The Kelpie by Herbert James Draper, 1913.
The Kelpie is a cryptid from rivers and lochs in Scotland and Ireland.
In mythology, the kelpie is described as a strong and powerful horse. It is a white and sky blue colour and appeared as a lost pony, but could be identified by its constantly dripping mane. Its mane and tail are a bit curly. Its skin was said to be like that of a seal, smooth but as cold as death when touched. Kelpies were said to transform into beautiful women to lure men into their traps. They created illusions to keep themselves hidden, keeping only their eyes above water to scout the surface.
The fable of the kelpie varies by region. The kelpie's mane is said to be a sky blue colour. The water horse is a common form of the kelpie, said to lure humans into the water to drown them. The water horse would encourage people to ride on its back, and once its victims fell into its trap, the water horse's skin would become adhesive and the horse would bear the victim into the river, dragging them to the bottom of the water and devouring them - except the heart or liver.
A common Scottish tale is the story of nine children lured onto a kelpie's back, while a tenth kept his distance. The kelpie chased the tenth child, but he escaped. Another more gruesome and macabre variation on this tale is that the tenth child simply stroked the kelpie's nose but, when his hand stuck to it, he took a knife from his pocket and cut his own hand off, cauterizing it with wood from a nearby fire.
In Popular Media[]
- Two Kelpies in horse form are named Briar and Bramble and appear in Ducktales (2017)
- A Kelpie appears as a fugitive in American Dragon: Jake Long
- A Kelpie was featured in episode 7 of Delicious in Dungeon where it was used as a pet by Senshi under the name Anne.
- A Kelpie was featured in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald under the care of Newt Scamander.
- It was also featured in one of the Wonderbook series called Book of Spells as one of the challenges for the player to achieve before moving on to the next chapter.
Gallery[]
See also[]
- Each-uisge, a similar creature but more vicious.