WATER HORSE of Northern Europe.
Variant names: Nennir, Nickur, Ninnir,
Noggle (Shetlands), Nuckelavee (Scotland),
Nuggle (Orkney), Nygel. Nykur (Faroe islands)
Physical description: Gray or black. Head like
an ox’s. Seal-like flippers or hooves that are reversed.
Also appears in human form. As the
Nuckelavee, it appears as a CENTAUR-like combination
of a horse with one red eye, a rider with a
massive head and transparent skin, and a KELPIE.
Behavior: Aquatic. Either moos or lows like a
cow or neighs like a horse. Likes to entice
human females underwater.
Distribution: Rivers and lakes of Iceland, as
well as off the Icelandic coast; Shetland and
Orkney Islands; northern Scotland, and waters of the Faroe Islands.
Significant sighting: The inhabitants of Grímsey,
off the north coast of Iceland, refused to
keep cows on their island until about 1850 because
they claimed there was a Nykur in the sea
that drove mad any cow that they tried to bring
across from the mainland.