Creature From The Bog

Creature From The Bog

By Paul McCann

The moonlight shone down as it always had done around the Braugher Hills and for the past thirty- or forty-years people had become aware of a changing in the landscape around West Cork and Kerry that nestled some of the old oak trees that were gradually being deforested . The supply and demand for wood for industry and building had now left a lot of flat land exposed to the elements .

In more recent times some of the local farmers around the hillsides of Braugher Valley had found some  of their stock had gone missing and others had been slaughtered .

In order to put an end to that they formed a vigilante group to patrol the hills  .

In the darkness of the night groups of four took turns in patrolling the area . Armed with shotguns and small flasks of whiskey they stood guard on the hillside , watching for any wild animal that might be on the prowl and listening to any kind of grunt or howl .

The wind cut cold through the hills but the whiskey helped to keep the blood warm and lifted the spirits of those who would be out and about on guard .,

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Dessie always had stories to tell that reminded the other men about history during his time in the armed forces when the Russians were being brought through the Braugher hills on their way back home after escaping from the consecration camps in Germany . Then there was Charlie who liked to share ghost stories from the past . Most of the men out at night always enjoyed the stories that were being told . They would often light a turf fire somewhere and stand around it and the fire would burn slowly all night .

The vigilantes had been on guard for three weeks now but as yet they had seen nothing to explain the disappearance of cattle and sheep.

Then as fate would have one night they went to an old spot in the boglands where he had heard some strange markings had been spotted around the bogland . The four men on duty that night discussed about going to  investigate the area there to look for possible clues to the presence of a wild animal that could be living there . Half of them were eager and the other half were not really that sure it was a good idea but after a few swigs of whiskey they had the courage to go there and off they all went ,.

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 The night was dark and the moon was full and as the got closer to the bogland the chill in the air was getting colder and the mist descended down fast . They could hardly see a foot in front of them .

Dessie tried to make a funny comment ,

“Well men I thought Ireland had come out of the dark age but now I’m not so sure . “

Suddenly there was a growl nearby that send shivers through them all and in that moment one of them was taken . All they could hear was him screaming and this growling and gnawing of some wild ravenous beast feasting itself in the thick mist that covered the bogland .

In a few minutes there was no more sound . It went all quiet and there was only three of them left . They all held tightly to their shotguns as they made a circle and stood back-to-back with their double-barrelled shotguns brandished before them . One of them took out the flask of whiskey and had a swig and handed the bottle around .

There was a stench that arose and suddenly another of the men was taken . Quickly and quietly, he went . His screaming lasted just a little while and now only Charlie and Dessi were left.

Frightened to death they both stood there gasping and shaking . They had just lost their two friends to something hideous . They waited for the beast to return and felt helpless to do anything to defend themselves .They waited until the morning sun arose and the mist lifted .

They found themselves standing in the middle of this bog in the light of the new day and suddenly an ear-piercing soul shrieking sound split the silence in two . It was such a terrifying unearthly sound that it made their skin crawl and they pointed their shotguns in the direction where it came from .

Then in that moment everything changed as what looked like a neolithic farmer emerged from out of the bog . He was dragging something from the bog with a thick rope . He started to walk towards Dessie and Charlie . His enormous frame getting closer and closer and they panicked and started pumping their shot guns , firing round after round until the huge figure felt down dead on the ground . They walked around him and saw the rope . Then after checking the other end, they saw a hideous beast , which looked like a giant wolfhound with razor sharp teeth and claws and it also reeked of the same stench that they had smalt the night before .

The creature had been killed , obviously by the huge neolithic man had just killed the creature and meant no harm to Dessie and Charlie but they weren’t to know that and panicked.

After they returned to the  Braugher Hills they informed the authorities . After a few days the entire area had been sealed off by police .

Archaeologists came and began to check the area with their scientific investigations using methods to analyse everything that they had found . Many artifacts were uncovered in the bog and evidence had emerged that explained how the bog had perfectly preserved both of the lives of the creature and farmer inside a natural chemical chamber that placed them both in a coma until that chamber was disturbed by the recent deforestation and diggings . This miracle of the bog had somehow kept these two  fast asleep for a long time . Historians had a field day and a site was built all around the bog where people could to see sights that had been buried deep in the bog for centuries .

There was evidence of previous climate changes that had come over the land and within the bogs whole farms had been buried . In a painful but rewarding excavation many things had been discovered that left  imprints of a time long ago and how life had once been .

Charlie and Dessie became wealthy because of their part in the discovery .

Dessie often talks about how they had both defeated the wild creature from the bog while Charlie tells his own story of the hideous beast that crawled out from the bog and devoured everything and everyone around until it died in a fire that destroyed the forest .

The End