The Leurbost Sea-Serpent

Leurbost is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. It lies about 6 miles south of Stornoway, in the Parish of Lochs. On 6 March 1856, The Times of London printed a short item headed "The Sea Serpent in the Highlands." It opened simply. "The village of Leurbost, Parish of Lochs, Lewis, is at present the scene of an unusual occurrence."

Something had appeared "in one of the inland fresh-water lakes." It had been "repeatedly seen within the last fortnight by crowds of people," many of whom had come "from the remotest parts of the parish" to witness it.

Witnesses reached for comparisons. Some said it was in appearance and size like "a large peat stack." Others described huge fins, occasionally visible above the water, so far apart that a "six-oared boat" could pass between them. On one point everyone agreed. "All, however, agree in describing its form as that of an eel." One informant, "whose evidence we can rely upon," put its length at about 40 feet.

Stories gathered around the loch. The animal was "currently reported to have swallowed a blanket inadvertently left on the bank by a girl herding cattle." Nobody was named. Not the girl, not the informant, not the crowds.

One man tried to settle it. A sportsman ensconced himself with a rifle near the loch for a whole day, hoping to get a shot. In the report's dry words, he "did no execution." The story travelled far. On 10 June 1856 the Colonial Times of Hobart, Tasmania, reprinted it among its "Varieties."

The reporter offered an answer at once. "It is probable that it is no more than a conger eel after all," the report said, noting that eels of huge size had been caught in Highland lakes. Others in 1856 had a different idea. Some supposed it to be "the hitherto mythological water-kelpie."

Later writers were less comfortable with the eel. In 2011 Dale Drinnon, on the Frontiers of Zoology blog, noted that congers are saltwater fish that rarely exceed about nine feet. A conger in a freshwater lake would be "a mystery within a mystery." Drinnon suggested the "fins" were probably humps, and classed the animal as a "horse-eel" type rather than a long-necked Nessie.

The report was brought back to light by Peter Costello, whose 1974 book In Search of Lake Monsters drew on it. Today the Loch Ness Monster article on Wikipedia cites Leurbost as an example of sightings explained as an oversized eel. That is a theory Tim Dinsdale rejected for Loch Ness, because eels undulate side to side.

Over time the creature also gained a name. Some writers call it the Searrach Uisge, the "water colt," and tie it to Loch Suainbhal, where locals reportedly once offered lambs to a beast said to resemble a capsized boat. Yet the 1856 report names no loch and no creature. Loch Suainbhal is generally placed in Uig, on the west side of Lewis, outside the Parish of Lochs. The link may be two island traditions merged into one. The loch at Leurbost, and whatever swam in it, remain unidentified.