According to Feijoo, legend has it that around 1650 there lived in Liérganes, a small village in Cantabria, northern Spain, a couple with Francisco de la Vega and María del Casar. The couple had four sons, and when the father died, the mother, lacking of means, decided to send one of her sons to Bilbao so that he could make his living as a carpenter. This son, which according to Feijoo was called Francisco de la Vega Casar, lived in Bilbao as a carpenter till 1674 when, on Saint John’s day eve, he went with some friends to swim into Bilbao’s estuary. Although he was allegedly a good swimmer, the currents of the river took him and could not get to the shore. He was last seen swimming away into the sea, and it was thought that he had drowned.

However, five years later, in 1679, while some fishers where seafaring in the bay of Cadiz, in southern Spain, they found that a strange-looking creature had become entangled into their fishing nets, and was trying to fight his way out. Although they tried to capture it, the creature was able to set itself free. During the following weeks, several fishers reported having seen the creature till in the end they were able to capture it by tricking it with bread loafs. When they got the creature on board, they found that the creature had indeed a human shape: he looked like a young man, of white skin and thin red hair. However, he also showed some fish-like signs, such as a strip of scales that when down from his throat to his stomach, another one that covered his spine, and what seemingly were gills around his neck.

Thinking of it as some kind of monster, the fishermen took the creature to the convent of Saint Francis nearby, where the creature was allegedly exorcised and then interrogated in several languages without any success. After several days of questioning, the creature finally articulated a word, “Liérganes”, whose meaning nobody knew. This extraordinary event soon spread all around the Cadiz bay area, and nobody was able to recognise the meaning of Liérganes till a sailor from northern Spain who happened to be in the port of Cadiz commented that close to his home town there was a small village called Liérganes. Domingo de la Cantolla, secretary of the Holy Office, confirmed that there was a place called Liérganes near the city of Santander from which he himself came. The bishop of Cadiz thus sent word to Santander regarding the found creature, including a physical description so that anybody somehow related to the creature could recognize it. From Liérganes came the word that no creature had ever been seen around the town, and that the only extraordinary event that had happened lately was the tragic death of Francisco de la Vega in Bilbao five years ago, who was indeed red haired.

A friar in the convent where the creature was being kept postulated that the fish-man could actually be Francisco de la Vega, so he asked and got permission for taking him to Liérganes. Allegedly, when they were close to Liérganes, the friar let the fish-man free and followed him while the creature was able to guide him directly to Liérganes, and not only that, he took him directly to the house of María del Casar, who recognized him as her late son Francisco.

The fish-man was then left to live with his family, though he kept a tranquil yet odd lifestyle: he would always walk barefoot, and unless he was given clothes, he would rather walk around in the nude. He never really talked; at most he would sometimes mutter words such as tobacco, bread or wine, but without any link to the desire of smoking, eating or drinking. When he ate, he did it with avidity, but then he was able not to eat for a week at a time. He was easygoing and even obliging, and whichever simple task he was asked to do, he would do it promptly but without enthusiasm. After nine years living in such a fashion, he went to the sea to swim and was never seen again.

Technical – Photos as shown top to bottom read left to right

Date taken	02 Nov 2014 14:06:16	02 Nov 2014 14:06:37	02 Nov 2014 14:06:11
Exposure time	1/60 sec	1/25 sec	1/50 sec
Aperture Value	5.00 EV (f/5.7)	5.00 EV (f/5.7)	5.00 EV (f/5.7)
ISO Speed Rating	800	400	800
Flash Fired	No	No	No
Metering Mode	Pattern	Pattern	Pattern
Exposure Programme	Landscape Mode	Landscape Mode	Landscape Mode
Focal Length	55.0 mm	24.0 mm	55.0 mm