Locals believe Lough Derg on the River Shannon is home to a mysterious and unexplained monster.
Lough Derg in the Shannon River Basin is the second-biggest lake in the Republic of Ireland, stretching from Killaloe in County Clare to Portumna in County Galway. While it is home to giant pike and trout, as with numerous other large lakes, locals believe Lough Derg also harbours a monster.
The first sighting of a monster was reported in the 1930s and ever since then, there have been numerous sightings by fishermen, boatmen and most recently by a clergyman. Down through the years, this monster has been described as looking like an overturned boat or more popularly as a dark reptilian type of monster.
Not one to suffer from hallucinations or an over-active imagination, John Tiernan a boat-builder at the lake-shore in Mount Shannon since 1929, is convinced there is a monster in the lake. Having seen the monster himself he describe it as having a
Very peculiar shape, very long and very narrow at times, and then it would appear again, a short, thick lump of a fish.
Another man was with him when the monster appeared in Lough Derg but he never saw it again.
That was the only quare thing I ever saw in it.
However while out on another, smaller lake, John and his father hooked a 30 foot long eel.
And he had a head now, it would be as big as a small barrel of stout
John also recounts another tale of a man crossing the lake who saw a huge serpent which rose into three arches and the man navigated his boat through one of the arches.
This edition of ‘Newsbeat’ was broadcast on 8 June 1967. The reporter is Bill O’Herlihy.
