The Evidence

 
Important Information Please Read First
All sighting and photographic references on this page are documented and can be verified through various publications.
 

Recorded Film Evidence 1933-1992

1. Malcolm Irvine and two of his associates, Stanley Clinton and Scott Hay of Scottish Film Productions filmed a creature near Inverfarigaig. The date was 12th December, 1933 and all three men had intended to try and capture the Monster on film. They were in luck, not long after they noticed an object appear in the Loch and their excitement grew as they realised their opportunity had arisen. 'We were so excited and elated when the Monster appeared that we had no time to think of the still cameras. What you see on the screen lasts less than a minute, but it seemed hours when we were making it. It definitely is something with two humps - that much is clear from the picture.' Malcolm Irvine described the object in some detail, saying that it travelled at around 4 m/s and portions of its back where clearly visible. He went on to describe a trail of foam or a wake that the creature formed as it moved through the water. The range of the shot was about 100 metres and a 16mm cine camera, fitted with a 75mm lens, was used. As of the whereabouts of this film, no one knows. A still from the film was exhibited but this was no conclusive proof of the monsters existence and it could not be confirmed that the location was in fact Loch Ness.

2. On the 15th September a member of the Mountain expedition, James Fraser, filmed an object on the Loch using a 16mm cine camera with a 150mm lens attached. It was filmed at Urquhart Bay in poor conditions. The object was said to be about 2 to 2.5 metres long and was filmed at a distance of approximately 1.2 km. It was argued at an annual Linnean Society meeting that the film evidence showed what looked to be a seal. Others agreed that it resembled an otter or a whale. The film is now missing but stills were published of some water disturbances and a mysterious object.

3. In 1935 The Loch Ness Monster was caught on film by retired physician, Dr McRae. He had hoped for such an encounter and was prepared, as he had brought along his cine film camera. He claimed to have seen the monster floating, maybe even asleep, above the surface of the Loch and proceeded to film this event with his cine camera for around four to five minutes. The footage, seen by trustees of Mr McRae, clearly shows a creature with a long neck, a pointed head, narrow eyes, small horns on its head and the familiar 3 humps. Further sequences also show the monster splashing, turning and rolling in the waters while exposing a long scaly tail. Its total length was estimated to have been around 9 metres. The film is now said to be hidden somewhere in a London bank vault. Also, with instructions stating that the film could not be shown 'until such time as the public takes such matters seriously'. It is not known who now owns the film as all of Dr McRae's trustees are now dead and attempts have been made to have the film released.

4. Malcolm Irvine once again caught the monster on film on 22nd September 1936. He saw an object approaching from Foyers direction, and noticed a long neck and head and a large humped body behind it. He reported it to be approximately 30 ft in length and its skin was very dark, almost black. Again the film that Irvine exposed has been lost but it was shown at a Linnean Society meeting where no one could give a reasonable explanation of the object caught on film.

5. The first colour film to appear of the monster did so on 28th May 1938 and was taken by G.E. Taylor using 16mm film. He said, "It's body was large and rounded, with a tapering to the neck which dipped under the water, becoming visible about 18 inches away, rising in an arch to about 6 inches above th water before dipping again. Where the arch reentered the water it had every appearance one would associate with a head. The body showed about 1 foot above the water. Its colour was very dark." He had seen this opposite Foyers at approximately 200m, the time was around 12 noon when he started filming the object. After this session he drove off but returned again at about 12:45pm with an associate. To his surprise the object was still in view and was 50 metres closer than before. Taylor filmed the object again. Author and writer Maurice Burton studied this film in great detail, making sketches and stills. It was shown also to the National Institute of Oceanography, now known as the Southampton Oceanographic Centre. It was agreed by the experts that the film clearly showed an ordinary inanimate object floating in the Loch.

6.A former London bank manager named James Currie filmed the monster with his 150mm cine camera while on holiday in 1938. He spotted a ripple in the water, which was moving, from a distance of 275 metres offshore. He had patiently been waiting to film something on the Loch for 11 days and he was rewarded well. From the ripples 3 large humps appeared, then a long neck and a small pointed head. He describes the colour of the creature as a grayish brown. The films whereabouts is not certain but it is said to be also locked away safely in a London bank vault.

7.The famous Tim Dinsdale filmed one of the most convincing sightings on the 21st April 1960. He was driving down a road from Upper Foyers, leading to the Foyers Hotel when he spotted an object in the Loch over 1 kilometre away. He took out his binoculars to have a closer look and observed something long and oval, with strange colourings. It started to move, so Dinsdale decided to film the creature. Using a 16mm Bolex cine camera mounted on a tripod, he caught on film the object zigzagging its way across the Loch. It then turned left about 300 metres from the opposite shoreline and travelled almost parallel to the shore. He estimated the creature to be 1646 metres away from him, approximately 1 mile. This all happened within the space of 4 minutes and the film in the camera was running out, so he drove his car down further, to Lower Foyers, and then to the shore to try and get closer to the object. But when he reached the shore the object had disappeared. It was decided to compare the action of a boat on the Loch to the object that Dinsdale had filmed, following the same direction and about the same speed as the object had been observed to do. The proprietor of the Foyers Hotel agreed to help Dinsdale by using one of his boats, and this was filmed near where he saw the creature and where it finally travelled parallel to the shore. Peoples opinions began to change and credibility of the possible existence of the monster grew as the Daily Mirror printed a story on the film on 13th June 1960. The BBC also broadcast the film the very same day using 35mm film which enhanced picture detail and contrast.

