Fachan

The fachan of Glen Etrive in the Scottish Highlands, Direach Ghlinn Eitidh, is a monstrous creature described as having one leg, a single eye, and a hand protruding from the centre of its chest. The folklorist John Francis Campbell has drawn a comparison with the nesnas of Arabic tradition, which he describes as having half a head, half a body, and one leg, on which it hops about.^[1] The Irish academic and politician Douglas Hyde has noted the existence of a similar monster in Irish tradition, and has suggested that both creatures are forged from a common Gaelic tradition, and that fachan may be a diminutive of the Irish fathach, meaning giant.^[2]

The fachan may be a vestigial memory of the way that Celtic priests were said to have performed certain rituals, with one eye closed, standing on one leg, and one arm outstretched.^[3]