Monday 8 June 2009

Nessie on land?


The recent news of the nessie sonar reading, made me think of something I have always wondered about, land sightings of nessie. I have compiled a list of the ones I could find.

1527 Duncan Campbell said he saw a terrible beast on the loch shore.

1879 A Group of children saw something grey in colour with a small head on long neck turning from side to side on the north shore of the loch.
1880 E.H. Bright said he saw a creature with a long neck, dark grey in colour. It left a wooded area near Drumnadrochit and waddled to the water on 4 legs

1890 A Gypsy woman said she saw something on the north shore and refused to pass the place again.

1912 William MacGruer saw a creature in Inchnacardoch Bay . Said it was yellow in colour with long legs looking like a camel with a long neck. It then moved into the loch and vanished.


1919 Mrs. Peter Cameron also described a camel like creature she had seen.1923 Alfred Cruickshank said while driving down to Invermoriston he saw a monster with body 3 to 3.6m long with a 3m tail. It had anarched back and 4 webbed, elephant like legs. Described it as more Khaki green in colour.

1930 Alec Muir described a large beast that crossed road in front of his car near Inverfarigaig
Also in the 1930’s some school children playing in Urquhart Bay saw what they described as a horrifying animal seen moving from a swamp area in Urquhart Bay into loch.

1933 Mrs. Eleanor Price-Hughes described how a large creature emerged from the bushes and vanished into the loch.

Also 1933 Col. L. MCP Fordyce saw a creature near Foyers described as a cross between a large horse and camel with hump on its back. It had a small head on long neck and was grey coloured.

In July 1933 ( a busy year ) George and Alison Spicer saw a large creature between Dores and Foyers .He said it crossed the road in front of the car. Again described as grey in colour , over 7 meters long with a thick body and a long neck. He also said it moved in a jerky fashion and then slid into the loch.

August 1933 Mrs. M.F. MacLennan described a dark grey creature about 7 metres long on Dores beach, with several humps and short stumpy legs.


December 1933 Mrs. Reid saw a beast resting on the shore at Inverfarigaig . She described it as having a hairy body with thick mane on its neck and about the size of a hippopotamus with a large, round head and short thick legs.

1934 Arthur Grant saw a creature in his headlights on the road in front of him near Abriachan .Described as having as small eel like head on long neck and bulky long body, about 5 m long with 2 humps and along tail. Colour looked black or dark brown and it had four flipper like legs.

1934 Jean MacDonald and Patricia Harvey saw something near Inchnacardoch Bay crossing a stream in the moonlight. It had a thick, dark body tapering toward tail but looked lighter underneath. Again described four thick, short legs.

1934 June Miss Margaret Munro saw something on the shingle beach at Borlum Bay,
It had a large body with a giraffe like neck and a small head with a dark grey body and two short forelegs or flippers.

1960 Torquil Macleod said he saw something opposite the Horse Shoe ( I presume this is a public house or hotel)with an elephant like trunk. It was grey with a pair of front paddles and about 13m long.

Then in June 1963 The Loch Ness Investigation Bureau reported seeing and filming a creature they had seen from Achnahannet . The film didn’t turn out but they described a creature on the shore about 3 miles away with a body of about 5 meters.

Well we have camel, giraffe, hippopotamus, elephant like, no wonder there were theories about escaped circus animals. People will try and equate an unknown animal with a known animal when describing it. We as humans like to fit things into boxes, it is our way of dealing with things. Differences in descriptions are to be expected, if you have ever read anything on eye witness testimony, you will know how unreliable it is. I heard the Arthur Grant sighting had been discounted ( but don’t know for sure) and some of the sightings in the 1930’s we may want to put down to media hysteria. The oldest ones cannot be verified. The more recent ones though are interesting. If we presume that Nessie is not tied to the Loch but goes over land ,it would explain the lack of sightings at times of the year. However I have my doubts as it would have been seen by more people . I can’t believe a large unusual animal would not have attracted more attention as it wandered about. So land sightings, I don’t know. I admit I have my doubts.

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