The blue men of the Minch are sea beings said to live in the strait between the northern Outer Hebrides and mainland Scotland. They look like people, about the same size, but with blue skin and long grey faces. In calm weather they float asleep at or just under the surface; they can raise storms, and they swim with their upper bodies out of the water, rolling and diving like porpoises.
When a ship comes near, their chief may shout two lines of verse to the captain. If he cannot finish the rhyme, the blue men try to capsize his ship. They are said to live in caves by the Shiant Isles, beside a fast tidal stream known as the Stream of the Blue Men and nicknamed the Current of Destruction for its many wrecks.
Folklorist Donald A. Mackenzie noted that they are found nowhere else, not even elsewhere in Scotland. Explanations include a personification of the sea, painted Picts crossing in small boats, or North African captives kept by Vikings who wintered near the Shiants.
What the stories say
- Blue men rising waist-high from the water
- A rhyme shouted from the waves
- A sudden storm in calm weather
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