Scottish folklore - The Loch Ness Monster

Early Sightings

The first documented sighting of the creature was in 565 when the Irish monk St Columba came across Pict locals burying a man next to the River Ness. Upon enquiry, St Columba was told that the deceased man had been attacked by an aquatic creature that attacked him and dragged him underneath the water. So St Columba being the nice guy that he was, sent one of his followers into the river for a swim but when he was approached by the monster, St Columba reportedly made the sign of the cross and exclaimed "Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once." The monster then retreated back into the depths of the river. However this tale comes from "Life of St Columba" by Adomnán which was written about 100 years after the events are claimed to have taken place. 

Sightings of the monster increased massively in the 1930's which is believed to be due to the upgrades to the road which encouraged more visits. In 1933 George Spicer and his wife saw a creature cross the road in front of them which was supposedly 25 feet (8m) long and about 10 foot (3m) wide. It had a long wavy neck and no limbs and as you can imagine they were quite shocked to see it moving across the road near their car.

Other sightings and photographs followed that year with many being disregarded as other animals such as otters but in 1934 the image known as the "Surgeons Photograph" showed what is supposedly the first image of the neck and head of the monster. London based surgeon Robert Kenneth Wilson took 4 photos upon spotting the monster, with one being substantially less blurry than the others. Again, it was often dismissed as being driftwood or an animal like an otter.

Throughout the years it subject to a lot of analysis and criticism. It was believed that the photo was cropped to make it seem like the ripples on the water are waves, making the "creature" in the photo look larger. Further analysis of the photo also revealed that the creature/object had been dragged through the water, indicating its size to be about 3 foot long.  It was later revealed to be a hoax and it turned out that the most famous and earliest image of the Loch Ness Monster was in fact a toy submarine with a head and neck attached to it made out of wood putty. 

There have been many expeditions throughout the years such as in 1987 £1m was spent on Operation Deepscan which involved 24 boats with sonar capabilities searching throughout the loch for an entire week yet found nothing. In 2003 the BBC funded a search of the loch wusing 600 sonar beams and even used satellite tracking, yet they also found nothing. So if efforts such as as these could not yield results, it makes you wonder what will it take to find Nessie?

Myth or Reality?

At this point most people just see it as a myth and dismiss any "evidence", however in 2019 there have been 14 reported sightings so far (the most in a single year this century), suggesting that although it may not be a plesiosaur there might actually be something down there.

If you'd like to try your luck at spotting the legendary creature from Scottish folklore then you could visit Loch Ness with us on our Loch Ness, Glencoe & The Highlands Tour which departs from Edinburgh and Glasgow and take a cruise to get the best views.