked in causing the Fadda party to avoid the lake for some time.

Leisurely Behavior?
Some sightings describe the animals performing strange repetitious antics. Rolling at the surface, holding fins above the water and rising and sinking repeatedly have all been reported in separate instances giving clue to possible self-amusing behavior sometimes found within marine mammals.
DISPLAYING LIMBS:
•Lough Brin (Co. Kerry): On December 24, 1954 farmer Timothy O'Sullivan spotted what he at first assumed were two ducks in the lake as he went to retrieve his cows. Soon the objects in the water began to rise higher up until it was apparent they were fins about two feet tall and two feet wide. There was twelve feet of water between the them and they rose and fell four times at a distance of 60 yards from shore. O'Sullivan ran to fetch his shotgun but they were gone upon his return.
The distance between the fins creates a puzzling image. Assuming for balance sake that the animal was showing a single pair of fins, either front or back, how could there have been 12 feet between them unless the beast had the width of a whale? Perhaps Timothy O'Sullivan was mistaken but another report seems to confirm the same type of strange display:
•Near the village of Leurbost, Scotland: The Times article on The Highland Sea Serpent stated:

"...The animal is described by some as being in appearance and size like "a large peat stack," while others affirm that a "six-oared boat" could pass between the huge fins, which are occasionally visible."
Presented here is what looks to be another acknowledgement of the fin displaying behavior. The unexpected distance between fins was perceived as so great that a "six-oared boat" could pass between. With this statement the reporter himself seemed to note the contradiction between the general impression of the creature's size and the dimensions required for the remoteness between appendages. From the little that is comprehendible regarding the horse-eel's morphology it takes a degree of mental aerobics to fathom how a pair of paddles could appear so far apart from one another. Unless these beasties were contorting themselves so that the rear and the front paddle of one side were both visible during its leisurely bobbing. However it's achieved, this display reflects a sort of inactive ease of a large animal floating casually along the surface. How many other times have bystanders caught a glimpse of fins being held above and assumed them as nothing more than floating birds or debris?

Rolling
Twisting around near the surface has been cited in at least two reports so far. (One has to wonder if these animals don't get rather bored in their confines and feel the need to amuse themselves.)
•Lough Nahooin: In an early sighting by SC, a creature was seen rolling around in Lough Nahooin. A white underbelly could be seen during its rotation.

•Lough Auna: An unnamed witness described a spectacle seen as a boy with his mother while stacking turf along Lough Auna. Some two hundred yards away was a 30-40 ft eel-looking creature performing a series of rolls as it would rise and slowly sink in the water sending waves lapping on shore. It continued this for roughly a quarter an hour before sinking for good.

Propulsion
The swimming mechanics have only been sparsely touched upon in a few cases. Propulsion is a valuable clue in determining what type of animal the peistes are akin to. The general rule of thumb is aquatic mammals undulate whereas reptiles, amphibians and fish swim in a side to side motion.
•Lough Ree: (1960) The priests described the movement in their official statement as appear to be propelled by limbs beneath the surface. The animal maintained composure integrity during the course of its swim exposing a head and neck being followed by a hump or arch.

•Lough Ree: (1970s?) During the GUST excursion to Lough Ree in 2001 someone mentioned a sighting taken from a lakeside which described what appeared to be a dolphin swimming in the lough. By that it seemed to imply that the object shared the undulating movements associated with a dolphin's.

•Lough Abisdealy: The "snake" witnessed by church goers was said to have swam in an undulating fashion as it raised partial hoops or arches above the water.

•Lough Nahooin: It was noted that when the animal would swim with its head beneath the water two humps would surface behind it. Its speed was cited as incredible, able to dive beneath and emerge on the opposite shore in short time.
Of all of them Abisdealy is the most specific reference of undulation and therefore a vote for the mammalian candidacy. However I'm hesitant on placing too much weight on the accuracy of Abisdealy since it is the only instance to describe the animal as appearing in the form of several arches. The only other "arch" sighting came from the three priests on Lough Ree who thought the hump had water beneath it suggesting it may have been more of a loop just partially suspended above the water. The Ree animal maintained its form as it swam which allowed them to conclude that it was being pushed by paddles or limbs. Sightings that initially described the creature as a giant eels probably took for granted its swimming style. In the future witnesses will need to be asked specifically on the movements produced in order for us to better understand their propulsion.

Diet
The Great Peiste Paradox: how could large animals sustain themselves in tiny lakes with only sparse amounts of fish? After attempting to net Lough Nahooin F.W. Holiday pointed out anything as large as a crocodile would deplete such a small lake of its fish stock in a short matter of weeks. Yet the Nahooin beast had been seen on different occasions in a body of water comparable to a large pond. Was a single individual creature somehow persisting in the lough or was it entering and exiting from an outlet in between sightings? If it was a permanent resident, as LNI appears to have presumed, then what could it have survived off of?

