Although sightings of the creature
on land around the loch reputedly date back to the sixteenth
century, modern interest in the monster was sparked by a 22
July 1933 sighting, when Mr George Spicer and his wife saw
'a most extraordinary form of animal' cross the road in
front of their car. They described the creature as having a
large body (about 4 feet (1 m) high and 25 feet (8 m) long),
and long, narrow neck, slightly thicker than an elephant's
trunk and as long as the 10-12 foot width of the road; the
neck had a number of undulations in it. They saw no limbs
because of a dip in the road obscuring the animal's lower
portion. It lurched across the road towards the loch some
20 yards (20 m) away, leaving only a trail of broken
undergrowth in its wake. On 5 January 1934 a motorcyclist
called Arthur Grant claimed to have nearly hit the creature
while approaching Abriachan on the northeastern shore, at
about 1 am on a moonlit night. Grant saw a small head
attached to a long neck; the creature saw him and crossed
the road back into the loch. Grant dismounted and followed
it to the loch, but only saw ripples where it had entered.
However some believe this was only a joke to a friend of
Grant.
In another 1934 sighting, a young maidservant named Margaret
Munro supposedly observed the creature for about 20 minutes.
It was about 6:30 am on 5 June, when she spotted it on shore
from about 200 yards (200 m). She described it as having
elephant-like skin, a long neck, a small head and two short
forelegs or flippers. The sighting ended when the creature
reentered the water. Sporadic land sightings continued until
1963, when a poor-quality film of the creature was made from
a distance of several miles.
Along with Bigfoot and the Yeti,
the Loch Ness Monster is one of the best-known mysteries of
cryptozoology. Belief in the legend persists around the
world. Local people, and later many around the world, have
affectionately referred to the animal by the diminutive of
Nessie.
Modern sightings date only to 1930s when the construction of a new road along the banks
opened up large stretches of the Loch for view.