The Kelpie: Scotland's Mythical Water Horse (Scottish Folklore)

On one dim dark night in Scotland an old highland man was slowly walking through the dense woodland. He had hoped to arrive home before the night fell, but had been waylaid in a local pub. Now drunk and tired the man stumbled through the woods, wishing there was an easier way. When suddenly he spotted a large black horse drinking from a river, it was as if the very forest itself had answered his wishes. The man hurried to the horse and noticed it had a very placid mood, this was not a wild horse thought the man. Standing on a large rock the man threw himself onto the horses back, all of a sudden, the beast lept to action and bolted along the river bank, the man cried and whaled, but the creature paid no attention. The man tried to jimp from his crazed mount, but he was held to the house with some kind of mystical force. The horse leapt high into the air and landed in the deep river, the water did not slow the creature, if anything it gave it speed. The man now completely submerged, struggling for the air he would never breath again, knew in his heart that his life had been taken by the dreaded Kelpie.

Intro Music: Written for me by Bobbin

References:
Briggs, K. (1976) An Encyclopedia of Fairies : Hobgoblins, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. Random House. ISBN-10:0394409183
Campbell, J. G. (1900) Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Glasgow. James MacLehose and Sons
Holden, R. and Holden, N. (2001) Bunyip’s: Australia’s Folklore of Fear. National Library of Australia, ISBN 0-642-10732-7
MacGregor, A.A. (1937) The Peat-Fire Flame: Folktales and Traditions of the Highlands and Islands. The Moray Press.
Rose, C. (2001). Giants, Monsters & Dragons, An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend and Myth. W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0-393-32211-8.
Westwood, J., Kingshill, S. (2012), The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends, Random House, ISBN 978-1-4090-6171-7

[LiathWolf]

Hi all, Sorry its a bit late but my video on the kelpie is finally done, Thanks for all the support

[chezzyg]

I love that we have these massive Kelpie statues and celebrate our folklore even though they're bloodthirsty. We're such a gothic dark country lol. I'm bingeing your videos and enjoying learning new ones and hearing some auld ones. Thanks again 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[juned]

I love the Scottish accent and learning about the culture & folklore.

[Alasdair]

I prefer the male kelpie because we have so many examples of a succubus style creatures The siren the baobhan, sidhe, the sharpie ect ect. But to my mind I can not recall any incubus type creatures besides the kelpie they seem to have completely disappeared from popular imagination. It also serves as a good message for women particularly young women to be wary of handsome strangers.

[witsendartstudio]

Kelpie be like “no such thing as a free ride”

[ishtarbabylon]

My daughter has Scottish blood ..
I’m a Turkish girl and live in Oz .. I’m studying Mythology and folklore and plan to visit Scotland one day ❤

[Jen]

Our first time watching.. the kelpie video was excellent..

Two things that encouraged us to subscribe.,

First your voice.. that beautiful Scottish accent..

Also Scottish we are.. and love folklore.. so

After we subscribed we saw your wolf logo.. and felt content..

Both of us have wolves as spirit animals!

Please keep making videos.. we love them🌹
William and Jen
💜💙🌱🌹🙏

[rionthemagnificent]

This reminds me a lot of the Maneto (Manetoa) of central Algonquian tribes in the United states and Canada. Maneto the snake monster is a dreadful man-eating creature that lurks in lakes and rivers and drowns unwary travelers. Manetos have horns and armored scales and are extremely difficult to kill. The only thing a Maneto fears is thunder, for the Thunder Beings are their sworn enemies and have the ability to strike a Maneto dead with thunderbolts.

[jackpayne]

Your best video by far, both for the tales and the graphics. If Ted Hughes was alive, he would surely have some interesting ideas about the kelpie. I always find it useful to visualise these traditional tales with each character representing a part of our own minds. From that angle, the kelpie is an aspect of the 'unconscious', unmanageable and equally creative and destructive. The tales seem to portray various kinds of negotiation between these aspects of ourselves, for better or worse.

[WeeMac]

I love all the videos. I was born in Scotland and lived nr. Aviemore for a very long time. I had a white horse called Kelpie ( technically, they are called grey horses, even if they are white!) I would love a T shirt for the channel showing a Kelpie on it. My grandmother told me many tales, some I have heard on your channel. Keep up the great work! P.S. Graphics are fantastic!

[harpersmythe]

‘An old Highland man’ and a photo of that great Scottish comedian, Stanley Baxter. ❤ A wonderfully funny man, we never missed any if his shows/appearances. ‘Comedians’ today are blah, they could learn a lot from studying the works of the old comedians.

[hapitoons]

I just wanted to say this channel has been a huge help for me

I love to listen to folklore, mythologies, monsters and heroes all around the world. I also love to create characters based on the folklore. I have a few characters that are inspired by Scotland folklore and your channel and research gave me alot of inspiration for those characters. Again keep up the work, this channel taught alot about Scotland

[Petrolacosaurus]

In Aztec mythology, the Ahuizotl is a canine type creature with a long tail that has a gripping hand at the end. the Ahuizotl had a close relationship with water gods and is considered the guardian of the lake and other water bodies. This creature lured ppl to their deaths which was usually drowning. It too sured as a lesson for child to be weary of water bodies Interesting that even Mesoamerican mythology has a similar creature

[stephentaege]

I have a beautiful Australian Kelpie dog called Dusty my Kelpie has to have a water 🌊 game every day l have to hose her for about an hour every day her expression on her face is amazing i always pat her and say you have the water spirit cheers Stephen 🍀✌️✌️🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🦄🦄🍀

[sallyhazy]

The bit about the kelpies taking the form of a handsome human and seducing village girls reminds me of the bralizian myth of the pink boto (or encantado), a shapeshifter river dolphin who during the nights, turned into a handsome man to seduce and impregnate girls.

[NiaJustNia]

I too am weak to having boiling water thrown upon me 😂

[demonia]

I have been looking for information on Scottish mythology, folklore and legends for agee. I am very glad that I have found your channel. My surname is Scottish I inherited from my Scottish grandfather through my dad and my great grandmother was Scottish and came from the Highlands. I am a geordie. My maternal grandfather's surname is Anglo-Saxon so I love learning about Scottish and Anglo-Saxon history, mythology, folklore and legends.

[viterzgr]

I was looking for some Scottish myths and i'm here your new subscriber. I was really amazed how phenomenal stories you have. I love this video!

(3 years ago i moved from Hungary to Scotland. I'd like to keep this land's legacy and tell my parents how beautiful fairy tale Scotland is!)

Thank you!
Alba gu bráth!

[katharinecarmichael]

I am Scottish & Irish. By Blood. I am of the Clan Carmichael.

[crg]

@ Mr. Liath . Thank You for the wonderful tale.. 🎉🎉