The Stronsay Beast
I would like to see
The Deerness mermaid
Probably the most famous of the mermaid sightings in Orkney took place over a few summers around 1890.
At this time there were a series of sightings of a "creature" that came to be known as "the Deerness Mermaid".
A regular visitor to Newark Bay in Deerness, the mermaid went on to achieve considerable fame, with hundreds of eyewitnesses swearing to the validity of their encounters. From documented reports, it appears that the mermaid stayed some distance from the shore, so exact details are vague.
But one account does provide a good description of a sighting and, as you will see, it was a far cry from the archetypal storybook mermaid:
"It is about six to seven feet in length, has a little black head, with neck, a snow white body and two arms, and in swimming it just appears like a human being. At times it will appear to be siding on a sunken rock, and will wave and work its hands."
According to Orkney folklore, the mermaid was a child of the finfolk.
She began her life as a mermaid, typically beautiful with long, glistening fish tail but unless she married a mortal - an act that allowed her to discard her tail - she had to marry a Finman and would grow progressively uglier until at last she became a repulsive Finwife.
