Recently recovered FarShores file
What was reported as being a "large winged snake" was spotted by workmen at a Welsh colliery in June, 1852. The men had just finished work one afternoon and were on their way home when one of them, Thomas Rees, noticed the creature and called to his companions. The miners were able to approach quite closely to the reptile before it suddenly took off and flew at a low and slow pace for some 100 yards. The Garnant Colliery employees hotly pursued it until the flying snake landed and took refuge in a heap of coal. In spite of removing great quantities of coal, the men were never able to dislodge or locate it.
In March 1856 the Inverness Courier carried a story concerning a freshwater serpent, or "water kelpie," seen regularly in the preceeding weeks by the villagers of Leurbost, Lewis in the Highlands of Scotland. One of the nearby inland lakes had become its home and several witnesses described it has having the appearance of a "huge peat stack". Others affirmed that a "six-oared boat" could pass between the huge fins which were occasionally visible. All agreed in describing its form as resembling a huge eel, up to 40-feet long. It was even reported to have swallowed a blanket left on the bank of the lake by a girl herding cattle.
A June 1857 issue of the Port Elizabeth Mercury related how Mr Capper, proprietor of the Sunday Island Ferry, encountered the remains of a sea serpent washed ashore near Cape Padrone, Algoa Bay. It proved to be a creature with a long serpent-like body, some 80 or 90 feet in length. It had an enormous head and a mouth furnished with a formidable row of serrated teeth on both jaws. When closed, these teeth "dovetailed together". Unfortunately, the creature had been dead for some time and was already in an advanced state of decomposition. The report concluded that the serpent's head was cut off and placed into a wagon "which could scarcely contain it."
