After you’ve read this article, why not travel up to Loch Ness and spend months camping on its shoreline to see if you can catch a glimpse of the mysterious Loch Ness Monster. If that seems unrealistic check out our 20 Dragon Jokes To Tell At Knight! or The Ultimate Myths and Legends Quiz Questions!

1. People Have Believed In Nessie For A Long Time!

The first evidence of a monster swimming around Loch Ness come from ancient times. Local stone carvings by the Pict show a monstrous beast with flippers emerging from the deathly calm waters of Loch Ness (or maybe it’s just a picture of a worm?)

2. Nessie was sighted by St Columba!

Surely, if you can trust anybody you can trust a Saint. The first ever written evidence of Nessie’s existence is in a book about St Columba in 565 AD. According to the book, a “great water beast” bit a Pict and was prepared to attack his the Saint’s sidekick, Lugne, when St Columba (a muscular man with a great singing voice) intervened, ordering the beast back into the murky depths of Loch Ness. 

3. Modern Day Nessie Evidence dates from 1933!

In 1933 a road next to Loch Ness was finished. In April, Mr and Mrs Spicer saw a huge beast crossing the road and disappearing into the water turning it to a “boiling mass of foam” as it disappeared from view. George Spicer described the creature as “fairly big, with a high back, but if there were any feet they must have been of the web kind, and as for a tail I cannot say, as it moved so rapidly, and when we got to the spot it had probably disappeared into the loch.”

4. Huge Footprints Were Once Found on the Shore of Loch Ness!

Later in 1933 the famous big-game hunter, Marmaduke Wetherell was hired by a newspaper to find Nessie once and for all. Marmaduke found big footprints that he guessed were from “a very powerful soft-footed animal about 20 feet long.” Zoological experts determined that the tracks were made with an umbrella stand or ashtray made from a hippo’s leg. Marmaduke Wetherell was later instrumental in revealing a second Nessie hoax!

5. The Most Famous Nessie Photograph Is Thought To Be A Fake!

One famous photograph is actually thought to be a toy submarine (with a fake Nessie head attachment) built by Christian Spurling. The plot thickens when we reveal he is the son-in-law of Marmaduke Wetherell (see fact above). Apparently, they were taking staged photos when they heard someone approaching, Marmaduke sank the model with his foot and it is thought to be still submerged somewhere under Loch Ness. The photos were sold to the same newspaper that mocked Marmaduke for falling for the hippopotomous scam! That’ll teach them!

6. Nessie was almost run over by a motorcyclist!

You’d think after almost being hit by a car, Nessie would have learnt to cross the road, but no. On an eery, moonlit night in 1934, motorcyclist, Arthur Grant swerved to avoid a strange creature. He described the creature of having a small head attached to a long neck and looking like something between a seal and a plesiosaur. The brave chap followed it to the lake but lost sight of it as it disappeared beneath the water. Later, zoologists said he probably saw an otter saying Grants picture was probably a wee bit of an exageration!

7. Nessie’s been Filmed!

Cryptozoologist and Monster Scientist, Tim Dinsdale, finally caught a distant Loch Ness Monster on Film. DInsdale spent many years trying to get more evidence after someone suggested that the hump he filmed moving through the water was a distant rowing boat. Dinsdale reported a few more sightings including “10ft of neck sticking up out of the water. At a range of half a mile, it was as thick as a telegraph post” although these weren’t caught on film.

8. There is a Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau AKA The LNPIB!

The Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau (LNPIB) was a UK-based society formed in 1962. We’re afraid it’s since been disbanded but we’d have loved to be a member to see if the merch was as good as the Dennis the Menace Fanclub merch!

9. There was a Loch Ness Muppet!

In 1977 Anthony “Doc” Shiels, an American Magician and Psychic took a photograph so obviously faked that is ridiculed in the newspapers as being “The Loch Ness Muppet”.

10. Nessie’s on Apple Maps?

This screenshot from Apple Maps shows a mysterious fishlike creature beneath the water! Disappointly, computer Mapping experts believe that it’s actually the wake of a boat that has been removed by the algorithm that stitches together the satellite imagery that makes the maps!