Mermaids... Are you a believer? By Donald SmithWell the Rev. William Munro of Reay, and later schoolmaster of Thurso, most certainly was. His monument may be seen in old St. Peter's Kirk graveyard. It should be noted that it was his former pupils who had this monument erected to the memory of their schoolmaster a far cry from the esteem in which many present day teachers are held by their charges more's the pity.To return to our question on Mermaids, or perhaps more rightly for this locally Selkies.The Rev. Munro was so moved by his encounter that he penned a detailed account and sent it to the editor of the highly regarded, Scots Magazine, who published it in 1809. Munro relates that his encounter happened some 12 years previous in 1797. The following extract is from the Scots Magazine.' When I was parochial schoolmaster at Reay, in the course of my walking on the shore of Sandside Bay, being a fine warm day in summer, I was induced to extent my walk towards Sandside Head, when my attention was arrested by the appearance of a figure, resembling an unclothed female, sitting upon a rock extending into the sea, and apparently in the action of combing its hair, which flowed around its shoulders, and of a light brown colour.The resemblance which the figure bore to its prototype, in all its visible parts, was so striking, that had not the rock on which it was sitting been dangerous for bathing, I would have been constrained to have regarded it as really a human form, and to an eye unaccustomed to such a situation, it must have undoubtedly appeared as such.The head was covered with hair of the colour above mentioned, and shaded on the crown; the forehead round, the face plump, the cheeks ruddy, the eyes blue, the mouth and lips of a natural form, resembling those of a man; the teeth I could not discover as the mouth was shut; the breasts and abdomen, the arms and fingers of the size of a full-grown body of the human species, the fingers, from the action in which the hands were employed, did not appear to be webbed....'Munro apparently observed the creature closely for 3 or 4 minutes and then it dropped into the sea and he did not see it again.So do you believe in Mermaids, or was the above merely the product of and over-active imagination?When regular access to old St. Peter's Kirk is restored take time to search out Rev. William Munros monument and ponder on the above question. Perhaps next time we shall consider the witches, feel free to let us know you're view and perhaps consider donating to the conservation appeal fund.
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