GLEN VAUDREY: Bring Me the Head of …

Back in 1808 in the aftermath of a winter’s storm something very large and very unusual washed up on the rocky shores of the Scottish island of Stronsay, one of the Orkney Islands.

It was a large, very dead, sea creature some 55 ft long and to this day it remains a mystery animal. To some folk, albeit not many these days, it was the remains of a sea serpent, while others believe it was nothing more than a basking shark. It should be noted it was far longer than any basking shark found so far, the largest one to be measured accurately was found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada in 1851 and measured an impressive 40 ft. Impressive? Yes. Stronsay Beast size? No!

There is plenty more to the story of this leviathan from the deep which you can read in my latest book, The Mystery Animals of the Northern Isles; you will also find that Orkney has a bit of a record for large mystery carcasses. During the Second World War another two other large rotting lumps washed up from the depths and on to the shores of Scapa Flow, these were the Deepdale and Hunda carcasses.

You might be surprised to learn that while nothing is known to remain of either of the later carcasses, there are still parts of the Stronsay Beast to be found in a couple of museums in Scotland. But this blog isn’t about these pieces, no, it’s about a couple of missing parts which vanished in London during the blitz.

As you might have already guessed from the heading one is the head, well actually it’s described as the brain case, but can you really imagine a film entitled Bring me the brain case of Alfredo Garcia? Well possibly the imaginative of you out there can.

The other missing part was described as a paw. These two pieces, brain case and paw, could well hold a vital clue to the nature of the Stronsay Beast. On the other hand, it has to be said, they might not hold any clue at all, but without having a look at them we will never know.

All I can find that is known about the brain case is that it was in the possession of Sir Everard Holme (or Holm) and the Royal Society at one time.

So I would like to ask all you good folks if you could have a look down the back of the sofa or anywhere else you might think a likely place in which to find a missing piece of this beast.

If you have any leads please contact me at glen@cfz.org.uk