Nessy On Land?

Observer: A group of children near graveyard

Date: 1879
Place: North shore
Description: Observed strange creature coming down hillside to loch. Colour as an elephant, small head turning side to side on long neck. ‘Waddled into water.’

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Observer: E.H. Bright and cousin
Date: 1880
Place:Drumnadrochit
Description: Observed ‘monster’ emerge from wooded area and ‘waddle’ into water on four legs. Left wash after entering water. Long neck, dark grey.

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Observer: Gypsy woman
Date: 1890’s
Place: Unknown
Description: Unknown

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Observer: Five or six children including William MacGruer
Date: 1912
Place: Inchnacardoch Bay
Description: Queer looking animal moved to the Loch and vanished in the water. Compared to a camel but smaller, long neck, humped-back and fairly long legs, sandy pale yellow colour.

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Observer: Mrs Peter Cameron and 2 brothers
Date: 1919
Place: Unknown
Description: Small head like a camel, long neck, humped-back and 4 limbs. Colour like a camel.

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Observer: Alfred Cruickshank
Date: April1923 at night
Place: Unknown
Description: Body 10-12ft long, tail 10-12ft long. Maximum diameter of body, 5-7ft, Arched back. Khaki green colour, lighter underbelly. Four legs, thick like an elephants, with large webbed feet.

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Observer: Alec Muir
Date: 1930’s
Place: Inverfarigaig
Description: A ‘monster’ alleged to have crossed the road in front of car. Left visible trail and depressed area in moss where it must have been lying.

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Observer: School children
Date: 1930’s
Place: Drumnadrochit
Description: They said they had seen a most peculiar and horrifying animal in the bushy swamp in Urquhart Bay

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Observer: Mrs Eleanor Price-Hughes
Date: 1933
Place: Unknown
Description: Alleged to have seen ‘monster’ emerge from the bushes and vanish into Loch. Carried something pink in mouth. (note: it has been said that this sighting was a hoax)

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Observer: David Stewart
Date: March 1933
Place: Altsigh
Description: A grey coloured creature came out of the bushes and disappeared into the Loch, it had a long neck.

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Observer: George Spicer
Date: July 22nd 1933
Place: Unknown
Description: Length 6-8ft long, thick body, long neck, greyish colour, saw near where neck joined body something flapping up and down. (They later decided it was tail bent round) Maximum diameter 4-5ft. Observed 150-200 yds away.

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Observer: Mrs M. F MacLennan
Date: August 1933
Place: Unknown
Description: Observed a dark grey mass on the beach estimated 20-25ft in length, back looked ridged, had several humps on it. When asked about limbs, Mrs MacLennan replied saying it had short, thick, clumsy legs with a kind of hoof very like a pigs but much larger.

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Observer: Mrs Reid
Date: December 1933
Place: Inverfarigaig
Description: Strange animal resting on slope of Loch shore. Partially obscurred by bracken. Hairy mane on neck, rest of body seemed hairy. Shaped like a hippopotamus, large round head, short thick legs, dark colouration.

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Observer: Mr Arthur Grant
Date: January 1934
Place: Unknown
Description: Small head and long neck, bulky body with 2 slight humps, long tail, rounded at end. Head like an eel with large eyes. Overall length 15-20ft, tail 5-6ft, neck 3-4ft long, maximum diameter 4ft. Colour was black or dark brown. Four flippers, front flippers strong.

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Observer: Doreen Taylor
Date: February 1934
Place: Foyers
Description: Large creature with long neck and short body, its legs were very thick and it had webbed feet.

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Observer: Patricia Harvey and Jean MacDonald
Date: February 1934 at night
Place: Inchnacardoch Bay
Description: Observed an animal crossing a stream by moonlight, moving out of sight towards the Loch. Thick body at shoulder tapering towards tail, dark colour, underside of neck white, 4 short legs. Height about 6ft, length 8-10ft. Moved with speed.

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Observer: Miss Margaret Munro
Date: June 5th 1934
Place: Unknown
Description: Using binoculars observed at 200-300 yds, an animal almost clear of the water for 25mins. Giraffe like neck, small head, dark grey body, and two very short forelegs or flippers clearly seen.

