The hunt for Scotland's most famous monster has produced no shortage of photographic and video evidence. But is any of it real? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most famous Loch Ness Monster sightings.
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00:00 It was roughly six feet from top to bottom and it was cylindrical.
00:04 I only looked at it for a second or two.
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most famous Loch Ness Monster sightings.
00:12 We're including debunked sightings that nonetheless made waves with the public.
00:15 Is a massive creature actually lurking in the depths?
00:19 Number 8. Aldi Makai
00:22 Local pubs were full of stories of the mysterious beast.
00:27 But the legend of the Loch Ness Monster wasn't taken seriously until 1933.
00:31 The first article that evoked substantial public attention about a potential beast in the water
00:36 was written in 1933 by Loch Ness Water Bailiff, Alex Campbell.
00:40 It describes a sighting by Aldi Makai and her husband.
00:43 They claimed to have spotted a large creature in the water as they were driving by.
00:46 An excerpt from the article states that the creature "disported itself, rolling and plunging for fully a minute,
00:52 its body resembling that of a whale, and the water cascading and churning like a simmering cauldron."
00:57 And I yelled at my husband, "Stop! The beast!"
01:01 This was reportedly the first written use of the word "monster" to describe the creature.
01:05 While the legend of a beast in Loch Ness already had a long tradition,
01:08 this written account got rumors brewing rapidly.
01:11 And from there on, the monster myth and legend was created.
01:16 Number 7. Arthur Grant
01:18 While motorbiking home after midnight in 1934, veterinary student Arthur Grant saw the unthinkable.
01:24 According to him, a 15 to 20-foot-long creature with a small head on a long neck turned toward him,
01:30 then made two great bounds, crossed the road, and plunged into the loch.
01:34 A New York Times article covered Grant's detailed eyewitness account.
01:37 He called it a "hybrid between a plesiosaur and a seal,"
01:40 with large oval-shaped eyes, two front flippers, two rounded ridges on its back, and a long tail.
01:46 Following the incident, he produced a sketch.
01:48 Many more sightings of Nessie followed shortly thereafter.
01:51 Time magazine, among other media outlets, later wrote about Grant's sighting in a 1950 article.
01:56 Number 6. Anthony "Doc" Shields
01:59 Meet living Fortean legend and conjurer of sea monsters, Tony "Doc" Shields.
02:05 For 20 years, he's been summoning up sea serpents.
02:09 A showman, magician, and psychic entertainer got head-spinning with a clear image of Nessie in 1977.
02:15 But it turned out to just be another trick up his sleeve.
02:17 Anthony "Doc" Shields claimed to have been camping next to Urquhart Castle
02:21 when he summoned the beast out of the water.
02:23 The picture he took is now known as the Loch Ness Muppet, after experts have deemed it a hoax.
02:27 The photos of Nessie's appearance 24 hours later caused national headlines once again.
02:33 Skeptics doubted their authenticity, but nothing has ever been proved.
02:38 The lack of ripples in the water around the long neck and the overall staged appearance
02:42 have disqualified the photo as viable evidence of Nessie.
02:45 But it certainly sparked attention, as it made the front page of the Daily Mirror.
02:49 If you ask me if I faked the pictures of Morga and the Loch Ness monster,
02:52 I would have to truthfully reply to you, "No, I did not."
02:56 Number 5. Gordon Holmes
02:58 Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine called himself a skeptical interpreter,
03:02 but described a 55-year-old man's Loch Ness video as some of the best footage he's seen.
03:07 In 2007, Gordon Holmes filmed what he said was a jet black thing about 45 feet long,
03:13 moving fairly fast in the water.
03:15 Just a few days after Holmes' sighting, STV News North Tonight interviewed him and aired the footage.
03:20 This footage was taken at the weekend by an amateur scientist who happened to spot a fast-moving creature
03:25 swimming across the world-famous loch.
03:27 The following day, BBC Scotland broadcast Holmes' video on their main news program.
03:32 As you can see from Gordon's footage, there is most definitely some type of large animal swimming across the loch.
03:38 Skeptics suggested the moving thing in the video could have been a seal or an otter.
