Legends about Loch Monsters

Scottish Loch Monsters

The most famous mysterious creature lives in Loch Ness, a freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands, well-known for its fascinating beauty. It is located in the Great Glen which follows the line of a large geographical fault 400 million years old.

 Loch Ness Monster is better-known by the nickname Nessie. (attachment2) The first evidence of seeing Nessy dates back to the seventh century. It is recorded in the book "The Life of St Columba" written by Adomnán of Iona (the Inner Hebrides) in 679–704 AD. Saint Columba is known for spreading Christianity in Scotland. In Adomnán’s account of St Columba’s life which was written some 100 after his death, Columba came across a group of people burying a man by the River Ness during his journey through the lands of the Picts. Columba was told that the man had been attacked by a “water beast” which had dragged him under the water. In this story Columba sent his follower to swim across the river. When the beast came after him, Columba made the sign of the cross and ordered the beast to leave and the poor old monster fled. There are many later sighting as well. In 1933 ‘The Inverness Courier’ published an article by Alex Campbell ‘A Lochness Water Bailiff’ which tells about the sightings of "a beast" in Loch Ness by locals. This was followed by another one on 22 July 1933, when visitors from London, George Spicer and his wife, said that they had seen a strange animal crossing the road and entering the Loch. In August of the same year a motorcyclist said he was forced to crash after trying to avoid a similar animal. Many other witnesses often talk of being surprised by movements in the water of a seemingly large creature just below the surface.  There is no clear evidence of its existence as the few photographs of the creature are very controversial and disputed. But both scientists and Nessie enthusiasts are examining the lake in order to find some new evidence of the monster.

    Nessie is far from the only creature said to inhabit Scotland's lochs. Morag is the nickname given to another lake monster believed to live in Loch Morar.  Loch Morar is the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles, with a maximum depth of 310m., 70 km from Loch Ness. Alexander Carmichael, a prolific gatherer of folklore at the turn of the last century, gathered stories about it from people living near the loch. He is thought to have spent only a couple of days in the area of the Morar and did not see Morag for himself. His main source of information about the monster was a local named Ewan MacDougall. His scripts have been discovered by the Carmichael Watson project at the University of Edinburgh library. Reported sightings date back to 1887, and included 34 incidents. Sixteen of these involved multiple witnesses. The sightings have depicted Morag as a humped snake-like creature similar to Nessie. The best known later sighting of1969, involved two local men, Duncan McDonell and William Simpson, and their boat, with which they claimed to have accidentally struck the creature, prompting to attack them.  They described it as being brown, 25–30 feet long, with rough skin, three dorsal humps rising 18 inches above the loch's surface, and a head a foot wide, held 18 inches out of the water.

     Loch Ness and Loch Morar are not only lakes where sea monsters are reported to be seen. Just south of Loch Ness is a much smaller Loch Oich, where a beast with a shaggy, dog-like head is said to have been seen. A little further down the Great Glen is long and straight Loch Lochy, which is known as the home of Lizzie, a creature with three humps which resemble a plesiosaur. It is first reported as being seen in 1929. Loch Arkaig, west of the Great Glen, has a "lake-horse" that in the past was seen by a deer stalker and his children. A creature 21.3m long and with three humps was said to have been spotted in 1870 in Loch Sheil. Richard Freeman, Centre for Fortean Zoology states: "The idea of a pre-historic reptile in these cold northern lakes is a non-starter. However, the monsters could be some kind of large fish. I think the best are giant sterile eels. The common eel swims out to the Sargasso Sea to breed then die. The baby eels follow trails back to their ancestral fresh waters homes and the cycle begins again. Sometimes, however, a mutation occurs and the eel is sterile. These stay in fresh water and keep on growing, no-one knows how old they get or how big."