The Nuckelavee.

 

The Nuckelavee

 🌨️🌊🐴☠️

This terror of the sea is a Scottish winter monster originating fom the Orkney Islands,.

 This creature is a heartless  demon of destruction.

Fortunately the Nuckelavee is trapped in the sea for most of the year by the Mither o' the Sea, a powerful female sea spirit. But during the winter it manages to break free from it's undersea prison a d heads twords land.

From a distance it's appearance resembles a mounted rider and his hours. 

But when it's closer you see it's a horse like being with the upper body of a man coming out of the middle of its back. The head of the man-like part is three times larger then a normal human head and rolls back and forth and its arms are soo long they drag on the ground. It's legs have fin-like appendages. The horse head has a gaping mouth and a single blood-red eye. The creature has no skin; all that can be seen on its surface is the powerful muscles and pale sinew, with black blood pulsating through yellow veins. The horse mouth breathes a smelly toxic vapor that causes crops to wilt and livestock and people to fall ill, and a drought follows in its wake.

Not something you would ever want to run into...

This monster is so dangerous that, traditionally, its name was hardly ever spoken out loud, instead  whispered  in hushed tones that were soon  followed up by a prayer.

 If you're ever unfortunate enough too see it in person, it will chase you on sight the only way to escape it is to cross a running body of freshwater. 

As a creature of the sea and of sickness, the Nuckelavee cannot stand freshwater and will not follow you , same applies to the fay, they will not follow you across running water.

Orcadian folklore had a strong Scandinavian influence, and the nuckelavee may be a combination of a water horse from Celtic mythology and a creature imported by the Norsemen. As with similar malevolent entities such as the kelpie, it possibly offered an explanation for incidents that islanders in ancient times could not otherwise understand

Like many superstitions the Nuckelavee was likely created as a way for people to  explain the  plague a bad  harvest and other unfortunate events .