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The Blue Men of the Minch
Scottish folklore tells of a tribe of supernatural sea creatures called the Blue Men of the Minch, who used to inhabit the stretch of water known as the Minch, between Lewis, the Shiant Islands and Long Island in the Hebrides part of Scotland.
They were humanoid in appearance with blue skin, kinned with mermen they would swim alongside ships passing the Sound of Shiant in an attempt to lure sailors into the water, and conjure storms to wreck ships. According to lore, they lived in deep underwater caves in a clan system ruled over by a chief. Like many supernatural creatures they could be beaten with a cunning tongue, and by making sure you got the last word in a rhyme. Many a sea captain is said to have escaped sure disaster with the sharpness of his tongue, and his skill in riddles.
There are a few theories about the Blue Men’s (also known as storm kelpies) origins, it has been suggested that they were fallen angels, and on a more historical note, a folk memory of Moorish slaves marooned in Ireland in the 9th Century by Viking pirates and slave traders.
From legend, they appear to be human but their skins are glossy and blue (gorm). Their faces are long and gray (glas) and their hair and “beards” are curly and green. Their eyes are small, their noses flat and their mouths are large. Their arms are long and their legs are but fish-tails. They are the size of full grown men and they are very, very strong.
It is natural that the Inner and Outer Hebrides seas are a source for many of the Hebridean myths and legends because they are a part of Scotland which has always relied on the surrounding sea to sustain the small communities which have occupied parts of the islands for centuries. 
But as with many folklore tales, our ancestors wrapped their truths in legend and therefore, myths are the starting place to explore valuable information and try to set the reality distinct from the rumour as so to credit it. So, what could the Blue Men of the Minch be from a cryptozoological angle?
If we are to believe they are kin to merfolk, then we must acknowledge the several different scientific theories that have been put forth to explain mermaids and mermen.
One idea is that merfolk are animals. They might be some variety of undiscovered fish that has a top half that simply looks human, or they might be a variety of primate that evolved to a half-aquatic lifestyle as previously discussed on this blog. Unfortunately, not much evidence has come forth to support either idea. If merfolk exist and are animals, they must be incredibly rare, for science has never managed to get a dead body despite the fact that merfolk are supposed to love hanging about near shore, where capture should be easy and bodies would probably wash onto the beach.
Another idea holds more promise, but strays outside the normal confines of cryptozoology. According to this idea, merfolk are actually intelligent aliens. This idea is supported by the earliest merfolk legends, which describe semi-aquatic “gods” that came from the stars. If this idea were true, merfolk would be the descendants of these ancient aliens, perhaps ones that had been genetically modified to make them look more human and thus get along better with their human subjects. At some point, the set-up for playing gods collapsed and these remnants were stranded here to live out their lives apart from humans. This would explain why we don’t capture mermaids or find bodies, because an intelligent race, unlike animals, would have the ability to prevent such occurences. Unfortunately, even though this idea makes for an attractive story, it doesn’t have much going for it other than some really old legends.
Other explanations lean more towards the supernatural and, thus, are of less interest to cryptozoologists. Mermaids are explained as spirits of the water, as shapeshifters, as a subcategory of fairies, even as a type of demon.
In the other direction, cryptozoologists sometimes decide to classify other weird humanoids as merfolk, in order to continue their investigations into merfolk without seeming so much as if they are researching a fairy-tale creature. These researchers have lumped together a number of weird creatures under the heading of “merfolk” such as chupacabras and various lizardmen, frogmen and things that look like the (fictional) Creature from the Black Lagoon (this movie was based on legends of the South American “gillman”). Then, these cryptozoologists say that merfolk legends and sightings are actually based on sightings of these other cryptids, or that these other cryptids have been out-competing the more stereotypical merfolk and thus replacing them. In this view, the idea of aquatic primates once again surfaces, in the form of speculations on the Sea-Ape (a cryptid from the Bering Sea, near Alaska) and hypothetical relatives of the potto (a very weird, but real, lemur).
In addition to the various speculations in cryptozoology as to whether mermaid reports might represent a new species of some sort, there is another connection between mermaids and cryptozoology. Some reports of mermaids link them to sea serpents and lake monsters. There are several ways this link can be formed. Firstly, there are legends about mermaids and other water spirits commanding sea monsters and lake monsters. Secondly, a few mermaids are reported to have extra-long tails, like sea serpents, instead of a fishy tail. Thirdly, a few rare mermaids are supposed to be shapeshifters who alternate between a mermaid form and one that resembles a sea serpent. For example, Morag, the legendary monster of Loch Morar, is said to appear in one of two forms. One is a beautiful blond mermaid, the other is a many-humped monster resembling Nessie. According to local lore, Morag appears in her monster form when someone is about to die.
Even if we never discover what the Blue Men really were or how these legends got started, one thing is for certain, their mythical stories will continue to intrigue researchers and believers alike for many years to come.