8.Seven members of the newly formed LNIB (Loch Ness Investigation Bureau) observed an object travelling through the water at Urquhart Bay during an expedition in 1962. It was the 18th of October and it was in the afternoon that they filmed an object approximately 200 metres away, described as being a 'long dark shape'.

10. On the 6th of June 1963 the LNIB obtained a 16mm film showing a large dark object at over 3 kilometres away, travelling through shallow waters. It stopped and stayed stationary for the duration. Then, on the 13th June, the LNIB captured on film an object floating in the Loch about 1 kilometre away. The film quality was poor, due to a heat haze.

12. While camping with his wife Pauline at Achnahanet, Peter Hodge witnessed the appearance of a long pole-like object in the Loch. He claimed that when he slammed shut the door of his car the object disappeared abruptly leaving only a wash behind it as it swam away. His wife managed to capture the wake on film that the object had apparently left behind.

14. A series of waves, or possibly humps, were filmed by Les Durkin of the LNIB on the 22nd of May 1967. The film is approximately 15 seconds long and shows what looks like waves or humps moving against the wind at a range of 900 to 1000 metres. It was calculated that the height and size of these 'objects' was around 11 to 15 metres long and 60 centimetres high, possibly travelling at about 3 metres per second.

15. Another well known film is the one taken by LNIB member Dick Raynor on the 13th June 1967. Conditions on the Loch were very good and a clear wash or wake can be seen before and after the Scot II tour boat passes into view. Raynor explains that passengers on the boat would not have seen this disturbance as they they were too low to the water and it was also about half a mile away from Scot II. The objects speed was estimated to be about 2.2 metres per second. This film offers creditable proof of some large animal living in Loch Ness and was agreed by many experts to be an authentic and convincing series of shots.

17. Christopher and Jeffrey Hunter, members of the LNIB, filmed something diving in the waters of Loch Ness. It was the 23rd of August 1967 and conditions were calm but hazy. Experts said it resembled a bird.

25. On the 18th of July 1975, Alan Wilkins filmed an object using his 16mm camera. It was fitted with a 300mm lens and was shot at a caravan site at Rubha Ban, near Invermoriston, when he was on holiday with his family. He kept watch with his son and at 7:20am a long, dark object appeared in the middle of the Loch. He described its size as very large and it continually sank beneath the surface, appearing then disappearing. It then disappeared leaving only a swirl of water behind.

26. On 22nd August, 1977, while standing on the shore opposite Urquhart Castle, Peter and Gwen Smith filmed something, using colour film, that resembled the neck of a creature surfacing about 160 metres away. Peter described it as 'strangely thick', at least 30cm wide, and he said that it had a rectangular head with no discernible features. Its colouration was described as a leathery-brown and they noticed that it was about the height of a man. Gwen started to film the object just as it started to submerge using an 8mm Printz T3 Zoom camera. It surfaced again, then a second, then a third time. Finally, at 5:15pm, it submerged for the last time and disappeared. There were other witnesses of these events aboard a small rowing boat. Two boys who were out fishing that day, Christopher Idle and John Coulton, also saw what the Smiths had seen. They described it as having a tapered neck which joined to a head, which resembled a large sheeps head. They insisted that what they had seen was not any normal creature that they had come across before, and argued that it was not a log or any inanimate object floating in the Loch.

27. An American, by the name of John Erik Beckford, set up two video cameras in the hope of capturing the Monster on film. He set up the cameras in different locations overlooking Urquhart Bay. One of the cameras were placed at the Clansman Hotel while the second was set up in old croft houses at St. Ninians. Each camera had zoom lenses fitted to them and polarised filters, and the film could run for approximately 100 hours nonstop while running in a stop-frame mode. That same day something was filmed about 200m from the shore. Disturbances in the water can be seen, like an interference of wakes caused by two unknown objects, and splashing can be seen clearly. One of the 'splashes' was estimated to have been about 21 metres long. Further more, three dark objects were seen heading towards Urquhart Castle, signifying a possible existence of more than one creature in Loch Ness.

28. A strange commotion in the waters of Urquhart Bay was filmed, by an anonymous tourist, overlooking Urquhart Castle on 21st of July 1992. It shows what looks to be a creature 'swimming' and 'rolling' about in the water. It was shown on National television during a BBC News broadcast, where experts put forward their opinions of the disturbance in Urquhart bay. They were undecided due to the many explanations of its cause.