What's Going On Here?
I was talking with a mate last night a bit about the Fear Liath and other creepy ape-men sightings and I decided that I was going to talk about them here too. The Fear Liath (full name Am Fear Liath Mor) is supposedly a terrifying creature or prescence that haunts the area around and on Ben Macdhui - the second highest mountain in Scotland.
This creature has been encountered many times over the last century or so at least, and in many different forms. It is most often seen just below the skyline near the Lairg Ghru Pass as a six metre tall staggering figure covered in short hair and with a large ape-like head. The Fear Liath exudes a malign feeling which invades the minds of walkers and climbers causing them to panic. Some claim that the Fear Liath is trying to send climbers over the edge of a precipitous drop at Lurcher's Crag.
The most famous encounter with the Fear Liath was one that experienced mountaineer Professor Norman Collie had in 1891:
"I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. For every few steps I heard a crunch, and then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself this is all nonsense. I listened and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben Macdhui and I will not go back there myself I know."
The most common feature of an encounter with the Fear Liath is an overwhelming sense of panic, described by one witness as "like a physical blow". There is sometimes a shadowy figure seen looming in the mist and occasionally the witness may experience an icy touch. There have also been reports of a strange high pitched humming sound called the Singing.
So that's nice, apparently there's a spooky prescence on Ben Macdhui in Scotland. But it's not a one off phenomenon. Reports of similar creatures have turned up all over the world, and for almost all of history! The most famous one is the yeti of the Himalayas. Reports of the yeti go back all the way to a story that mentions them around 400BC. Another famous one is the Sasquatch - which is the American Indian name for a similar creature said to haunt the forests of North America. Apparently the Indians who live near Mt St Helens in Washington state refuse to go closer to the mountain than a few miles for fear of the Sasquatch that live there.
In Mongolia there are reports of a similar creature, called the Almas; in Afghanistan and Pakistan it's called the Barmanou - the Man of the Forest; in Japan it's called the Hibagon; in Vietnam it's called the Nguoi Rung; in Malaysia it's called the Orang Mawas, and reported sightings date back to the 1800's; in China it's called the Yeren; in Australia it's called the Yowie. Some Aboriginie tribes in eastern Australia have a legend that their ancestors had a battle with massive hairy ape-men. The yowie also appears in Aboriginie paintings alongside kangaroos and wombats. When the first settlers arrived in eastern Australia (mostly deported convicts) apparently the Aboriginies warned them about the dangerous Yowie.
There are also legends about large hairy apemen in medieval Europe. In Scandinavia the legends became distorted over time and the creatures became what we know today as trolls. In England they were called Woodwoses.
So what's going on? If there were just one or two reported sightings it'd be easy to dismiss it as a coincidence, but when it seems that pretty much every culture in the last few thousand years has legends of monster ape-men (I left quite a few out of this post because it's getting a bit long), it starts getting intriguing! I really want to know!
This creature has been encountered many times over the last century or so at least, and in many different forms. It is most often seen just below the skyline near the Lairg Ghru Pass as a six metre tall staggering figure covered in short hair and with a large ape-like head. The Fear Liath exudes a malign feeling which invades the minds of walkers and climbers causing them to panic. Some claim that the Fear Liath is trying to send climbers over the edge of a precipitous drop at Lurcher's Crag.
The most famous encounter with the Fear Liath was one that experienced mountaineer Professor Norman Collie had in 1891:
"I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. For every few steps I heard a crunch, and then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself this is all nonsense. I listened and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben Macdhui and I will not go back there myself I know."
The most common feature of an encounter with the Fear Liath is an overwhelming sense of panic, described by one witness as "like a physical blow". There is sometimes a shadowy figure seen looming in the mist and occasionally the witness may experience an icy touch. There have also been reports of a strange high pitched humming sound called the Singing.
So that's nice, apparently there's a spooky prescence on Ben Macdhui in Scotland. But it's not a one off phenomenon. Reports of similar creatures have turned up all over the world, and for almost all of history! The most famous one is the yeti of the Himalayas. Reports of the yeti go back all the way to a story that mentions them around 400BC. Another famous one is the Sasquatch - which is the American Indian name for a similar creature said to haunt the forests of North America. Apparently the Indians who live near Mt St Helens in Washington state refuse to go closer to the mountain than a few miles for fear of the Sasquatch that live there.
In Mongolia there are reports of a similar creature, called the Almas; in Afghanistan and Pakistan it's called the Barmanou - the Man of the Forest; in Japan it's called the Hibagon; in Vietnam it's called the Nguoi Rung; in Malaysia it's called the Orang Mawas, and reported sightings date back to the 1800's; in China it's called the Yeren; in Australia it's called the Yowie. Some Aboriginie tribes in eastern Australia have a legend that their ancestors had a battle with massive hairy ape-men. The yowie also appears in Aboriginie paintings alongside kangaroos and wombats. When the first settlers arrived in eastern Australia (mostly deported convicts) apparently the Aboriginies warned them about the dangerous Yowie.
There are also legends about large hairy apemen in medieval Europe. In Scandinavia the legends became distorted over time and the creatures became what we know today as trolls. In England they were called Woodwoses.
So what's going on? If there were just one or two reported sightings it'd be easy to dismiss it as a coincidence, but when it seems that pretty much every culture in the last few thousand years has legends of monster ape-men (I left quite a few out of this post because it's getting a bit long), it starts getting intriguing! I really want to know!
posted by David | 8:05 pm
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