Source(s): mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/western-isles/folklore/the-blue-men-of-the-minch.html, celticqueens.blogspot.com/2011/02/blue-men-of-minch.html, newanimal.org/merfolk.htm, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebridean_mythology_and_folklore
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On Mythical Sea Creatures Being Aquatic Apes
For anyone who was interested in or watched the 90-minute documentary on Animal Planet last month called Mermaids: The Body Found, about a team of scientists with forensic evidence of “mermaids” (aquatic apes that split from our line some 7 million years ago), you may be interested in knowing the Aquatic Ape theory was actually proposed in New Scientist as early as 1960!
“Mermaids: The Body Found” is fiction based but they have presented an actual hypothesis about human evolution, in documentary style presenting a story that blends fiction, myth and phenomena with first-hand accounts and the theory that suggests ‘aquatic apes’ might account for mermaid legends.
The mermaid legend has been around since before the Romans ruled the earth, and even back then, guys were asking the same question: How did these womanly fish have sex?
It’s a question that dogged filmmaker Charlie Foley when he started work on his his speculative documentary “Mermaid: The Body Found,” which recently re-aired, from his own father, no less.
“It was the first thing my dad asked me when I told him about the special,” Foley laughed to The Huffington Post. “We had to think about this, and I assume that mermaid sex organs would evolve like those of whales, seals and porpoises. Their bodies are streamlined, but those parts ‘pop out’ when needed.”
Sorry, fish fetishists, the special doesn’t show mermaids and mermen splashing around in icthyological intercourse, but there is a scene of a CGI mermaid giving birth.
Foley isn’t saying that mermaids exist, but finds it fascinating that the comely sea creatures have been talked about for thousands of years and show up in the writings of numerous cultures — even among cultures that had no contact with each other.
But despite being hailed as a “new theory” by various news outlets for Animal Planet PR, it was actually first proposed by German pathologist Max Westenhöfer in 1942, and then independently by British marine biologist Alister Hardy in 1960. After Hardy, the most prominent proponent has been Welsh screenwriter Elaine Morgan, who has written several books on the topic.
The ‘aquatic ape’ theory - that a separate strand of primates evolved to live in the sea is often dismissed as pseudoscience.
But, early hominids certainly lived near the sea - and were sailing surprisingly early.
Stone Neanderthal tools dating back at least 100,000 years have been found on the Greek mainland and on the Greek islands of Lefkada, Kefalonia and Zakynthos, which means they must have been travelling in boats.
The documentary argues that as apes evolved into ‘pre-human’ hominids, some evolved to live in water becoming aquatic ape-like creatures.
From 1930, marine biologist Alister Hardy had hypothesized that humans may have had ancestors more aquatic than previously imagined. Because it was outside his field and he was aware of the controversy it would cause, Hardy delayed reporting his hypothesis. After he had become a respected academic, Hardy finally voiced his thoughts in a speech to the British Sub-Aqua Club in Brighton on 5 March 1960. A national newspaper reported a distorted interpretation of Hardy’s ideas, which he countered by explaining them more fully in an article in New Scientist on 17 March 1960. Hardy defined his idea:
My thesis is that a branch of this primitive ape-stock was forced by competition from life in the trees to feed on the sea-shores and to hunt for food, shell fish, sea-urchins etc., in the shallow waters off the coast. I suppose that they were forced into the water just as we have seen happen in so many other groups of terrestrial animals. I am imagining this happening in the warmer parts of the world, in the tropical seas where Man could stand being in the water for relatively long periods, that is, several hours at a stretch.
The idea received some interest after the article was published, but was generally ignored by the scientific community thereafter. In 1967, the hypothesis was briefly mentioned in The Naked Ape, a book by Desmond Morris in which can be found the first use of the term “aquatic ape”. Writer Elaine Morgan read about the idea in Morris’ book and was struck by its potential explanatory power, becoming its main promoter and publishing six books over the next 40 years.
Human beings are the only naked bipeds. We carry a layer of subcutaneous fat substantially thicker than in any other primate. We exude, through our eyes and sweat glands, greater quantities of salt water than any other mammal. We are the only species of mammal to mate face to face, other than aquatic mammals. We are the only primate capable of overriding our unconscious breathing rhythms, alongside the elaborate use of lips and tongue, to produce speech ability which separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We are also the only primate with a descended larynx, thought to increase the variety of sounds we can produce.
Hardy argued that these features indicate a level of adaption to an aquatic environment. Thus, humans become bipedal to wade in water, and lost their hair to streamline their bodies for swimming. The fat layer kept them warm and buoyant, their secretions prevented build-up of excess salt from sea water and their larynx was protected against submersion. Language evolved because glare from the water meant signalling was no longer an efficient means of communication.
The AAH “Aquatic Ape Hypothesis” or AAT (Aquatic Ape Theory) is a fascinating, thought-provoking, and attractive idea, but one that is far from proven, though it does remain a real hypothesis about human evolution with many supporters.
Sources: huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/mermaid-the-body-found-animal-planet_n_1544087.html, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis, dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2148761/Were-mermaids-real-New-theory-suggests-aquatic-apes-account-legends.html, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis Fourth illustration by Christian Bocquée
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