60 years ago, three Irish priests, while fishing on Lake Lough Rea, saw a monster with a horse's head in the water. The Reverend Fathers heard the ancient legend of the monster living in the lake, but, of course, they did not believe in it. But Lough Rea is only one of three lakes in Ireland where relic animals have been "seen". In the language of science, they are called cryptids - “eyewitnesses” tell about meetings with them, but their existence has not been confirmed by science.
Everyone knows about Nessie from the Scottish Loch Ness. We are talking about other lake monsters that may have escaped your attention.
Lori from Loch Ree
So, on the evening of May 18, 1960, three priests from Dublin got on a boat to go fishing in Lough Ree. Elders Matthew Burke, Daniel Murray and Richard Kungley have been here many times and knew these places well. As they knew the legend that a beast unknown to science lives in Loch Rea. Then (if you believe their stories, of course) the water surface suddenly seethed and a head appeared on the surface.
“She sailed slowly, not paying attention to us,” Father Matthew Burke later recalled. - We watched the monster for 2-3 minutes. It moved in a northeasterly direction, then completely plunged into the water and was no longer shown."
The priests did not hide from journalists and willingly talked about their meeting with the monster. They also made a presentation at a meeting of the Irish Fishermen's Society. According to the reverend fathers, the creature's head looked like either a horse or a python. All three of them saw her clearly. They found it difficult to name the exact dimensions of the creature, but, according to their estimates, it was at least 5 meters long. Some of them still thought that the monster had humps or curves of the body, which also flashed on the surface of the reservoir.
In the following months, several more reports were received from eyewitnesses who allegedly saw a mysterious creature in Loch Ri Lake. He was named Laurie, and the Irish newspapers wrote about him with delight. The story of two fishermen added fuel to the fire, who caught something large and heavy in the lake in August of the same year. The prey, caught in their net, stretched the boat 40 meters, then broke free and left. The fishermen claimed that the animal was able to break the tackle, woven from strong thick fishing line.
Promotional video:
Despite all this evidence, no one was engaged in scientific searches for cryptid for a long time. Only in 2001, the Swedish ichthyologist Jan Sundberg decided to conduct an expedition to Lake Loch Rea. It was widely covered by the local media. Sundberg brought together a whole group of researchers from different countries. Scuba divers plunged into the lake, scanned it with an echo sounder, conducted round-the-clock photo and video shooting. It's all in vain - Laurie never showed up.
It is worth saying that myths about lake monsters with a head resembling a horse are quite common in Ireland. And Lake Loch Ree is not the only one in this series. Although it stands out with another legend: according to it, at the bottom of the reservoir there is an underwater city with a cathedral.
Morag of Loch Morar
"Here lives the Morag monster" - so it is sung in an old Scottish song dedicated to Lake Loch Morar. It is, of course, far from the glory of Loch Ness, but it surpasses its depth (309 meters versus 230) and is generally the deepest lake in Great Britain.
There is a belief that anyone who sees a monster from this reservoir will immediately fall dead. Therefore, in previous centuries people were wary of approaching its shores, but now "monster hunters" strive here no less than to Loch Ness. The pilgrimage began in the 1970s with the first eyewitness accounts of a meeting with Morag.
In July 1969, a local fisherman spotted an animal at the bottom of the lake that looked like a huge 6-meter long lizard. Its body was greenish brown and had four legs. The fisherman said that the monster was looking directly at him, and he hurried back to the shore as soon as possible.
In 1970, several fishermen heard loud screams and curses on the lake. Near the boat of their comrade who was fishing nearby, a creature emerged, almost overturned the frightened fisherman and disappeared in the depths, leaving only circles.
However, contemporaries, unlike their ancestors, do not consider Morag to be terrible. They are sure that he does not offend people, only publishes terrible groans and has a threatening appearance. And, of course, it is shown only to those who are eager to see him.
Storshen monster
In a tale recorded by the Swedish priest Morgens Pedersen in the middle of the 17th century, a monster from Lake Storsjön is first mentioned. The pastor only passed on a local legend: once two trolls sat down on the shore of the lake, lit a fire and hung a kettle over it. The water boiled away, a terrible creature with a cat's head and a snake body jumped out of the kettle, looked around and quickly disappeared into the waters of the lake. Over time, it grew to gigantic proportions. Tradition describes the beast as a 6 meter long reptile with fins and humps on its back.
The boom around the Storsjon monster happened in the 1890s. Then the locals seriously set out to catch the lake monster, even the king of Sweden Oscar II took part in this venture. The search was not crowned with success, but this did not cool the research fervor.
Another 100 years passed, and in 1998 there was a video filming, which forced to speak and write again about the monster from Lake Storsjon. The camera installed on the shore by the cameraman of the film crew recorded something "warm and made of cells" at night. Obviously, such an explanation could hardly suit real monster hunters. More automatic video cameras were set up along the lake. They say that footprints of incredible size were found on the shore, which scientists could not explain. However, it has not yet been possible to find a real animal.
Storshensky monster, a monument.
Labynkyr devil
Russia has its own legends about lake monsters. Residents of the Tver region lure tourists with stories about the plesiosaurus living in Lake Brosno. But much more intriguing is the inhabitant of Lake Labynkyr, located near the cold pole in Yakutia.
The locals call him "the devil". According to the descriptions of the Yakuts, the monster has a dark gray color and a huge mouth. It is aggressive and dangerous, sometimes it gets ashore and attacks people and animals.
Scientists showed interest in the creature after a report by geologist Tverdokhlebov, published in 1953. He described an object floating on the lake: “It was something alive. It moved in an arc: first along the lake, then straight towards us. As it approached, a strange numbness, from which it grows cold inside, seized me. Above the water a little dark gray carcass, the eyes of an animal towered, and something like a stick was sticking out of the body … We saw only a small part, but a huge massive body was guessed under the water”.
Several scientific expeditions were equipped to Lake Labynkyr, but scientists did not find any "devil". But a number of side discoveries were made. So, with the help of an echo sounder, an abnormal crack was revealed at the bottom, and later they found the remains of the jaws and vertebrae of animals. In addition, the researchers noticed that Labynkyr for some reason freezes very slowly and always much later than the neighboring lakes.
In 2013, an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society visited Yakutia. The divers made dives, but did not see anyone again. And in 2016, the traveler Andrei Solovyov interviewed local residents and a helicopter pilot who allegedly saw a reptile 5-7 meters long from a height on the surface of the lake. In addition, Solovyov discovered many-meter holes in fishing nets - in his opinion, they did not want to explain them otherwise than by the influence of a huge underwater animal.
Scientists, however, suggest that rumors about the Labynkyr devil are most likely caused by the meeting of local fishermen with a giant pike. It is known that long-lived pikes can reach two meters in length.
Lagarflout snake
In the east of Iceland there is Lake Lagarflout. Legend has it that a 90-meter monster lives in it - he, they say, has been seen more than once basking on the shore, crawling through the trees and floating in the lake. The snake did not harm any of the people, but meeting with him is considered a harbinger of trouble.
The legend of the snake first appeared in the Icelandic chronicles of 1345. Then people saw a hump sticking out of the water and considered it a bad omen. There have been other oral testimonies since then. The problem is that Lake Lagarflout is heavily silted up, and this complicates the search for a relic animal in it.
In 2012, a local farmer claimed to have filmed a snake swimming in a pond. A commission was even called and found that the video was not fake. But that was the end of it.
Skeptics suggest that rumors about the monster living in the lake arose due to the fact that bottom gases are often thrown onto its surface. In addition, opinions were expressed that a large fish or a lost fishing net was mistaken for a mythical beast.
… other
The list of lake monsters goes on and on. Every country where lakes exist has its own legends. A huge monster lives in the Chinese lake Kanas, which pulls birds and animals under the water. There is a similar bloodthirsty creature in Kazakhstan, in the Kok-Kol lake. Giant lizards hide in the waters of the Chilean White Lake, Australian Lake Waitorek, American Flathead, in the state of Montana.
Particularly lucky Canada, which nature has awarded a huge number of lakes. In Lake Okanagan, Ogopogo lives, practically approaching the popularity of the Scottish Nessie. Seen for the first time in 1958, the monster is described by eyewitnesses as a snake lizard with a barrel-like body, a long neck and fins. Lakes Champlain and Manitoba have their own mythical inhabitants. Moreover, in the latter, according to the legends of the Indians, a whole family of aquatic cryptids lives - a male, a female and several cubs. They are said to have a flat body, a snake head and three humps.
In the 1950s, a local fisherman fished a skeleton out of the water, which paleontologists undertook to study. They defined it as "belonging to an eight-foot creature that became extinct many millions of years ago."
Author: Dmitry Vladimirov