Reader Submissions: Alaskan Mothman / The Stalking Doyarchu

I recently received two interesting anecdotes...one references the first of several encounters with a Mothman-like being in Alaska and the other is an incident involving a creature in Arizona that is similar to a Doyarchu:

ALASKAN MOTHMAN

My first encounter with this thing most people call the Mothman was when I was nine years old and I remember it clearly like it was yesterday. I was walking back from my uncle's place. I was walking on the sidewalk and I saw this man standing on top of my fathers house close to the edge facing west. He was all black he looked like a man. He stood about 7 or 8 feet tall. I shouted out at him but he acted like he didn't hear me. I said "hey you...who are you?" I kept trying to get his attention...it was like I wasn't there. But when I said "hey you're standing on my house...who are you?" he looked at me for a few seconds.

His face seemed like a normal persons face until it slowly opened it's eyelids and I saw a red glow...like his eye's were glowing not a red light but a glow. I froze and just stared at him. He stood there looking at me for 9 or 10 seconds and looked away and jumped really high and far. I'd say he jumped about 40 feet high and 70 to 80 feet away and as soon as he seemed to fall down, very long and large wings came out of his back and flapped twice...just in those two flaps he traveled about 100 feet and flew right over the high school.

Since that day I never spoke to anyone about it cause I thought I saw the devil. I freaked out so bad I looked out for it everyday to make sure it wasn't around. That is my first encounter with that thing. It's body was like a man's and his face is like a man's too...but his eye's are what make's it so scary and weird. Those wings are very long and large. His whole body was all black...like not skin but blackness was covering him...I can't explain. I'm not the only one in my village that saw this thing but after that there have been many sightings here and in other villages....even to a point that the thing goes into people's house's while they sleep. That happened to someone I know. - N.H.

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THE STALKING DOYARCHU

Hi - I was wondering if you could give me your thoughts? My fiancee and I live in the mountains of Arizona and we went night fishing at an old fish hatchery, now privately owned ponds, tonight. We were there for a couple of minutes when we started to hear something rustling around at the pond next to us. At first I thought it was just an elk (we'd been there a couple of days before and there were tracks in the mud on the shore) but my fiancee was worried that it might be something else so he made a fire to try and scare it away. After a while the rustling stopped and we relaxed.

Not long later we heard a huge splash from the other pond. We thought that maybe a mountain lion or bear had jumped in trying to get some of the fish, as unrealistic as that seemed, but we never heard any more splashing and it was very unlikely that there was a fish the size of a full grown man in the pond next door. We didn't hear anything after that for a long time until suddenly there was another huge splash in our pond, but I couldn't see where it had come from or what had made it.

I was starting to get creeped out and the fire was dying out and I wanted to leave but my fiancee wanted to stay and fish some more. We could hear some more rustling in the reeds near us and suddenly my fiancee just started packing things up and dousing the fire and told me that he was ready to leave. We had left the car up by the highway by the gate and walked all the way down the dirt road, through the meadow, and past some other ponds to get to where we were fishing...so we still had a ways to walk before we would hop the fence and be back at the car. Every couple of seconds he would look behind us and then start walking faster. He told me that he thought there was a bear by the ponds and kept looking back and getting more panicked and walking faster. I was too chicken to look back at what he was obviously looking for.

By the time we were almost back to the car I was practically jogging to keep up with him and he was making comments like "once we get over the gate we'll be fine." When we finally did make it to the car he kept looking back over the meadow and acting antsy until we were driving back home. When I asked him if he'd seen the bear he replied "I don't know what that was, but it wasn't a bear." He proceeded to tell me about the animal he'd seen and that had looked right at him while he stood on the edge of the pond. He described it as being as big as a bear, but looking like a half dog, half crocodile mutation of some kind. He said it looked scaly and that they had looked at each other right at the same moment and the creature had almost all black eyes. He also said that he felt like he was being studied by it, like it was very very smart.

