Tangie
A water spirit of Orkney and Shetland lore, seen as a horse or an old man
A water being from the island stories of Orkney and Shetland, in Scotland, which could take more than one form. It shows itself as a horse or as an old man with seaweed on him, waits by lochs at night for people walking alone, and is best known from a Shetland tale about the sheep rustler Black Eric.
A tangie is a water spirit told of in the islands of Scotland. People on Orkney and Shetland described it as a creature able to take another shape, appearing either as a horse or as an old man, with seaweed clinging to it. In the stories it waits for people travelling alone, and it is remembered above all through a Shetland tale about a sheep thief called Black Eric.
What it is
The tangie is one of the sea beings in the stories told in Orkney and Shetland, in Scotland. Island storytellers gave it the power to change its shape. At one time it looked like a horse, at another like an old man. Both forms carried the same sign: a covering of seaweed. The tales put it in the water and on the roads that ran beside it, and they treat it as something to be avoided rather than greeted. Two spellings of the name are recorded, tangie and tongie. Writers also describe it as a sea horse or a merman.
Name and look
The word tangie is tied to tang, the name for seaweed of the kind grouped under the genus Fucus. That link matches the picture the stories give: a being dressed in the weed that grows in island waters. Accounts call it a sea horse or a merman, and then say that it takes the shape of a horse or of an aged man. The seaweed is not a small detail. It is how people said they knew what they were looking at. Because the form can change, the weed on the body is one of the few things the old accounts treat as steady.
Danger to travellers
Lonely travellers were the ones the tangie was said to trouble. Its moment was night, and its ground was the roads near lochs. Young women were named as those it most wanted. The story is that it would take a person away and eat them under the water. The harm in the telling was not only to the body: it was said to bring on derangement, in people and in animals alike. Island lore held other water creatures of a milder sort. The Nuggle was smaller than the tangie and far less harmful, and the two were told of as alike but not the same.
The Black Eric tale
The tangie has a large part in a Shetland legend about Black Eric, a man who stole sheep. When he raided the crofts around him and made life hard for the people farming them, the tangie he rode gave him help that was more than human. His last fight was with Sandy Breamer, a crofter. Black Eric fell into the sea and died there. That was not the end of the creature. Once the rider was gone, the tangie went on troubling that district, and young women were still the ones it was said to be after.
When and where
The tangie belongs to Orkney and Shetland, the island groups in Scotland where these stories were told. It is remembered there and not elsewhere. The Black Eric legend places it in Shetland in particular, among the crofts that Black Eric raided. Accounts of the creature come from island tradition rather than from any single written text.
What Tangie means
In the stories, the tangie stands where two dangers meet: deep water and a dark road. It waits by lochs, and the people it is said to want most are young women. It is remembered as a creature that harms the mind as well as the body, since it was said to cause derangement in humans and animals, which is what sets it apart from the smaller, gentler Nuggle. The Black Eric legend also shows what comes of taking help from such a being.
Questions people ask about Tangie
What is a tangie?
It is a sea being from the stories of Orkney and Shetland, in Scotland. People said it could change its shape, appearing as a horse or as an old man, and that seaweed covered it. Its name comes from tang, the word for that seaweed.
Where is it known?
In Orkney and Shetland, the island groups of Scotland. Its best known appearance is in a Shetland legend about the sheep rustler Black Eric, who rode one and was helped by it until he died in the sea.
What was it said to do?
It troubled people travelling alone at night, on roads near lochs. Young women were said to be its chief targets, and the story is that it took them and ate them under the water. It was also said to drive people and animals out of their minds.
Is it the same as a Nuggle?
No. The two are described as similar but not identical. The Nuggle is smaller and less harmful. The tangie, by contrast, is said to be able to cause derangement in humans and animals, which the accounts do not say of the Nuggle.
Who was Black Eric?
In the legend, he is a sheep rustler from Shetland. He rode a tangie, and the being helped him when he raided the crofts around him. He fell to his death in the sea in his last fight, against the crofter Sandy Breamer.
See also
The BurrymanA man clad in burdock burrs walks a Scottish town for a day, bringing luck as he goes
Shoe throwingThe act of hurling footwear for sport, wedding luck, protest or overhead display.
Need-fireA ritual fire kindled by friction to ward off cattle plague, disease and harmTelling the beesA Western European custom of informing honeybees about major household events like deaths and weddings.Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Tangie", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-14.
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