The Water Horses of the Isle of Mull

 

Back in 2012, I wrote my first book "The Water Horses of Loch Ness" which looked at the folklore of aquatic beasts in Scotland with the emphasis on those reputed to haunt Scotland's largest body of water at Loch Ness. During my research, I collected old tales about lochs across the land of Scotland from vast bodies of water to lochs you could throw a stone across to the other side. A lot of that material did not make it into the book, but when I was contacted recently about what the folklore says about such lochs of the Isle of Mull, I took that to be an opportunity to dust down the notes,

The Isle of Mull lies just off the Western coast of the Scotland where the southern end of the Great Glen ends at Loch Linnhe. The map below of Mull is taken from a 19th century map at a time when such stories were beginning to fade from the collective mind of the Highlanders as industrialization triggered population shifts across the land.

At most, four lochs were found to have these traditional tales and their names are Loch Frisa, Cru Lochan, Loch Assapol and Loch Sloch. Now three of these lochs are mentioned in the book "Superstition of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland" authored by J.G. Campbell and published in 1900. Starting with Loch Frisa, this is the largest of these lochs in the north-west of Mull and Campbell takes us to the nearby village of Aros to the south-east of the loch.

The heir of Aros, a young man of great personal activity, and, it is said, of dissolute manners, having an opinion of himself that there was no horse he could not ride, was taken by a Water-horse into Loch Frisa, a small lake about a mile in length in the north-west of Mull and devoured. This occurred between his espousal and marriage, and the Lament composed by his intended bride is still and deservedly a popular song in Mull.

There seems to be this much truth in the story, that the young man was dragged into Loch  Frisa by a mare which he was attempting to subdue and drowned. It would appear from the song that his body was recovered. The popular details of the incident vary considerably, and are of interest as illustrative of the growth of tales of superstition. 

One account has it that a remarkably handsome grey mare came among horses belonging to the tenant of Aros pasturing on the rushes at the end of Loch Frisa. One day his son haltered and mounted it. The grey stood quite quietly till it got the young man on its back. It then rushed into the loch. 

Another account says the young man found a mare in the hills, which he took to be one of those belonging to his father. He caught it with the intention of riding home, but the mare took out to Loch Frisa, and he was there devoured by Water-horses. 

A third account says the Water-horse was kept all winter, with the cow shackle about its neck, and remained so quiet and steady, that at last the shackle was neglected. The son of the tenant rode it one day to the peat-moss, three other horses following behind in usual form, when it suddenly rushed away to the lake, and nothing was ever seen of the youth or the horses but the livers. 

A fourth account says, in spring a band of men went to the hill to catch a young horse wanted for harrowing or to send to market They were unable to catch it, and next day Aros's son himself went with them. He caught what he supposed to be the horse wanted and jumped on its back. The horse rushed at full speed towards the loch, and the young man found he could not throw himself off. The horse's liver came ashore next day, the animal, it is supposed, having been killed by the other Water-horses tenanting the lake, when they felt the smell of a man off it.

There is still another account, that Mac-fir Arois was twice taken away by the Water-horse. The first time, he managed to put a foot on each side of a gate, in passing through, and allowed the horse to pass on. The second time, a cap which hitherto had kept the horse, was forgotten. In the terrible career of the steed to the loch, the young man clasped his arms round its neck, and could not unclasp them. His lungs came ashore next day. 

As you can see, there is a lot of supernatural layers to this creature which bear little resemblance to the cryptids which normally occupy this blog. My own opinion is that there is a true cryptid hidden in the kernel of some of these stories. The main truth being the horse-like appearance of modern eyewitness accounts. Not all lochs had such kernel creatures and I think the original tales were seeded and propagated from the larger lochs, especially Loch Ness.

Hence the variation in tales as pointed out by Campbell though what variation came first and following is not so easy to ascertain. One approach could be that the simplest tales are the oldest and additional texts were added as time and place varied, though that is not a given. Campbell would probably appear as a modern-day sceptic to the 19th century locals in Mull when he rationalized that an ordinary horse dragged the entangled young man into the loch!

Campbell then moves onto the tale of a smaller loch which he calls "Cru-Loch". This appears to be located towards the east of the island as seen on this old ordnance survey map. It is called "Crun Lochan" on the map and is seen on the left side of the map extract, though the name seems to have disappeared on later maps.

This is a lonely little lake above Ardachyle {Aird-a-chaoil "the height of the sound") in the north-east of Mull. A person passing it late at night, on his way home, saw a horse with a saddle on, quietly feeding at the loch side. He went towards it with the intention of riding it home, but in time he observed green-water herbs {liaranaich) about its feet and refrained from touching it. He walked on and before long was overtaken by a stranger, who said that unless he (the Water-horse, who was also the speaker) had been friendly and a well-wisher, he would have taken him to the loch. Among other supernatural information it told the man the day of his death.

The shape-changing aspect of the Water Horse appears here as well as the ability to speak, pointing to the intelligent spirit entity behind the creature. Though it appears they could only change to a human appearance and not always perfectly, such as still retaining hooves. Clearly, no one would expect such abilities of a modern day cryptid.

Moving onto Loch Assapol, this is located in the south west of the island near Bunessan but merits only a passing reference by Campbell in a discussion on a common Water Horse theme across the Highlands when the creature attempts to beguile young women to their doom by assuming the form of a handsome young man:

Many of the stories add that the young man (or Water-horse) came for her on a subsequent Sunday after dinner, or to church, to which (as in the story of the Water-horse of Loch Assapol in the Ross of Mull) she went for security rather than keep an appointment previously made with him, and took her to the loch.

Here the morality aspect of such tales involves sexual propriety but these tales also point to other aspects of moral character, such as when the young man of Aros is described as a man "of dissolute manners". The final body of water is Loch Sloch though I am now dubious of this reference as the original source does not clearly state where this loch is. There is one on Mull but it is not clear and so I will leave this one aside pending further references. 

Well, three Water Horses seem more than enough for an island of Mull's size, but if anyone reaches these lochs and sees a lone horse grazing by a loch side, approach with caution!

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The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com