We were a little ways away from the ponds when he started looking back and walking faster. He said that first he saw the thing sitting on the top of the hill by the pond looking at us. This freaked him out so he started walking faster. When he looked again it had come down the hill and was still looking at us, making him walk even faster and tell me the bogus lie about the bear (he knew very well what a chicken I am and that I wouldn't look back). When he looked again, it was in the field, still far away, but still following us. The next time he said it was on the road behind us, walking like a cat does when stalking it's prey. This was when he started making comments about getting over the gate and freaking out over the lantern because it was starting to dim (he's a scout and I guess the theory is that if you have light with you it will keep most everything away).

I've never seen him so freaked out before and I didn't know if I should think that he was just seeing things? But he swears up and down that he saw whatever it was. So we came home and looked up "giant alligator dog sightings" and came across the Doyarchu. The descriptions of it sound amazingly accurate to what he told me on the drive home and we kinda freaked ourselves out wondering if the second splash in our pond would have been it's mate. I do believe that he saw something tonight, he's also sworn that he's never going back out there again.

After my parents laughed at us they suggested that we go back in the morning and look for tracks, but he flat out told me no! I know that this probably sounds like just a crazy story, doyarchus are supposedly mythical creatures from Ireland, as I understand it. I just don't know how to explain what he swears he saw and felt like was going to eat us.

NOTE: Any comments by the readers would be welcomed. Has anyone experienced anything similar to either of these accounts? Lon

Doyarchu, The Irish Crocodile

The Doyarchu is described as an animal that is about the size of a crocodile or a big dog, but resembles a cross between a dog and an otter. It either has sleek black fur that fits very snugly to the body, or it has smooth, slimy black skin with no fur at all. The hindquarters are bigger than the forequarters and resemble a dog, especially a powerfully-built greyhound. The paws are big in proportion to the rest of the body, the same as most aquatic mammals. The head is sleek, the neck is long, and the tail is long and slender. A few individuals are described as having one or more patches of white, especially a large patch in the middle of the chest. It goes by various monikers, ex. dobhar-chu, anchu, water dog and Irish crocodile.

These creatures have been reported as living in Irish lakes from ancient times. They are highly aggressive towards people and dogs. They attack by grasping prey and dragging it into the water, and they are often a match for the fiercest dogs, especially when they get their opponents into the water. They are often found in pairs and hunt in tandem. One animal usually stays hidden while the other attacks, but it will appear if the first animal has trouble. If one of these is killed, the other becomes extremely angry and will risk its own life to get revenge, suggesting that these animals may have monogamous pair-bonds of exceptional strength. One report tells of a doyarchu that pursued the men who had killed its mate for twenty miles, even though it was at a disadvantage on land.

Some cryptozoologists acknowledge it could be a new species of giant otter since descriptions of the creature are consistent. Others favor the view that it is a variety of immature 'Loch Ness Monster' evenly though Loch Ness is in Scotland. Another possibility is that is represents a link between seals and their landbound ancestors. Seals are most closely related to the bear family and the dog family and a primitive ancestor of modern seals may have resembled the doyarchu.

There has been a scarcity of modern sightings which seems to indicate that the doyarchu, if it ever existed, may be extinct today. The location in which the largest number of modern sightings has taken place is Achill Island, located just off the western coast of Ireland in County Mayo. The lake called Sraheens Lough is supposed to have a small population of doyarchu, but these creatures seem migratory, not occupying the lake all year. - www.newanimal.org

An early description of the Dobhar-chú appears in A Description of West Connaught (1684), by Roderick O'Flaherty. This story, originating from the area of Lough Mask:

