NEIL ARNOLD: The Giant Leech

I have known Neil for fifteen years now, since he was a mod schoolboy with ambitions for adventure and I was an earnest young hippy who merely wanted to start a club for people interested in unknown animals. Nothing much has changed over the years; we are just both a tad older....

It must be said I’m a sucker (excuse the pun!) for a weird monster story. The tale of the River Valley Giant Leech is just another of those bizarre legends passed down through tribal lore. Tlanusi’yi, or ‘The Leech Place’, is a place known among the Cherokees of North Carolina. In the vicinity where the Valley River joins Hiwassee, at Murphy originates a monster legend, for above the junction is said to sit a deep hole, and above this a ledge where a bridge used to cross. From here people used to look down at the waterway, and on one occasion some Cherokee braves observed a massive red creature bathing on a rock below them. After a short while the creature uncoiled and stretched out, revealing itself as a red and white striped beast resembling a huge leech.

The creature was so huge that as it disappeared into the water, the depths began to foam and roll, crashing into the sides of the bank. The men were quick to move from the area but as they looked back, they saw a huge water spout rise from the water and crash onto the ledge where they had been standing. It was believed that this was the method used by the monster to kill its victims. Many bodies were found on this stretch of river, crushed by some almighty spout, their lifeless bodies sucked dry by the horrifying form. And so the legend gained weight, with less and less braves taking to the area, except one foolish man who scoffed at the yarns.
One day the bold man took to the stretch of river, singing and taunting the beast with his friends following behind at some distance.

As the man reached halfway across the ledge the waters began to froth all of a sudden. Thinking he was invincible to the monsters tirade, the man stood his ground but was simply carried away, never to be seen again.

A small child was also said to have fallen prey to the monster leech when a woman, undeterred by the legend, and determined to catch fish from the water, laid her infant on the rocks, where it was swallowed by the angry waves.

And so the legend lives on, for the immortal beast is said to exist in the murky depths, but the lack of sightings suggests that this belief has been born from a fearsome current. Maybe the giant leech is nothing more than a Cherokee spook tale to prevent children or travellers from venturing to these treacherous climbs.