Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   For today’s post, I will be discussing some Watery Monsters from Celtic folklore.   This post is a bit of a companion piece to last week’s post about Water Horses of Celtic folklore, which also often appear as truly monstrous.   Other than that, the post was largely inspired by the incredible novel Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill, which is one of my favorite novels that I have read thus far this year (I posted a full review of it here a couple of weeks ago).   Without further ado, let’s look at some Watery Monsters in their own small sections below!     

JENNY GREENTEETH

~In classical British folklore, Jenny Greenteeth is a Lake Monster often discussed as a sort of boogeyman figure for children to discourage them from playing near the water for fear of drowning.   Jenny is known as a very malevolent being in folklore, hence why she is being discussed here with other famed Monsters.   Her name is famously linked to the Lancashire area, making her a quite localized British Lake Monster, but her stories certainly did travel.   She is described as an old woman, or hag, who is completely green and lives in the Lakes.   Jenny Greenteeth is said to drown and eat the children who come to play in her waters!   Jenny likes to lurk in duckweed that grows along the waters to keep herself concealed until she can lure in her prey.   Common descriptions of Jenny Greenteeth include: ‘pale green skin, green teeth, very long green locks of hair, long green fingers with long nails, and she was very thin with a pointed chin and very big eyes.’ (I found this description on https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100019644) 

GRINDYLOWS

~Another watery Monster often linked to Lancashire is the Grindylow.   They are described as small, humanoid amphibious creatures.   Although they are small, they have very long arms and legs, which allow them to capture their prey with ease.   Grindylows are described to have green-scaled skin and large orange eyes.   Given that they are amphibians, they can be seen on land or in water, but are known to live in the marshlands.   Much like Jenny Greenteeth, they delight in eating children.   Actually, in some of the folklore, Jenny Greenteeth is known as the Queen of the Grindylows, with the Grindylows serving her whims!   There is also a belief that Grendel’s Mother, from Beowulf, may have given rise to the Grindylows, as they share characteristics with her.   All of that being said, you likely will remember the Grindylows from their famous appearance in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as they reside in the Lake at Hogwarts!     

LOCH NESS MONSTER

~So, we are finishing off strong with the most famous Water Monster on this list, the Loch Ness Monster!   Nessie, as she is often called, resides in Scotland’s Loch Ness, as her name would state.   She is a large marine creature who is often classified as a cryptid, given how many people report sightings of her and seek to find her in the modern day.   However, I think that the Loch Ness Monster goes beyond being a cryptid, as she has been written about for centuries.   In fact, she was first written about in the 7th century!   This makes her a truly old legendary figure, much older than the modern cryptids that we hear tell of.   So, while I do not deny her status as a cryptid, I think of her as something with so much more history than the average cryptid!   Her story began to spread and gain more popularity in the 1930s, and we have seen people looking to find her ever since.   Accounts of people speculating that Nessie is a plesiosaur (that is to say, a marine reptile that went extinct 65.5 million years ago) go back as far as 1934.   Of course, they have done lots of research into Loch Ness, trying to determine what sorts of animals may live in the waters.   They have never found any concrete scientific proof that any animals larger than eels reside in Loch Ness, but that does not stop many people from searching for Nessie!   Unsurprisingly, Loch Ness now fully embraces Nessie when it comes to marketing and encouraging tourism.        

~I hope you have enjoyed this look at three Watery Monsters from Celtic folklore.   Which is your favorite of these Monsters?    Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is an illustration of Nessie.   I found the artwork on https://www.etsy.com/listing/749036446/nessie-loch-ness-monster-monster-series.

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries 

Further Reading

• https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100019644
• https://darktales.blog/2019/04/22/jenny-greenteeth/
• https://pandius.com/grndylow.html
• https://markhoodauthor.com/2023/10/27/grindylow-an-a-z-of-myths/
• https://www.harrypotter.com/fact-file/creatures/grindylow
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Loch-Ness-monster-legendary-creature
• https://www.visitinvernesslochness.com/the-lochness-monster