The Three-Legged Monster of Loch Hourn

To this day the folks residing about Loch Hourn believe that loch to be haunted by a monster, to which they refer as the Wild Beast of Barrisdale. Less than sixty vears ago, by the shores of Loch Hourn, a crofter who once encountered this monster. He assured his neighbours that this ungainly creature had gigantic wings, and was three-legged. He often saw it in flight across the hills of Knoydart, especially about Barrisdale itself ; and he averred that on one occasion, when it was making for him with evil design, he rushed for the shelter of his cottage. As the crofter himself used to relate up until the time of his death, he just succeeded in slamming the door in the monster's face. The dwellers by the more remote shores of Loch Hourn frequently heard the terrifying roar of the Wild Beast of Barrisdale ; and an old man living in this locality, called Ranald MacMaster, ofttimes discovered the tracks of this three-legged creature on the hills, and also about the sandy stretches fringing Barrisdale Bay.

The Peat-Fire Flame : folk-tales and traditions of the Highlands & Islands, Alasdair A. MacGregor