WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Sunday, July 22, 2012

LINDSAY SELBY: The water cow of St Mary's Loch



St Mary’s Loch




James Hogg (1770 – 1835) wrote in the ‘The Ettrick Shepherd’ about a water cow that lived in St Mary’s Loch. The Loch was created during the ice age and is the largest loch in the Borders area. According to local legend it is thought to be bottomless. It is situated on the A708 road between Selkirk and Moffat, and is approximately 3 miles(5 kilometres) long and half a mile (1 kilometre)wide. The Loch rarely freezes over and may be the coldest loch in Scotland.(NB the loch is unlikely to be bottomless and it was reported to be 150 feet ( 50 meters)deep by some people)

James Hogg wrote:
. "A farmer in Bowerhope once got a breed of her, which he kept for many years until they multiplied exceedingly; and he never had any cattle thrive so well, until once, on some outrage or disrespect on the farmer's part towards them, the old dam came out of the lake one pleasant March evening and gave such a roar that all the surrounding hills shook again, upon which her progeny, nineteen in number, followed her all quietly into the loch, and were never more seen”.

This story was repeated by James Mackinley in his Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs 1893.There is a statue of James Hogg near the Loch by a local Inn.

Was is interesting about this folktale is that the Loch sounds like so many others that are said to have lake monsters or water horses living here. All the lochs seem to be from the ice age, be very cold and rarely freeze and are deep. Could it be a creature did live in the loch and it ate the farmer’s cows? Could it be that some sort of aquatic creature has survived from the ice age in these lochs, many of which are in quite desolate and difficult to get to places? Loch Ness had no proper road until 1933(there are those who would argue its still not a very good road lol) and many of the lochs do not even have roads to them. So the mystery remains, I hope one day it will be solved if not it may be that in the future only in folklore we will learn about the mysterious beasties in the Lochs.

No comments: