A man called Byrne, who lives in a part of Trusk called Repentence, relates that there is in the lough a kind of amphibious animal as large as a young heifer. He has often seen its head above water, and one summer’s evening, as he and a boy were making hay by moonlight, he saw it coming from the lough towards them and ran home terrified.

The next evening, his son mowing grass beside the lough, saw it swim on shore to a dyke. He crept to the place in order to strike at it with his scythe, but its appearance frightened him and he dared not venture. On seeing him, the animal plunged into the lake and has not since appeared, but when the lough is frozen, wild and tremendous howling is heard beneath the ice which these people suppose to be the “dorhagh”, as they call it.

(From Statistical Report by Lieutenant S.I. Wilkinson, 18th April 1836.)