Mysterious Britain says Cauldshiels Loch has a water bull, in Gaelic tarbh uisge, legend. According to Scott, the loch was haunted by a bogle in the shape of a water bull, which lived in the deep parts and came out on dry land making tremendous roaring sounds that shook the very hills. Scott noted that local people said they had witnessed this creature and believed the tale. There is also a legend of a kelpie, a shape shifting water horse that lures the unwary to drown.
The American writer Washington Irving visited the loch with Scott and wrote about it in The Crayon Miscellany (1835) in the section on Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey. The loch lies in woodland near Abbotsford. Scott's own account comes to us secondhand through Irving, and I have not seen a report from another local witness.
Comments