The Blue Men of the Minch are spirits from Scottish folklore said to inhabit the Minch strait between the Outer Hebrides and mainland Scotland, where they swim around looking for ships to sink and sailors to drown. Notably, no similar legends have been recorded in other areas, which is a rarity for folkloric beings. The sole exception is a possible sighting in Shetland in 1700 recorded by clergyman John Brand, who states that a blue bearded man rose from the sea and briefly pursued a nearby boat, terrifying the passengers and crew. Some folklorists have attempted to link them to other water spirits known as Kelpie, which are the most common water spirits in Scottish folklore.
As the name suggests, the Blue Men are physically almost identical to humans aside from having blue skin. When the weather is calm they can sometimes be seen sleeping on top of or just below the surface of the water. They swim with their torsos raised above the waterline, twisting and diving like porpoises, and are known to amuse themselves by playing shinty on top of the water when the night sky is clear and bright.
In traditional tales the Blue Men have the power to create destructive storms which sink ships, and like to capsize vessels by spraying them with sea foam. Another common tale states that they are able to converse with humans and use this power to challenge the captain of passing ships to rhyming contests. If the captain cannot match the Blue Men's chief line for line the Blue Men will sink the ship and drown all on board, but if he can then they will be unable to do any damage to the ship. An exchange highlighted by folklorist Donald Mackenzie goes as follows:
| “ | Blue Man: Man of the black cap, what do you say As your proud ship cleaves the brine? Captain: My speedy ship takes the shortest way And I'll follow you line by line. Blue Man: My men are eager, my men are ready To drag you below the waves. Captain: My ship is speedy, my ship is steady. If it sank it would wreck your caves. |
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In other stories the Blue Chief boards passing ships and demands tribute under threat of summoning a storm to destroy the ship. Some sources name the Blue Chief as Shony.
No surviving tales give any way to defeat the Blue Men other than out-rhyming them. One story recorded in John Gregorson Campbell's Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland states that sailors once attempted to capture a Blue Man who they found sleeping on the water's surface, but two other Blue Men pursued their boat crying out "Duncan will be one, Donald will be two/Will you need another ere you reach the shore?". The captive Blue Man replied "Duncan's voice I hear, Donald is too near/But no need of helpers has strong Ian More!" before slipping his bonds and diving overboard. This led sailors to believe that the Blue Men all had human-like names which they called each other.
Trivia[]
- Donald Mackenzie has speculated that the Blue Men were originally part of a tribe of fallen angels that split into three, with one-third becoming the Blue Men, one-third becoming faeries and one-third becoming the "Merry Dancers" who are seen from Earth as the Northern Lights. Another theory is that they were intended to be the anthropomorphic personification of the sea itself.
- The Blue Men may have been inspired by sightings of members of the Pict tribes with blue-dyed skin kayaking in the Minch, which locals could easily mistake for blue people rising out of the waves. Others speculate that they were inspired by North African slaves marooned by the Vikings when they were in the area; fir ghorma, the Gaelic term used to refer to the Blue Men, actually means black man, and many North African tribes enslaved by the Vikings were known to dress in blue robes. Locals may have seen members of these tribes, not known what they were and mistaken them for water spirits due to their blue dress.
