Mythical creature sightings compiled in book

Scientists may have poured cold water on Nessie’s monster status but Scotland is home to plenty more myths and legends whose verity has yet to be disproved.

As recently as 2016, The Courier reported on carer Mark Luke, from Edinburgh, who recalled seeing an 8-10ft beast next to the Tay Road Bridge in 2005 as he was travelling to Dundee for a nightshift.

He came forward after a former civil servant from Fife reported a sighting of a “large hairy ape-like creature”, which crossed the carriageway in three strides at the Five Roads roundabout on the A92 that same year, leaving “an unpleasant odour in the air”.

St Andrews graduate Charmaine Fraser also described an encounter with a 7ft black beast with no neck and broad shoulders at Carmyllie in the 1980s.

In his book, Monsters, Ministers and Mayhem – Outrageous tales exhumed from the archives and garnished with contemporary irreverence, author Chris Ferguson re-examined some of the reports of mythical creatures that have featured in The Courier for the last 200 years.

Mermaid sightings were once a frequent occurrence on the east coast of Scotland and as late as 1950 a mermaid’s skeleton, featuring a semi-aquatic leg formation, was supposedly dug up on Staffa.

In 1894, the crew of the Dundee sloop, Dart, had a terrifying brush with a serpent as they were sailing from Buckie to Aberdeen. The angry beast broke the surface of the Moray Firth and reared up to the height of the mast for long enough that one of the sailors, A Gavin, was able to produce a sketch which The Courier published.

Dundee is also the place to see Scotland’s only waterbased unicorn, according to VisitScotland. The honour goes to the figurehead of HM Frigate Unicorn – one of the oldest warships in the world and now a visitor attraction at the city’s Victoria Dock.

Another popular landmark, the Kelpies at Grangemouth, are inspired by the shapeshifting water spirits said to inhabit lochs across the land.