Nuckelavee

The Nuckelavee comes from the sea around Orkney. It is neither demon nor fairy but something older and meaner — a being of pure malevolence from the darkness before civilisation. The account recorded by Walter Traill Dennison in 1891 from the islander Tammas describes an encounter that left the witness permanently changed.

Rides on the sea like a horse-rider merged permanently with the horse. Both horse and rider are skinless — black blood visible in yellow veins, massive muscle exposed, with a single enormous eye. Twelve feet tall on its mount. The rider's arms drag on the ground.

Its breath (described as a mist) spreads crop blight and plague. Its presence causes animals to stampede. It cannot be fought — only fled. It is stopped only by fresh running water.