Unsolved:Morag (lake monster)

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Short description: Mythical creature


Morag
Sub groupingLoch monster
First attested1887
Other name(s)Mòrag (Scottish Gaelic)
CountryScotland
RegionLoch Morar

Morag (Scottish Gaelic: Mòrag) is the nickname given to a loch monster believed by many to live in Loch Morar, Scotland. After Nessie, it is among the most written about of Scotland's legendary monsters. "Morag", a Scottish female name, is a pun on the name of the loch. Reported sightings date back to 1887, and numbered 34 incidents by 1981. Sixteen of these involved multiple witnesses.

A widely reported claim involved two local men, Duncan McDonell and William Simpson, and their boat, with which they claimed to have accidentally struck the creature, prompting it to attack them. McDonell defended with an oar, and Simpson opened fire with his rifle, whereupon it sank slowly out of sight. They described it as being brown, 25–30 feet (7.6–9.1 m) long, with rough skin, three dorsal humps rising 18 inches (46 cm) above the loch's surface, and a head a foot wide, held 18 inches (46 cm) out of the water.[1]

See also

  • Muc-sheilch (Loch Maree and environs)

References

  1. Janet and Colin Bord, "Alien Animals" (Granada 1980, revised 1985), ISBN:0-586-06469-9, pages 13–14

Further reading

  • Campbell, Elizabeth Montgomery & David Solomon, The Search for Morag (Tom Stacey 1972) ISBN:0-85468-093-4
  • Peter Costello, In Search of Lake Monsters (Garnstone) 1974
  • Modern Mysteries of Britain (Guild Publishing 1987), pp 160–1 (Morag photographs)