There is one rarity more, which we may term the Irish crocodile, whereof one, as yet living, about ten years ago had sad experience. The man was passing the shore just by the waterside, and spyed far off the head of a beast swimming, which he took to be an otter, and took no more notice of it; but the beast it seems lifted up his head, to discern whereabouts the man was; then diving swam under the water till he struck ground: whereupon he run out of the water suddenly and took the man by the elbow whereby the man stooped down, and the beast fastened his teeth in his pate, and dragged him into the water; where the man took hold of a stone by chance in his way, and calling to mind he had a knife in his jacket, took it out and gave a thrust of it to the beast, which thereupon got away from him into the lake. The water about him was all bloody, whether from the beast's blood, or his own, or from both he knows not. It was the pitch of an ordinary greyhound, of a black slimey skin, without hair as he imagines. Old men acquainted with the lake do tell there is such a beast in it, and that a stout fellow with a wolf dog along with him met the like there once; which after a long struggling went away in spite of the man and his dog, and was a long time after found rotten in a rocky cave of the lake when the waters decreased. The like they say is seen in other lakes in Ireland, they call it doyarchu, i.e. water-dog, or anchu which is the same.

In 2003 Irish Artist Sean Corcoran and his wife claim to have witnessed a Dobhar-Chú on Omey Island in Connemara, County Galway. In his description the large dark creature made a haunting screech, could swim fast and had orange flipper like feet. “What a shock!” he says, recalling the next few moments. “A vicious snarl right below us, like a loud hiss, followed immediately by a huge splash. The creature, if that is what it was, swam the width of the lake from west to east in “what seemed like a matter of seconds”, leaving a “fairly big wake”, Corcoran remembers when it reached shore, it clambered up onto a boulder, he swears, and gave “the most haunting screech”. My wife's account of the incident is give or takes the same as mine. Its body was dark, and I'd say it was about the size of a large Labrador, and about five foot tall when standing. It turned and disappeared into the darkness of the area I call the Heart.

We scrambled back to our tent, completely stunned. This was something very strange, it wasn't a swan or an otter or a badger. The next day we went across to Sweeney’s bar. Malachy served us and there were a few lads at the counter. I casually explained about the creature and there was nervous chuckling." - www.irishtimes.com

The Kinlough Stone is claimed to be the headstone of a grave of a woman killed by the Dobhar-chú in the 17th century and shows an old drawing of the creature. Her name was supposedly Gráinne. Her husband supposedly heard her scream as she was washing clothes down at the Glenade lough and came to her aid. When he got there she was already dead, with the Dobhar-chú upon her bloody and mutilated body. The man killed the Dobhar-chú, stabbing it in the heart. As it died, it made a whistling noise, and its mate arose from the lough. Its mate chased the man but, after a long and bloody battle, he killed it as well. The Glenade Stone, found in Conwall cemetery in Glenade, Co. Leitrim also depicts the Dobhar-chú and is related to the same incident.

The Legend of the Dobharchú (Water hound) was written by Joe McGowan and stems from the bestial murder of Grainne Ni Conalai at Glenade Lake, Co. Leitrim on September 24th 1722:

The details were well known one time and the ballad sung at fairs on the streets of nearby Kinlough. Some say she went to the lake to wash clothes; the ballad tells she went to bathe. It is no matter. When she failed to return, her husband Traolach Mac Lochlainn went to look for her. He was aghast when he found her body lying by the lake with the 'beast lying asleep on her mangled breast'! The words of the following poem, written around the time of the incident, form part of the legend surrounding an event which excites discussion and controversy to the present day. The ballad, a lengthy one, was skilfully composed by a hedge schoolmaster of the time. An abbreviated version below brings the story vividly to life. Beginning with a description of the locality it goes on to record the dreadful occurrence:

…And whilst this gorgeous way of life in beauty did abound, From out the vastness of the lake stole forth the water hound, And seized for victim her who shared McGloughlan's bed and board; His loving wife, his more than life, whom almost he adored.

She, having gone to bathe, it seems, within the water clear, And not having returned when she might, her husband, fraught with fear, Hasting to where he her might find, when oh, to his surprise, Her mangled form, still bleeding warm, lay stretched before his eyes.

Upon her bosom, snow white once, but now besmeared with gore, The Dobharchú reposing was, his surfeiting being o'er. Her bowels and entrails all around tinged with a reddish hue: 'Oh, God', he cried, 'tis hard to bear but what am I to do?'

He prayed for strength, the fiend lay still, he tottered like a child, The blood of life within his veins surged rapidly and wild. One long lost glance at her he loved, then fast his footstps turned To home, while all his pent up rage and passion fiercely burned.

He reached his house, he grasped his gun, which clenched with nerves of steel, He backwards sped, upraising his arm and then one piercing, dying, squeal Was heard upon the balmy air. But hark! What's that that came One moment next from out of its depth as if revenge to claim!

The comrade of the dying fiend with whistles long and loud Came nigh and nigher to the spot. McGloughlin, growing cowed Rushed to his home. His neighbours called, their counsel asked, And flight was what they bade him do at once, and not to wait till night.

He and his brother, a sturdy pair, as brothers true when tried, Their horses took, their homes forsook and westward fast they did ride. One dagger sharp and long each man had for protection too Fast pursued by that fierce brute, the Whistling Dobharchú.

The rocks and dells rang with its yells, the eagles screamed in dread. The ploughman left his horses alone, the fishes too, 'tis said, Away from the mountain streams though far, went rushing to the sea; And nature's laws did almost pause, for death or victory.

For twenty miles the gallant steeds the riders proudly bore With mighty strain o'er hill and dale that ne'er was seen before. The fiend, fast closing on their tracks, his dreaded cry more shrill; 'Twas brothers try, we'll do or die on Cashelgarron Hill.

Dismounting from their panting steeds they placed them one by one Across the path in lengthways formed within the ancient dún, And standing by the outermost horse awaiting for their foe Their daggers raised, their nerves they braced to strike that fatal blow.

Not long to wait, for nose on trail the scenting hound arrived And through the horses with a plunge to force himself he tried, And just as through the outermost horse he plunged his head and foremost part, Mc Gloughlans dagger to the hilt lay buried in his heart.

"Thank God, thank God", the brothers cried in wildness and delight, Our humble home by Glenade lake shall shelter us tonight. Be any doubt to what I write, go visit old Conwell, There see the grave where sleeps the brave whose epitaph can tell.'

The story still survives in local tradition. A local man of Glenade, Patrick Doherty, now deceased, told me some years ago that the chase, which started at Frank Mc Sharry's of Glenade, faltered at Cashelgarron stone fort in Co. Sligo when Mac Lochlainn was forced to stop with the blacksmith there to replace a lost horseshoe. His version differs very little from the ballad. Acording to Patrick, when the enraged monster caught up with them the horses were hurriedly drawn across the entrance to form a barrier. Giving the terrified man a sword the blacksmith advised him, 'When the creature charges he'll put his head right out through the horse. As soon as he does this you be quick and cut his head off.'

The story is given credence today by the carved image engraved on Grace Connolly's tombstone in Conwell cemetery, Co. Leitrim. Cashelgarron stone fort, near where the chase ended and the Dobharchú met its gory end, still stands today nestled on a height under the sheltering prow of bare Benbulben's head. Both monster and horse lie buried nearby. - “Echoes of a Savage Land” by Joe McGowan

Because of its aquatic life style we usually associate the otter with a variety of watery places but not readily with bog. Otters are found in streams, rivers, marshes, lakes, estuaries, lagoons and on the coast. There are no sea otters in Ireland, nor is there such a thing as a bog otter. There is the river otter in Ireland (Lutra lutra), which exploits a range wetlands.

Otter, Lutra lutra (Ireland)

A clipping that references an encounter at Lake Erie, PA

Source:
www.newanimal.org
Clark, Jerome and Coleman, Loren - "Cryptozoology A-Z" - 1999
www.irishtimes.com
McGowan, Joe - “Echoes of a Savage Land”
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Shuker, Karl - "The Beasts That Hide From Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals" - 2003
www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com
www.ipcc.ie