FIELD FILE · MORGAWRLAKE & SEA MONSTERREGIONAL LEGEND

Morgawr

Also known as Morgowr, Falmouth Bay sea serpent, Cornish sea giant

Falmouth Bay and the Helford estuary, CornwallFIRST REPORTED: 1975LAKE & SEA MONSTERS
Rosemullion Head at the southern edge of Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, with ships waiting offshore
Rosemullion Head at the southern edge of Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, with ships waiting offshoreRod Allday · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Cornwall’s long-necked “sea giant” of Falmouth Bay, made famous by the anonymous “Mary F” photographs of 1976 – widely suspected to be a hoax.

Morgawr – Cornish for “sea giant” – is a long-necked, humped sea serpent said to live in Falmouth Bay, one of the deepest natural harbours in western Europe. Cornwall had sea-serpent stories before, but the modern Morgawr dates from September 1975, when two people walking near Pendennis Point, a Mrs Scott and a Mr Riley, reported a creature with stumpy horns and bristles down its back that surfaced with a conger eel in its mouth.

The legend took off in March 1976, when the local newspaper, the Falmouth Packet, printed two blurry photographs sent in by a woman who signed herself only “Mary F”. Her letter said the animal had been in view for a few seconds off Trefusis Point in February, was 15–18 feet long and “moved in a funny way”. Mary F and her negatives were never traced. A flood of further sighting letters followed, and that summer two fishermen reported a similar creature off Lizard Point.

At the centre of the excitement was Tony “Doc” Shiels, the showman and magician who also publicised the Owlman. Shiels claimed sightings and photographs of his own, is thought to have coined the name Morgawr, and was involved in “monster-raising” rituals with naked witches on the Helford shore. Many researchers now believe he was behind the Mary F pictures, which the palaeontologist Darren Naish judges to show a model, and a 2022 academic study by Ronald James in the journal Shima traces the whole legend to a hoax.

Sporadic reports have continued, and Morgawr remains a favourite of Cornish folklore enthusiasts. A skull said to belong to the monster, found on Durgan beach and now held by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, has been identified as that of a pilot whale.

Type
Lake & sea monster
Status
Regional legend
First reported
1975
Best-known location
Falmouth Bay and the Helford estuary, Cornwall
Also called
Morgowr, Falmouth Bay sea serpent, Cornish sea giant
Reported in
England

What witnesses describe

A long neck with a small, snake-like head, one or more humps on a dark brown or black body 5–20 m long; some witnesses mentioned stumpy horns and bristles down the back.

Where and when it’s seen

Falmouth Bay, the Helford River mouth, Rosemullion Head and Gerrans Bay; most reports come from summer and from cliff-top walkers.

Notable sightings

  1. September 1975Pendennis Point sighting Pendennis Point, Falmouth

    Mrs Scott and Mr Riley reported a horned creature with a long neck that dived and resurfaced holding a conger eel.

  2. March 1976The “Mary F” photographs Trefusis Point, Falmouth

    The Falmouth Packet published two anonymous photographs of a long-necked animal, said to have been taken in February. The photographer was never identified.

  3. July 1976Fishermen off the Lizard Lizard Point, Cornwall

    Fishermen John Cock and George Vinnicombe reported a large creature near their boat, one of several reports in the wake of the photographs.

What could explain it?

  • The Mary F photographs have never been authenticated and are widely thought to show a model; Tony Shiels is the prime suspect.
  • Seals, basking sharks, rafts of seaweed, swimming birds and lines of porpoises can resemble humps and necks on the water.
  • The supposed Morgawr skull from Durgan beach is a pilot whale’s.
  • Folklorist Ronald James (2022) argues the legend was deliberately created as a hoax and then grew through newspaper coverage.

Legend, culture and tourism

Morgawr features in local pub names, art exhibitions and guided walks, and Falmouth’s maritime heritage makes it a natural home for a sea serpent. It appears in a 1976 pamphlet, Morgawr: The Monster of Falmouth Bay, and in countless books on sea monsters.

Places to visit

Pendennis CastleFalmouth, Cornwall

Tudor artillery fort on the headland where the 1975 sighting took place, with views across the whole bay.

National Maritime Museum CornwallFalmouth, Cornwall

Explores Cornwall’s seafaring history, including the creatures and myths of the sea.

Where it’s reported

England Cornwall

Morgawr in the news

No recent headlines about the Morgawr. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.

Sources

First published · Updated

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