The Kelpie is a fearsome, shape shifting water beast. Presenting like a beautiful horse, the Kelpie tempts unfortunate travellers onto its back, after all, who could resist a ride on a handsome stallion? Once seated, the traveller becomes magically attached to the kelpie’s back, and the kelpie leaps into the depths of the loch, taking the traveller with it. It is best to avoid deep lochs and bonnie horses, just in case, but should you find yourself face to face with a kelpie, there might just be a way to tame it: by stealing its bridle.

It is said, many years ago, that this very thing occurred at St Vigeans, just outside Arbroath. You see, there was a hill in St Vigeans, but no ordinary hill at all. The hill was hollow, held aloft from within by heavy iron bars and deep within was a loch, home to the St Vigeans Kelpie.

A builder was contracted with constructing a kirk on this hill, and it just so happened that this builder knew of the kelpie that lived beneath it. He’d heard tales of kelpie strength, and that they could be tamed if only one captured their bridle. So, he thought he’d try his luck. He ventured deep within the hill and made his way to the loch, which stretched out before him like an endless black mirror. There, he found the St Vigeans Kelpie. Not used to visitors, the poor kelpie had little time to react, and the builder seized him by the bridle and took control of his power.

The builder set the kelpie to work, using its incredible strength to haul the heavy stones from the bottom of the hill to the top, and soon – much faster than it would have been with any normal horse – a little kirk stood atop the hollow hill. The builder, seeing that the job was done and finding no further use for the kelpie, released it.

Something else important to note about kelpies, is that they are much like other fairy creatures: they are proud, and they abhor being forced into anything by a human’s hand. They are tricksters, not used to being tricked themselves, so before the kelpie disappeared back into his loch, he placed a curse upon the kirk:

‘When your congregation takes communion after the minister takes his life, this hill will fall in upon itself, and your church will crumble into my loch below.’

And with that, the kelpie disappeared, never to be seen again. Years passed, and nothing happened. The community grew used to telling jovial tales of the St Vigeans Kelpie, after all, it was only a story, and no minister had taken their own life in St Vigeans. Until, the 18^th century. The story suddenly didn’t seem quite so fictitious anymore, and the community refused communion for 40 years. When eventually it was held, the congregation watched from a safe distance. Luckily, the church still stands today.

Adapted from Angus Folk Tales, Erin Farley