Loch Ness Monster sightings

St Columba and the water monster

People have seen mysterious things at Loch Ness for hundreds of years. Many eyewitnesses spot Nessie while travelling alone but there have also been mass sightings by groups of tourists, monks and schoolchildren.

The earliest 'monster-spotter' is said to be St Columba, who confronted a water beast in the river Ness in AD 565. Columba was the founder of a Christian community of monks on the Isle of Iona. His biographer, Adomnam, wrote in the ‘Vita Columba’, the ‘Life of St Columba’, that the saint had driven off a water monster by virtue of the prayers:  

'… when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa [the river Ness]; and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water…  

The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble (boat) that was moored at the farther bank.  

… the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream.  

Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, 'Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.'  

Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes … And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.'  

St Columba was on a mission to convert the Picts to Christianity when he met the water monster at the river Ness.

The Pictish beast

There is a strange creature carved into a number of Pictish symbol stones. It has the head, body and front legs of a horse but the other half of its body is the tail of a fish. This mysterious figure is known as the Pictish beast, Pictish dragon or swimming elephant.

The Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum in the village of Meigle, Perth and Kinross, displays 26 carved Pictish stones. These early medieval stones date between the late eighth and late tenth centuries. The stones are carved with a wide variety of animals, human figures and mythical creatures, as well as symbols such as the crescent and V-rod, the double disc and the Z-rod. In Meigle you will find carvings of the Pictish beast, mermaids and other fabulous sea creatures.

Pictish stones include carvings of serpents, bulls, stags, wolves, salmon, warriors riding horses, and angels. The Pictish beast appears on many Pictish stones. Some people think it depicts a dolphin while others say it is the kelpie or each uisge - the legendary water horse.