Ah - Scotland.
The Beautiful Land of the Thistle.
Bobby Burns - Haggis, and my favorite Glaswegian comedian, Brian “Limmy” Limond.
But as well as leading the world in golf courses and tenacious female politicians, Scotland
is also a ferocious country, riddled with ancient tales of beasts and monstrous creatures.
The most terrifying of which is the Great Sea Serpent - the Cirein Croin, a name that
strikes fear into the heart of fishermen and sailors to this very day.
What’s going on guys, it’s me Jack Finch - and welcome to Most Amazing Top 5.
I’m going to be taking things a little mythical today, so hold onto your hats and let’s
dive down to the deeps - to the land of the Cirein Croin.
As the shanty goes:
Seven herrings, a salmons fill.
Seven salmon, a seals fill.
Seven seals, large whales fill.
Seven whales - … a Cirein Croin’s fill.
Now, I’m not going to do a Scottish accent, /purely/ for the fact that I don’t want
to offend anyone -or- cringe them out.
But the depictions of the Cirean Croin are actually pretty heavily recorded in Gaelic
folklore.
According to the ‘Gaelic Names of Beasts’ - a text is written in 1905 by Alexander Forbes,
the Cirein Croin was referred to as a ‘giant fish destroyer.’
A pretty impressive title to hold, even if you’re *not* a leviathan of the sea.
Forbes goes on to say,
‘It is not known what this monster animal was - but whatever it was, it waged a war
in both sea and land - against all, and against each other.’
Some Scottish Folklorist’s claimed that the Cirean Croin could often disguise itself
as a small, silverfish.
It would then go about its business as an innocent creature of the sea - at least until
it could attract its next meal - when a fisherman would catch the disguised Cirean Croin in
its nets.
You can tell where this is going, right?
Once aboard, the Cirean Croin would transform itself back into a huge, hulking sea serpent
- and happily chow down on the otherwise unsuspecting Scottish sailor.
Interestingly enough, common tales include the Cirean Croin making use of illusions to
attract its prey.
Usually in the form of a shoal of fish, or - in some tales, a series of eerie bright
orbs.
Whatever tactic is employed, the Cirean Croin was a well-fed beast - and had no shortages
of meals to devour along the coastal towns of Scotland.
For a long time, it was also speculated that the infamous Loch Ness Monster was - in fact
- an evolution of the Cirean Croin.
Some saying that it was trapped inside the loch as a juvenile, and made use of its illusions
in a desperate plea to attract tourists to feast upon.
I’m not too sure about Nessie, you know.
Whatever she is - she’s obviously just looking for a bit of peace and quiet.
There is also an even /more/ interesting theory, which is rooted in paleontology - and that
is the theory that the Cirean Croin was in *fact* an incredibly gigantic aquatic dinosaur.
Dr. Carmichael McIntosh notably compared a series of similar features to the dubiously
named - Atlantosaurus.
Now, this genus contains only one specimen ever found, a huge series of bone formations
found in /Colorado/ - of all places - by Arthur Lakes.
These skeletal remains found by Lakes were absolutely huge - but were particularly distinguished
by the strange, air-filled pockets that had formed in the creatures vertebrae.
Who knows - maybe at some point, there were hundreds of Cirean Croin swimming around the
planet, terrorizing the seas and ruling the ocean with an iron fist.
Maybe the last one around just happened to find it’s home around the Scottish coasts
and decided to terrify the locals in its old age.
They wrote it down to warn others - and now, we’re here making a video about it.
Well - let us know what you guys think in the comments down below - that’s all we’ve
got time for today.
Make sure to hit that subscribe button to stay tuned - I’ve been your host, Jack Finch
- and for now, take it easy.