Cryptozoology on the radio again

On Sunday night’s Morton Through Midnight show the regular cryptozoology feature Morton’s Mystery Creatures focused on that faery dog of Luskentyre Beach.

The traditional stories refer to the footprints of the faery dog being found on Luskentyre Beach and these footprints are not easily mistaken for normal dog prints as they are far bigger than those that the largest of true dogs could leave behind in the wet sand. When the author of all things Hebridean-related, Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, was travelling around the Western Isles in the 1930s researching his book he eventually found himself on the sands at Luskentyre. Recalling the traditional tales of the sightings of the faery dog he proceeded to try and track down a witness and as luck would have it his path soon crossed that of a young man who was herding some cows. Being the investigative bloke that he was Alasdair asked the young man if he had ever heard tales of the faery dog that was said to leave its prints up on the beach. Much to his surprise the young man confirmed that not only had he heard of the tale of the faery dog but that he himself had come across a set of the large canine prints on that lonely beach. He went on to tell Alasdair that while he had never seen anything other than the paw prints he did know of a number of people on Harris whose encounters with the animal had not just been restricted to paw prints but who had both heard and on some occasions actually seen the faery dog. The young cowherd would proceed to show his companion the site where he had come across the footprints in the damp sand and as Alasdair would record in the The ghost book: 

‘This is the bit where myself saw the Cu-Sith’s footprints’ he now told me and in a whisper, lest seal or seabird should overhear. We were very much alone at the time; and I could not but feel my informant was letting me into a secret not to be divulged. Perhaps, he was warning me, lest one tarried too late by this haunted shore land.'

Perhaps the young man suspected the beach itself had a sentient presence of its own, perhaps recalling the fate of the greedy man and his boat-load of gold or perhaps he was just recalling the threat the faery dog held, and as the old tales of this beach confirmed it wasn’t only the third bark of the Cu sith that you had to fear for it was told that those who stepped into the tread of those large otherworldly paw prints and followed their course would be driven to madness. So if you do happen to come across a set of mysterious paw prints on the beach think twice before stepping in them and if you choose to, don’t say you haven’t been warned.

You can listen to this show on the following link morton through midnight  it is 1 hour 30 minutes into the show.