Thursday 19 January 2012

A Welsh lake monster story


The Afanc was a mythical water monster that originally abided in Llyn-yr-Afanc (The Afanc Pool) in the River Conwy. It was a huge beast who would cause flooding to the local area by its thrashing about. Attempts had been made to kill  it but to no avail. It was decided to try and entice the creature from the pool and move it to a place where it could not cause any more trouble. Iron chains would be used to bind the creature and two oxen would then drag the creature to another lake. A local girl sang by the lake and the creature left the lake to get closer to her. Local men immediately bound the creature and started to drag it to Llyn Ffynnon Las (now called  Llyn Glaslyn). The creature apparently jumped into the new home on arrival and is said to be trapped there.(Llyn Glaslyn in Wales is 126 feet (42 metres)deep)
Just a myth you would think but Oliver Vaughan , the architect, was walking with a friend up the slopes of Mount Snowdon in the 1930s.They stopped for lunch and were looking down on Lake Glaslyn. A grey line appeared in the lake and appeared to be a creature rising to the surface. A pale ,almost white head appeared on the surface. Mr Vaughan said it was not an otter or anything else he was familiar with and remained puzzled as to what it was they had seen.
So does the Afanc still lurk in the lake or is it more likely another unknown creature sighting? So many of these deep glacial type lakes have these sightings, but so far there has not been a definite explanation for them. Theories put forward include giant Fish, giant eel or prehistoric creature.
Does anyone know of any more recent sightings in lake Glaslyn? If so please post a comment.

No comments: