Report of strange spectacle on Loch Ness in 1933 leaves unanswered question - what was it?
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THE first reported modern-day sighting of the Loch Ness Monster appeared in The Inverness Courier in May 1933.
It was to trigger one of the world's most enduring enigmas which continues to this day.
According to the story, a well-known businessman, living near Inverness, and his wife – a university graduate – were driving along the north shore of the loch not far from Abriachan Pier when they were startled to see "a tremendous upheaval on the loch, which, previously, had been as calm as the proverbial mill-pond".
The sighting occurred less than a mile from shore.
The report continued: "There, 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.
"Soon, however, it disappeared in a boiling mass of foam. Both onlookers confessed that there was something uncanny about the whole thing, for they realised that here was no ordinary denizen of the depths, because, apart from its enormous size, the beast, in taking the final plunge, sent out waves that were big enough to have been caused by a passing steamer."
The couple waited almost half-an-hour in the hope that the monster – if that's what it was – would come to the surface again. However, that was the last they saw – although many other sightings have been reported in the 84 years since.
