The Lough Bran (or Brin) Monster

Lough Bran or sometimes called Brin, is northeast of Carrick-on-Shannon in Ireland. It is quite isolated .

It is said to be home to a monster possibly a giant eel or reptile. The stories go back some way in time:

IN W. R. Le Fanu's Seventy Years of Irish Life :

"The dreadful beast, the wurrum—half fish, half dragon—still survives in many a mountain lake—seldom seen, indeed, but often heard. Near our fishing quarters in Kerry there are two such lakes, one the beautiful little lake at the head of the Blackwater River, called Lough Brin, from Brin or Bran as he is now called, the dreadful wurrum which inhabits it. The man who minds the boat there speaks with awe of Bran; he tells me he has never seen him, and hopes he never may, but has often heard him roaring on a stormy night. On being questioned what the noise was like, he said it was like the roaring of a young bull.'

An anonymous person said the beast had "two big eyes in his forehead".

It was reported in the 1940’s to like a giant eel, in excess of four metres in length.

Then in 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 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.

In the summer 1979 2 farmers saw a 10 foot long reptilian creature swimming across the lough.

All the sightings seem to describe a large eel. There have long been stories in Celtic Myth of horse eels, giant eels with manes. This fits in with many other lake monster sightings.

There is also this strange tale: On the 9th of August 1996, a John Redman was driving his truck on the road by Lough Brin at about 21:00 'when he noticed to his left what appeared to be a big truck upside-down in the field. However as he drove by, he saw that the "truck" had a string of bright lights pointing upwards. He thought this very strange, but was also frightened by this unusual appearance, and decided to carry on driving. He made no attempt to check up on this situation. He thought a lot about it and told a few people. He describes that the "truck" was about 30 feet across with protuberances sticking out of it merged with the array of lights.'

So lake monsters aren’t the only thing strange around Lough Brin or Bran. It is curious how areas where lake creatures are reported that people report other strange phenomena. Maybe it is the atmosphere around the

lakes ? Something to think about isn’t it?