For starters, it's only assumed that "lake monsters" are carnivores. The plesiosaur school of thought made the conclusion practically mandatory without consideration of the vast number of large freshwater animals that are in fact herbivores or at least omnivorous. The only indication at hand that horse-eels even eat fish can be derived from accounts taken from fishermen on Lough Ree who testified to instances of being towed about the lake after an immense animal took their bait. In the cases where the fishermen were trying to bait pike, it's probably a safe bet that whatever took the lure ate fish as well.

It's also been theorized that horse-eels may be bottom feeding scavengers extracting nutrients from the rich layers of sediment coating the bottom of bog lakes. On that note it's worthy pointing out that the term "peiste" is derived from worm. North American catfish have been recorded attaining impressive sizes by filtering out nutrients within muck. The horse-eel may persist under a similar ecological niche.

At present there is only one direct citation to a horse-eel feeding on hand. A Clifden-based farmer recalled hearing of a woman (deceased) who watched a horse-eel "eating weeds" in Lough Shanakeever. However, for what otherwise might be a most beneficial observation we're only provided those two words and he didn't recall anything more on the story. She may have witnessed the animal consuming vegetation or perhaps its hidden movements only caused reeds to submerge creating the impression it was eating.

Lady Gregory's Visions and Beliefs of West Ireland provides a more direct, albeit disturbing, citation that may relate to eating habits:
There was a sort of a big eel used to be in Tully churchyard, used to come and to root up the bodies, but I didn't hear of him of late - he may be done away with now.
It's somewhat ironic that in a book so heavily laden with overly superstitious folkloric beliefs, this activity of an almost diabolical nature is deemed worthy of only one sentence. And quite a casual one at that. In conversation Peter Costello mentioned that there are additional citations to such corpse-scavenging by monster eels elsewhere. For the record eels have been known to exit the water in search of food on land though excavating graves certainly takes the cake as far as scavenging goes. If true, it would certainly testify to a developed sense of smell and an ability to burrow.

While the components of their diet may remain unclear, at least there's some indication as to one of their methods of acquiring food. What may be a form of surface-scavenging has been suggested by certain accounts. Along with the gravedigger references, the "Highland Sea Serpent" article hints at another possible instance where a creature may have come ashore in search of food. According to the Times, the beast had been accused of swallowing a blanket left near the shore. The notion may sound rather comical but even alligators and crocodiles have been known to swallow articles of clothing left by the water's edge. Unfortunately the article falls short of specifying as to what lead to this conclusion; was it just a suiting explanation for a missing blanket or was the animal actually observed lunching on unattended linen? An additional instance of what could have been a form of surface-scavenging took place along Lough Shanakeever near Clifden. A farmer had set a dead sheep down by the shore during the night in hopes of baiting a varmint that had been claiming some of his sheep. In the light of the moon he waited with a shotgun until a sound was heard emitting from beneath the bank near the carcass. In his excitement he discharged his weapon with the expectation that a dog or fox would flee up the hill and into view. But immediately after the blast there was an immense splash as some large animal flung itself into the water. The upheaval of water was too great to have been created by an otter yet nothing was seen swimming along the surface. The lake had always been reputed for harboring a horse-eel from time to time.

Lastly as far as food is concern there is the possibility that they don't eat anything at all. Or at least, not while in freshwater. If the horse-eels are coming in from the sea in order to give birth they may gorge themselves while in the ocean and fast while establishing their territorial domains in the bog waters just as other animals abstain from eating while preparing to bear young.
Identification
Where, tax[onom]ically speaking, might the horse-eel belong? Within the Animal Kingdom where would these strange animals find their kin? With such limited information available, it would seem premature to even begin speculating, but nevertheless the temptation is there. So, taking an unqualified go at it, here are some of the present candidates that have been purposed:
Thick Bodied Eel
Few nominees would more readily explain an eel-like creature than a large species of eel. While certain features and aspects of behavior have a familiar echo towards eels, there are likewise a number of traits that do well to set them apart. For one thing, eels aren't known to swim with their heads held above water. Additionally they tend to remain along the bottom of lakes as opposed to swimming or floating near the surface. There are at least two possible references to horse-eels undulating but as yet none testifying to a side-to-side swimming motion obligatory of fish. As an eel the trademark "mane" would have to be composed of something other than hair but just the same there is the possibility that it is a sort of dorsal fin after all. If the horse-eel is as the name implies, a type of eel, then it would be a most remarkable and unique addition to the family or the whole Pisces lineage for that matter.
Archaeocetes and Zeuglodonts
Researcher Gary Cunningham and British zoologist Dr. Karl Shuker have both pointed to primitive whales as the most fitting of any animals past or present to comply with the horse-eel figure. While fossils of either have yet to be discovered in or near Ireland, it's theorized both could have migrated through the course of time from their original discovery sites.
Archaeocetes ('ancient whales') were elongated mammals whose evolutionary path was gradually divorcing them from their former existence on land. While thought to be primarily aquatic animals they still were equipped with diminishing limbs that may have facilitated amphibious capability. Gary Cunningham theorizes that the snout of a living archaeocete might superficially resemble a horse's based upon first sight.
Zeuglodonts, such as Basilosaurus, were more equipped for marine life than their predecessors with long tapering bodies but diminished limbs for land capability. Some speculate they may have carried a fluked tail. As archaeocetes and zeuglodonts were mammals it's quite possible both could have sported hair and therefore a mane.
Pinnipeds
The conceptual long-necked seal, original purposed by Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans and later championed by Peter Costello, has sought to displace the misguided notion of surviving plesiosaurs in glacial lakes. The prospect of horse-eels being a type of mammal receives reinforcement by their behavior and allusions of a hairy mane and undulating locomotion. Some possibly unknown form of pinniped seems most likely for the folkloric Water-Horse [and for the occasional report confusingly included in collections-DD]but otherwise would look to fall short of filling the role of a lengthy eel-like creature.

Race Against Time?
Obviously there's still a great amount we don't know regarding these animals and certainly a vast wealth of knowledge remains untapped within the older generation who grew up in a time when such animals were still being regarded as normal.
So many crucial questions remain: What do they feed on? When are they most active? Do they hibernate or migrate? What brings them ashore? The more we come to learn, the more we begin to understand, the closer we are to studying a live specimen. If that sounds a bit eccentric keep in mind that no one has even tried with the exception of a few week periods in 1968 and 1969. And even then efforts were extended on lakes that were only speculated to have been occupied at that time.
The most pragmatic area to try to acquire a specimen would be in places like Connemara where sightings have been relatively recurrent and the bodies of water are significantly small. Perhaps if a network of interest and communication was made known to the locals, offering a place they could submit any recent sightings, the lake or pool in question could then at least be monitored by volunteers in the event the animal takes to land or exists through a connecting stream. Once exposed from the water it could then be photographed or filmed or even temporarily ensnared within a net so that a tissue sample could be obtained before the animal is re-released.
With enough cooperation and effort this fascinating mystery could be resolved in a matter of a few years. Bear in mind though, it wouldn't mark so much of a discover as a re-discovery, or more-so as an acknowledgement. These creatures were certainly well recorded and it would appear well recognized throughout the past. But just the same, concern arises when one compares the sparse number of recent reports as opposed to the recorded amount of decades prior. Have the horse-eel become scarce in recent years? Has over-fishing of potential prey and pollution threatened their numbers? Or have changes in regional lifestyle and urban migration deceased the level of interaction between local residents and the animal's natural habitat where sightings would otherwise occur? Then again, it could also be that today folks are less reluctant to announce that they'd seen a water monster for fear of ridicule.
Whatever the case, right now the keys to the future lies in knowledge from the past and if effort isn't undertook to preserve the stories and lore known to the older generation, one of Ireland's most fascination inhabitants may pass into extinction being remembered as nothing more than a myth.
Peistes@Yahoo.com
[I have excluded a long and fascinating passage claiming that horse eels would be identical to the Plesiosaur-shaped "Nessiteras rhombopteryx" on the grounds that the main case for the Horse Eels is that they are different to the Plesiosaur-shaped creatures. The discussion belongs in a separate category-DD]
Text and artwork copyright 1999, Scott Howard Mardis

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view and demand that they respect yours.
Chief Tecumseh



Wow, that's a lot of info, I'll read it when I get more time, but I do like the 'eel theory' for lake monsters in Britain and Ireland.

http://sharks77551.yuku.com/topic/3485

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2010/01/lindsay-selby-lough-fadda-horse-eel.html

http://blogs.forteana.org/node/114

http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2010/02/eels-as-monsters-in-lochs-and-loughs.html

http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2010/06/loch-awe-creature-serpent-or-giant-eel.html

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/12/old-case-revisited-giant-eels.html

http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/chaney/627/ireland.htm




These views are of a mock-up Giant Eel skull made to promote the theory that such creatures (especially the Loch Ness Monster) were all Giant eels. The skuls are composites and built up out of parts of different known types of eels. I have omitted the skull with a full palate of teeth because while such a creature might well have palatal teeth, "palatal teeth" does NOT generally mean "Having a whole palate full of teeth"



































Traditional Laidly Wurrm, or Bethir




In some of the Lochs there are also traditional reports of "Big Snakes" known as Bethir and given a separate listing by Eberhart in Mysterious Creatures. These are said to be ten to twenty feet and if Horse Eels are differentiated from them by size then presumably the larger ones have a more prominent backfin at a time when they are larger in size, and also thicker in the body. The Bethir are otherwise a survival of "Laidly (Loathly) Wurrums" or snake-shaped dragons of earlier lore, Ivan Sanderson's Great Orms and Lindorms or Lindwurms of Germany and Scandinavia.. That part must make a third part to this discussion.