Orkney's most feared sea-being, described as a skinless horse fused to a gigantic rider. Black blood shows through yellow veins; the rider's head rolls above the horse's back; and breath from the creature is blamed for blighted crops, sick livestock, and epidemic disease.
The nuckelavee belongs to a northern European family of dangerous water horses, but the fused, flayed anatomy is distinctly Orcadian in the surviving record. It spends part of the year confined beneath the sea by the benevolent Mither o' the Sea and ranges on land when her power weakens. One collected pursuit ends at a freshwater stream it cannot cross.