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Observer: Mr Torquil Macleod
Date: February 28th 1960
Place: Unknown
Description: Observed on opposite shore of the Loch, grey black mass at a distance of 1700yds. Used binoculars 7×50. Estimate animal 45ft in length. Observed one pair of paddles, thought he saw a third, square end flipper forward of the other pair, described one end like elephants trunk. Finally flopped into water

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Observer: Members of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau Ltd camera team.
Date: June 6th 1963
Place: Achnahannet
Description: A dark object was filmed at the water’s edge on a small beach 2.5 miles from the Achnahannet main camera rig, slight movement seems to occur, but may be caused by wave action or halation. Size estimated by Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre, 7-17ft.

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Is the Loch Ness Monster dead?

Article by: Neil Wilson, April 2008

Genuine monster or moonlighting elephant? Despite no recent sightings, the legend of Loch Ness still reels ‘em in.

It all began with a headline in the Inverness Courier on 3 May, 1933: ‘Strange Spectacle In Loch Ness; What Was It?’

It’s been 75 years since the Loch Ness Monster first hit the news. Now, as sightings have dwindled from around 30 in 1933-34, to around 10 a year in the 1990s, to three in 2006, two in 2007 and none so far in 2008, even the most hard-core Nessie fans are worried that Scotland’s best known beastie might be dead in the water.

An industry worth £6 million a year has grown up around the Scottish legend.

Robert Rines, the 85-year-old monster-hunter who took the famous ‘flipper photograph’ in 1972 has finally hung up his binoculars, believing the creature he once captured on film is now dead.

Locals are understandably worried about Nessie’s reclusive behaviour. An industry worth £6 million a year has grown up around the Scottish legend, with monster exhibitions on the shores of Loch Ness and in Edinburgh, countless cruise boats equipped with sonar and underwater video cameras, a string of webcams trained on the loch and a roaring trade in Nessie souvenirs that probably supports a minor manufacturing empire in China.

Naturalist Adrian Shine, who designed the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre in Drumnadrochit and the Loch Ness 3D Experience in Edinburgh, believes an increasingly sceptical public is less inclined to believe in the monster’s existence.

Theories about the nature of the Nessie phenomenon have ranged from giant eels and errant seals to swimming deer, floating logs and boat wakes. The big favourite is that Loch Ness harbours a plesiosaur, a living fossil that has somehow survived since the age of dinosaurs. Scientists point out that the waters of Loch Ness fill a glacial trench that was gouged out by Ice Age glaciers a mere 12,000 years ago, while plesiosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago. So, unless it feeds on hype, any large predator would have starved to death long ago.

One of the most intriguing explanations for the glut of sightings in 1933-34 was put forward in 2006 by museum curator Neil Clark, who noted that a circus came to Inverness in 1933. Picking up on the flurry of newspaper articles about the monster, circus impresario Bertram Mills drummed up publicity by offering a reward of £20,000 (around £1 million in today’s money) to anyone who could capture the beast.

What many people thought was the Loch Ness monster was actually one of Mills’ circus elephants swimming in the loch.

Clark proposed that what many people thought was the Loch Ness monster was actually one of Mills’ circus elephants swimming in the loch. Most of a swimming elephant is underwater, with only two humps – its back and head – breaking the surface, and its trunk held aloft as a breathing snorkel (giving the appearance of the ‘monster’s’ snake-like head). Mills knew his money was safe, because the ‘monster’ was performing nightly in his big top!

It’s safe to say that no single theory can explain all of the strange sightings on the loch. Let’s face it, stare long and hard enough at anything and eventually you’re bound to see some weird stuff.

Locals are pinning their hopes on the film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, in which the monster features centre-stage, to rekindle public interest in Nessie. And it wouldn’t hurt if some strange spectacle put in an appearance at the loch too.

The irony is that, even without the monster, Loch Ness is a pretty attractive place to visit. Hiking and mountain-biking trails run the length of the Great Glen and there are picturesque waterfalls at Foyers, beautiful gardens at Abriachan, historic ruins at Urquhart Castle and cosy canalside pubs at Fort Augustus. The scenery is spectacular too – an easy hillwalk leads to the summit of Meallfuarvonie above Drumnadrochit, where you can soak up stunning views over the Great Glen.

Who knows – you might even spot a mysterious wake rippling the surface of Loch Ness down below.