The Loch Ness Monster (), known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.
The scientific community explains alleged sightings of the Loch Ness Monster as hoaxes, wishful thinking, the misidentification of known animals, mundane objects, and other recognized natural phenomena. The pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology has placed particular emphasis on the creature.
Origin of the name In August 1933, the Courier published the account of George Spicer's alleged sighting. Public interest skyrocketed, and countless letters were sent detailing different sightings.R. Binns The Loch Ness Mystery Solved pp 19–27 The letters described a "monster fish," "sea serpent," or "dragon."Daily Mirror, 11 August 1933 "Loch Ness, which is becoming famous as the supposed abode of a dragon..." Ultimately, the final name settled on was the "Loch Ness monster."The Oxford English Dictionary gives 9 June 1933 as the first usage of the exact phrase Loch Ness monster Since the 1940s, the creature has been affectionately called Nessie ().Campbell, Elizabeth Montgomery & David Solomon, The Search for Morag (Tom Stacey 1972) , page 28 gives an-t-Seileag, an-Niseag, a-Mhorag for the monsters of Lochs Shiel, Ness and Morag, adding that they are feminine diminutives
Sightings
Early precursors
Saint Columba (565) The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the 7th century AD.J. A Carruth Loch Ness and its Monster, (1950) Abbey Press, Fort Augustus, cited by Tim Dinsdale (1961) Loch Ness Monster pp. 33–35 According to Adomnán, writing about a century after the events described, Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he encountered local residents burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man was swimming in the river when he was attacked by a "water beast" that mauled him and dragged him underwater despite their attempts to rescue him by boat. Columba sent a follower, Luigne moccu Min, to swim across the river. The beast approached him, but Columba made the sign of the cross and said: "Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once."Adomnán, p. 176 (II:27). The creature stopped as if it had been "pulled back with ropes" and fled, and Columba's men and the Picts gave thanks for what they perceived as a miracle.
Believers in the monster point to this story, set in the River Ness rather than the loch itself, as evidence for the creature's existence as early as the 6th century.Adomnán p. 330. Skeptics question the narrative's reliability, noting that water-beast stories were extremely common in medieval hagiographies, and Adomnán's tale probably recycles a common motif attached to a local landmark.R. Binns The Loch Ness Mystery Solved, pp. 52–57 According to skeptics, Adomnán's story may be independent of the modern Loch Ness Monster legend and became attached to it by proximity and by believers seeking to bolster their claims. Ronald Binns considers that this is the most serious of various alleged early sightings of the monster, but all other claimed sightings before 1933 are dubious and do not prove a monster tradition before that date.R. Binns The Loch Ness Mystery Solved pp. 11–12 Christopher Cairney uses a specific historical and cultural analysis of Adomnán to separate Adomnán's story about St. Columba from the modern myth of the Loch Ness Monster, but finds an earlier and culturally significant use of Celtic "water beast" folklore along the way. In doing so he also discredits any strong connection between kelpies or water-horses and the modern "media-augmented" creation of the Loch Ness Monster. He also concludes that the story of Saint Columba may have been impacted by earlier Irish myths about the Caoránach and an Oilliphéist.
D. Mackenzie (1871 or 1872) In October 1871 (or 1872), D. Mackenzie of Balnain reportedly saw an object resembling a log or an upturned boat "wriggling and churning up the water," moving slowly at first before disappearing at a faster speed. The account was not published until 1934, when Mackenzie sent his story in a letter to Rupert Gould shortly after popular interest in the monster increased.
Alexander Macdonald (1888) In 1888, mason Alexander Macdonald of Abriachan sighted "a large stubby-legged animal" surfacing from the loch and propelling itself within of the shore where Macdonald stood. Macdonald reported his sighting to Loch Ness water bailiff Alex Campbell, and described the creature as looking like a salamander.
Aldie Mackay (1933) The best-known article that first attracted a great deal of attention about a creature was published on 2 May 1933 in The Inverness Courier, about a large "beast" or "whale-like fish". The article by Alex Campbell, water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, discussed a sighting by Aldie Mackay of an enormous creature with the body of a whale rolling in the water in the loch while she and her husband John were driving on the A82 on 15 April 1933. The word "monster" was reportedly applied for the first time in Campbell's article, although some reports claim that it was coined by editor Evan Barron.
The Courier in 2017 published excerpts from the Campbell article, which had been titled "Strange Spectacle in Loch Ness". "The creature disported itself, rolling and plunging for fully a minute, its body resembling that of a whale, and the water cascading and churning like a simmering cauldron. Soon, however, it disappeared in a boiling mass of foam. Both onlookers confessed that there was something uncanny about the whole thing, for they realised that here was no ordinary denizen of the depths, because, apart from its enormous size, the beast, in taking the final plunge, sent out waves that were big enough to have been caused by a passing steamer."
