The Beasts of Loch Garten

Loch Garten isn’t a large body of water, but it’s said to be haunted by two entities, although they may be the same beast under different names. The first is the Bodach, a strange creature that acted as a guardian spirit for a local family. When any were about to meet an untimely end, the Bodach’s screams could be heard echoing off the mountains around Loch Garten.

The second ominous entity is the Loch Garten Monster, which has been said to take the form of half-bull and half-stallion. This jet-black creature crawled from the water like a Kelpie to hunt for prey amongst the trees with eyes that shone like fire and a roar that could be heard for miles. While nobody was safe, the monster had a particular taste for either children or lambs.

One crofter decided to protect his flock by catching the beast and destroying it, a task easier said than done. He sacrificed one of his lambs by tying a rope with a hook around its body, then the other end of the line to an enormous rock. All he had to do was wait for the monster to take the bait and become stuck during the night, before returning in the morning to finish it off.

A storm raged that night and through the crash of thunder, the blood-chilling roars of the monster confirmed it had taken the lamb as planned. However, when the crofter returned with his gun, there was nothing there to kill. The lamb, rope and even the rock had vanished, with just a deep trench to show where it had been dragged into the depths of Loch Garten. It seems as if the plan worked though as the creature has never been seen since.