Japanese hunt monsters in lakes for nature documentary

MONSTERS who may be lurking in the murky depths of lakes in Cork and Kerry are being hunted by a Japanese film crew.

The five man crew, who are filming for Japan’s version of the Discovery channel, have come to Ireland after hearing tales of mysterious creatures patrolling the shores of some of our lakes.

While Ireland doesn’t boast the famous Nessie, the Japanese said they are very interested in investigating some of the sightings locals claim to have seen over the years.

Yesterday they conducted their first expedition to Lake Attariff, which is situated between Dunmanway and Clonakilty.

Led by director Hideo Okamoto, the crew were checking out claims made by a local man that he had seen what is described as a ‘horse eel’ in the lake.

“It’s basically something which looks like it has the head of a horse and the body of an eel. But the body is very wide and large,” project co-ordinator Declan Somers said.

After spending a few hours at that lake the crew then headed to Kerry where they took their first look at Lough Brin, near Moll’s Gap, and Lough Lackagh.

“People there say that a black, pig-like creature inhabits the loughs. One man described seeing the creature blowing water out of its back like a whale,” Mr Somers said.

The crew will also visit a lake near Clifden, Co Galway where another ‘horse eel’ is supposed to live.

The Japanese are staying in Ireland for a week and will go back and forth to the different lakes in the hope of picking something spectacular up on camera.

As yet they haven’t witnessed any sightings, but they live in hope. “I was very sceptical at first, but some of the lakes are up to 80 metres deep. There could well be something large feeding at the bottom of them,” Mr Somers said.

Nessie better watch out.