According to a 2013 article, Mackay said that she had yelled, "Stop! The Beast!" when viewing the spectacle. In the late 1980s, a naturalist interviewed Aldie Mackay and she admitted to knowing that there had been an oral tradition of a "beast" in the loch well before her claimed sighting. Alex Campbell's 1933 article also stated that "Loch Ness has for generations been credited with being the home of a fearsome-looking monster".
George Spicer (1933) Modern interest in the monster was sparked by a sighting on 22 July 1933, when George Spicer and his wife saw "a most extraordinary form of animal" cross the road in front of their car. They described the creature as having a large body (about high and long) and a long, wavy, narrow neck, slightly thicker than an elephant's trunk and as long as the width of the road. They saw no limbs.T. Dinsdale (1961) Loch Ness Monster p. 42. It lurched across the road toward the loch away, leaving a trail of broken undergrowth in its wake. Spicer described it as "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life," and as having "a long neck, which moved up and down in the manner of a scenic railway." It had "an animal" in its mouth and had a body that "was fairly big, with a high back, but if there were any feet they must have been of the web kind, and as for a tail I cannot say, as it moved so rapidly, and when we got to the spot it had probably disappeared into the loch." Though he was the first to describe the creature as a plesiosaur-like dinosaur, evidence suggested by researchers at Columbia University in 2013 proved his story to be fake. The university and Daniel Loxton suggested that Spicer's sighting was fictionalized and inspired by a long-necked dinosaur that rises out of a lake in King Kong, a film that was extremely popular in cinemas in his home city of London during August 1933, when Spicer reported the sighting. Loxton and Donald Prothero later cited King Kong as evidently an influence on the Loch Ness Monster myth.
On 4 August 1933 the Courier published a report of Spicer's sighting. This sighting triggered a massive amount of public interest and an uptick in alleged sightings, leading to the solidification of the actual name "Loch Ness Monster."
It has been claimed that sightings of the monster increased after a road was built along the loch in early 1933, bringing workers and tourists to the formerly isolated area.R. Mackal (1976) "The Monsters of Loch Ness" p. 85. However, Binns has described this as "the myth of the lonely loch", as it was far from isolated before then, due to the construction of the Caledonian Canal. In the 1930s, the existing road by the side of the loch was given a serious upgrade.
Hugh Gray (1933) Hugh Gray's photograph taken near Foyers on 12 November 1933 was the first photograph alleged to depict the monster. It was slightly blurred, and it has been noted that if one looks closely the head of a dog can be seen. Gray had taken his Labrador for a walk that day and it is suspected that the photograph depicts his dog fetching a stick from the loch.Loxton, Daniel; Prothero, Donald. (2015). Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids. Columbia University Press. pp. 142–144. Others have suggested that the photograph depicts an otter or a swan. The original negative was lost. However, in 1963, Maurice Burton came into "possession of two lantern slides, contact positives from th[e] original negative" and when projected onto a screen they revealed an "otter rolling at the surface in characteristic fashion."Burton, Maurice. A Ring of bright water? New Scientist. 24 June 1982. p. 872
Arthur Grant (1934)
On 5 January 1934 a motorcyclist, Arthur Grant, claimed to have nearly hit the creature while approaching Abriachan (near the north-eastern end of the loch) at about 1 a.m. on a moonlit night.Campbell, Steuart. (1997). The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. Prometheus Books. p. 33. According to Grant, it had a small head attached to a long neck; the creature saw him, and crossed the road back to the loch. Grant, a veterinary student, described it as a cross between a seal and a plesiosaur. He said he dismounted and followed it to the loch, but saw only ripples.Tim Dinsdale Loch Ness Monster pp. 44–45
Grant produced a sketch of the creature that was examined by zoologist Maurice Burton, who stated it was consistent with the appearance and behavior of an otter.Burton, Maurice. A Fast Moving, Agile Beastie. New Scientist. 1 July 1982. p. 41. Regarding the long size of the creature reported by Grant, it has been suggested that this was a faulty observation due to the poor light conditions.Burton, Maurice. (1961). Loch Ness Monster: A Burst Bubble? The Illustrated London News. May, 27. p. 896 Paleontologist Darren Naish has suggested that Grant may have seen either an otter or a seal and exaggerated his sighting over time.Naish, Darren. (2016). "Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths" . Arcturus.
"Surgeon's photograph" (1934)
The "surgeon's photograph" is perhaps the most famous alleged photo of the creature, and the first to portray its head and neck. It is attributed to Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist.R. P. Mackal (1976) The Monsters of Loch Ness p. 208 On 20 April 1934, multiple British newspapers reported Wilson's claim to have seen the monster while driving near Loch Ness the day before, but the stories do not mention the existence of a photograph. "Dr. Wilson described the monster as having a small head and a swan-like neck protruding three feet above the surface of the water," the Western Morning News reported.