Reported Encounters With The Loch Ness Monster...

Top Loch Ness Monster Sightings

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most famous Loch Ness Monster sightings. We’re including debunked sightings that nonetheless made waves with the public.

#8: Aldie Mackay

The first article that evoked substantial public attention about a potential beast in the water was written in 1933 by Loch Ness water bailiff, Alex Campbell. It describes a sighting by Aldie Mackay and her husband. They claimed to have spotted a large creature in the water as they were driving by. An excerpt from the article states that “The creature disported itself, rolling and plunging for fully a minute, its body resembling that of a whale, and the water cascading and churning like a simmering cauldron.” This was reportedly the first written use of the word “monster” to describe the creature. While the legend of a beast in Loch Ness already had a long tradition, this written account got rumors brewing rapidly.

#7: Arthur Grant

While motorbiking home after midnight in 1934, veterinary student Arthur Grant saw the unthinkable. According to him, a 15 to 20 foot long creature with “a small head on a long neck” turned toward him, then “made two great bounds, crossed the road, and plunged into the loch.” A New York Times article covered Grant’s detailed eyewitness account. He called it a “hybrid” between a plesiosaur and seal, with “large oval-shaped eyes,” “two front flippers,” two rounded ridges on its back, and a long tail. Following the incident, he produced a sketch. Many more sightings of Nessie followed shortly thereafter. TIME Magazine, among other media outlets, later wrote about Grant’s sighting in a 1950 article.

#6: Anthony “Doc” Shiels

A showman, magician, and psychic entertainer got heads spinning with a clear image of Nessie in 1977. But it turned out to be just another trick up his sleeve. Anthony “Doc” Shiels claimed to have been camping next to Urquhart Castle when he summoned the beast out of the water. The picture he took is now known as “The Loch Ness Muppet,” after experts have deemed it a hoax. The lack of ripples in the water around the long neck and the overall staged appearance have disqualified the photo as viable evidence of Nessie. But it certainly sparked attention, as it made the front page of The Daily Mirror.

#5: Gordon Holmes

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine called himself a “skeptical interpreter” but described a 55-year-old man’s Loch Ness video as “some of the best footage [he’s] seen.” In 2007, Gordon Holmes filmed what he said was a “jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water.” Just a few days after Holmes’ sighting, STV News North Tonight interviewed him and aired the footage. The following day, BBC Scotland broadcast Holmes’ video on their main news program. Skeptics suggested the moving thing in the video could have been a seal or an otter. Holmes’ initial thought was that it could have been a “very big eel.” Whatever the case may be, the video gained significant publicity and gave Nessie-believers another sighting to point to.

#4: George Spicer

While George Spicer and his wife were driving home from a summer vacation in 1933, a long-necked creature allegedly crossed the road in front of the couple’s car. They estimated it to be 25 feet long. Mr. Spicer described it as "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that [he’d] ever seen in [his] life.” In the 2010s, researchers would argue that his story was made-up and inspired by the movie King Kong, which was popular in Spicer’s home city of London during the summer of his account. Still, in 1933, an article about the sighting sparked immense public interest and led to an increase in subsequent sightings. It got more people considering the possibility that Nessie could be found not just in the water, but also on land.

#3: Gary Campbell

An area manager for an insurance company, Gary Campbell was doing paperwork by the water in 1996 when something caught his eye. He described it as a “black hump” that appeared, disappeared, reemerged, and then vanished back into the water. His immediate reaction, in his words, was “I've seen it! Good grief, after all these years being here and then thinking ‘Heavens above! you know, I've actually seen it!" Campbell was absolutely convinced it was a big creature, not a seal, not a fish, but the iconic Loch Ness Monster. The sighting inspired him to start the Loch Ness Fan Club and create an official register of Nessie sightings. This demonstrated his conviction and gave other people platforms to learn more about noteworthy accounts.

#2: Tim Dinsdale

While on his Loch Ness expedition in 1960, British cryptozoologist Tim Dinsdale recorded a moving object in the water. After being shown to others, the sighting was reported by the Daily Mail and the footage aired on the BBC’s Panorama. The recording became popular in the media. In 1966, it was analyzed by the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre. They concluded that the object in the film was “probably animate.” This helped support Dinsdale’s notion that what was caught on tape was Nessie. Skeptics of course still had their doubts. The film has continued to spark conversation.

#1: Robert Kenneth Wilson

After being published in the Daily Mail in 1934, a photo credited to Doctor Robert Kenneth Wilson became the most iconic image of the elusive Loch Ness Monster. A 1975 Sunday Telegraph article reported that the picture was fake, but few took notice. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the story re-emerged and found a wider audience. In 1933, the Daily Mail had commissioned big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to track down Nessie; but Wetherell fell for a hoax - footprints made with a hippopotamus-leg umbrella stand. Ridiculed, he enlisted the help of friends and family to create the ‘surgeon’s photograph’” as revenge, using a toy submarine and plastic wood. Decades later, both his son and son-in-law came clean.


Let us know in the comments what Loch Ness monster story is your favorite!