But now Scotland�s second most famous Loch monster � Morag of Loch Morar � has made a comeback.
Holidaymaker Doug Christie, a recently retired oil industry engineer not given to flights of fancy, said he couldn�t believe his eyes when he saw a solid 20ft black shape in the water.
He and wife Charlotte say they saw the beast three times during a stay at Kisimuil B&B by the loch. Doug, 66, from Brechin, Angus, said: �I could not believe my eyes.
�I am not the type to get excited unduly but this just couldn�t be explained.
�It was a large black shape on the loch that looked just like a bit of a �submarine and around the same size.
Charlotte said: �I thought it was a whale. We saw it three times in the space of two days.
�The �longest sighting was about 10 minutes before it submerged again.�
The couple were staying for a night at the B&B owned by Barra-born Michael MacNeil, 53, and his 50-year-old nurse wife Catherine, who was brought up on the lochside.
 |
| Tourists Doug and Charlotte Christie |
�I laughed and shouted back that the loch was almost 1000ft deep and there were no rocks near the surface.
�But sure enough, there was a largish black object, maybe two, very close together, in the middle of the two-mile-wide loch.
�I have seen otters in the loch but this was no otter, much bigger and almost �motionless.�
His 24 year-old daughter Kathleen, who has researched the phenomenon said: �There have been sightings of a monster in Loch Morar going back more than 100 years.�
The last person to see the monster, 58-year-old factory boss Alistair MacKellaig, of Mallaig, Inverness-shire, said: �I was fishing with a group in a boat and we all saw Morag and only about 50 yards away.
�It was the classic three humps moving through the water with the head underwater. We were left astounded and a wee bit fearful at what we had seen and how close we had been to it.
�I bumped into Michael the other day and firmly believe that what he, his daughter and guests saw was what we witnessed but they saw Morag at a far greater distance than we did.
�I am sure others have seen Morag in the past 23 years but feel too embarrassed to say so.�
The most dramatic sighting and only known actual physical contact with the �monster was experienced by two local men in August 1969.
Willie Simpson, 66, and crofter Duncan McDonell, now 80, were returning from a �fishing trip up Loch Morar when the creature struck Willie�s boat. He grabbed a rifle and shot at the beast, which sank out of sight.
He said: �There is no doubt in my mind that there is a large monster, maybe more than one, in Loch Morar.�
Source: Daily Record UK