What's in the loch?

For hundreds of years people have told stories of a mysterious creature that lives in the depths of Loch Ness.

It is said that long ago, people living around Loch Ness told their children stories of the kelpie to scare the children away from the dark, deep, dangerous waters of the loch.

The kelpie, so people said, was a beast that lived in the loch. When it got hungry, the kelpie would leave its watery home and turn itself into a beautiful horse. The horse would wait for someone to climb onto its back. Then it would gallop straight into Loch Ness - to drown and eat its victim!

St Columba and the monster

The earliest recorded sighting of a water monster near Loch Ness dates back to AD 565. Saint Columba, the founder of Iona, was preaching in the Scottish Highlands. One day he needed to cross the River Ness. Here, he came upon a group of local people burying one of their friends. The man ‘had been most savagely bitten by a water beast’ while he was swimming in the river.

Saint Columba was still determined to cross the river and asked one of his followers to swim across and bring back a boat moored to the other side. The man did as he was asked. The beast rose from the water and, with a mighty roar, went to attack the man. Saint Columba 'raised his holy hand and drew the saving sign of the cross in the empty air; and then, invoking the name of God, he commanded the savage beast, and said: ‘You will go no further. Do not touch the man.’' When the water beast heard this, it dived down to the depths and was never seen again.

The Loch Ness Monster

Other reports of strange things seen in the loch can be found, some more believable than others.

There are accounts from 1650, and from the 18th and 19th centuries, of a mysterious beast in the loch.

But it was a sighting in 1933 that was the origin of the Loch Ness Monster story as it is known today.

In April 1933 a Mr and Mrs Mackay were driving along the side of Loch Ness. The road around the loch had just been improved. Mrs Mackay noticed something in the loch. At first she thought it was ducks splashing and fighting but as she watched she saw a large beast in the middle of the loch. It was rolling and diving in the water, making a great commotion.

The sighting was reported to Alex Campbell, a local water bailiff and a newspaper reporter. (Campbell claimed to have seen the monster at least 18 times.) The story appeared in the newspaper on 2 May 1933, and the Loch Ness Monster as we know it today was born.

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