03:42 Holmes' initial thought was that it could have been a very big eel.
03:45 Whatever the case may be, the video gained significant publicity
03:48 and gave Nessie believers another sighting to point to.
03:50 This is probably the best footage up to this time of the so-called Loch Ness monster.
03:57 Number 4. George Spicer
03:59 While George Spicer and his wife were driving home from a summer vacation in 1933,
04:03 a long-necked creature allegedly crossed the road in front of the couple's car.
04:07 They estimated it to be 25 feet long.
04:09 It was just 50 yards in front of their car.
04:12 Mr. Spicer described it as the nearest approach to a dragon or prehistoric animal that he'd ever seen in his life.
04:19 In the 2010s, researchers would argue that his story was made up and inspired by the movie King Kong,
04:24 which was popular in Spicer's home city of London during the summer of his account.
04:28 [Music]
04:34 Still, in 1933, an article about the sighting sparked immense public interest
04:39 and led to an increase in subsequent sightings.
04:41 It got more people considering the possibility that Nessie could be found not just in the water, but also on land.
04:46 The story spread like wildfire, and an army of journalists descended on the Loch.
04:52 Number 3. Gary Campbell
04:54 Gary a manager for an insurance company, Gary Campbell was doing paperwork by the water in 1996 when something caught his eye.
05:00 And I was looking out in the water and I saw this black hump coming out and I thought, "Hmm."
05:05 He described it as a black hump that appeared, disappeared, re-emerged, and then vanished back into the water.
05:11 First time around I thought, "Well, I was seeing something." But then the second time, definitely something there.
05:16 His immediate reaction, in his words, was, "I've seen it! Good grief! After all these years being here and then thinking,
05:21 "Heavens above! You know I've actually seen it!"
05:24 Campbell was absolutely convinced it was a big creature, not a seal, not a fish, but the iconic Loch Ness monster.
05:30 The sighting inspired him to start the Loch Ness Fan Club and create an official register of Nessie sightings.
05:35 This demonstrated his conviction and gave other people platforms to learn more about noteworthy accounts.
05:40 We set up the Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, really to record all the sightings.
05:45 Number 2. Tim Dinsdale
05:47 While on his Loch Ness expedition in 1960, British cryptozoologist Tim Dinsdale recorded a moving object in the water.
05:54 He studied it through binoculars and was convinced it was a monstrous creature.
05:59 After being shown to others, the sighting was reported by the Daily Mail and the footage aired on the BBC's Panorama.
06:04 The recording became popular in the media. In 1966, it was analyzed by the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Center.
06:11 The report concluded it was probably animate.
06:14 They concluded that the object in the film was probably animate.
06:17 This helped support Dinsdale's notion that what was caught on tape was Nessie.
06:21 Skeptics, of course, still had their doubts. The film has continued to spark conversation.
06:25 My opinion is simply that it has the appearance of a small boat.
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06:44 Number one, Robert Kenneth Wilson.
06:47 After being published in the Daily Mail in 1934, a photo credited to Dr. Robert Kenneth Wilson became the most iconic image of the elusive Loch Ness monster.
06:56 Immediately after the photo was published, the British public began speculating on the nature of this mysterious beast.
07:03 A 1975 Sunday Telegraph article reported that the picture was fake, but few took notice.
07:09 It wasn't until the 1990s that the story re-emerged and found a wider audience.
07:13 In 1933, the Daily Mail had commissioned big-game hunter Marmaduke Weatherill to track down Nessie.
07:19 But Weatherill fell for a hoax. Footprints made with a hippopotamus-leg umbrella stand.
07:24 Ridiculed, he enlisted the help of friends and family to create the surgeon's photograph as revenge, using a toy submarine and plastic wood.
07:31 Decades later, both his son and son-in-law came clean.
07:35 But in reality, it's just a picture of the model floating in the water.
07:39 Let us know in the comments what Loch Ness monster story is your favorite.
07:42 "Is it not possible, Mr. Campbell, that you're mistaken in this?"
07:45 "Not at all."
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07:54 [MUSIC]