Loch Ness Monster Day: Remembering the first photograph that sparked 90 years of legend

Today in history, 12 November 1933, a photograph was taken that would ignite one of the world’s most enduring legends. On that cold Sunday, a man named Hugh Gray, walking his dog near Foyers on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, captured a blurry image that would come to define a mystery still alive ninety years later.Even in an era defined by artificial intelligence, digital precision, and scientific scrutiny, the legend born of that single frame refuses to do away with an explanation. The image, ambiguous, grainy, endlessly debated, continues to stir imagination and disbelief in equal measure, drawing people from across the globe to Scotland’s most enigmatic waters.

The origins of a legend

The story of the Loch Ness Monster stretches back far beyond the lens of any camera.

The earliest known account dates to 565 AD, when a creature was reportedly sighted in the River Ness. For centuries, the tale lingered in folklore, resurfacing with vigour in the nineteenth century, when sightings around Loch Ness began to occur more regularly. The legend took modern shape in 1933, when The Inverness Courier published an article about a sighting by Aldie Mackay, who claimed that while driving along the A82 with her husband on 15 April 1933, she saw a huge creature moving through the loch. The journalist Alex Campbell vividly described that 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.”

He added that the waves it sent out were “big enough to have been caused by a passing steamer.” The article sparked intense public fascination. Only three months later, on 22 July 1933, another Highland couple, George Spicer and his wife reported seeing a “large creature with a long, wavy, narrow neck” cross the road before disappearing into the water. When the Courier published their account on 4 August 1933, the response was electric. Readers began sending in their own reports, and the term “Loch Ness Monster” was born, affectionately shortened to “Nessie.

” In 2013, researchers at Columbia University suggested that Spicer’s account may have been influenced by contemporary cinema. The creature he described closely resembled a long-necked dinosaur featured in the hit film King Kong (1933). They concluded that this fictional image could have helped shape the early myth of the Loch Ness Monster.

The photograph that started it all

On 12 November 1933, a man named Hugh Gray was walking near the village of Foyers, on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, when he claimed to have seen a large creature surfacing in the water.

He raised his camera and captured what would become the first known photograph of the Loch Ness Monster, a blurry, greyscale image of a long, sinuous shape breaking the surface of the loch.

The photograph caused an immediate sensation. Some saw the outline of a mysterious creature; others suspected a hoax. Skeptics later suggested the image might have been of Gray’s dog carrying a stick, while other theories proposed that it could show an otter or even a swan.

But the ambiguity only fed the fascination. It was this image that ignited the public imagination, the first spark in what would become a global obsession, inspiring journalists, explorers, and scientists to look closer into the dark waters of Loch Ness.

The “Surgeon’s Photograph” and the great hoax

The following year, on 21 April 1934, the Daily Mail published what became the most famous image of Nessie ever taken — the so-called “Surgeon’s Photograph.” It was said to have been captured by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist who wished to remain anonymous.

The picture appeared to show the creature’s head and neck rising gracefully above the water.

For nearly sixty years, this image was considered credible evidence of Nessie’s existence. Wilson’s professional status lent it legitimacy, and it became the visual icon of the legend. But in 1975, The Sunday Telegraph published an account of a confession made by Ian Wetherell, revealing that the photograph had been a hoax. The full story emerged in 1994, when it was confirmed that the hoax had been orchestrated by Marmaduke Wetherell, a film actor and big-game hunter who had previously been hired by the Daily Mail. After being ridiculed when supposed “Nessie footprints” he found turned out to have been made with a hippopotamus foot, Wetherell sought revenge. He enlisted his stepson Ian Wetherell, his son Christian Spurling (a sculptor), and friend Maurice Chambers to build a model using a toy submarine from Woolworth’s fitted with a head and neck crafted from wood putty. Wilson, a friend of Chambers and known for his playful nature, agreed to act as the frontman. He sold the photo to the Daily Mail, successfully concealing Wetherell’s involvement. The image, often printed in a cropped form, gave the illusion of a much larger creature. Later analysis in 1984 showed the full-scale model was only 60 to 90 centimetres long.

The search that never ends

Despite the exposure of hoaxes and decades of scientific scrutiny, belief in Nessie never vanished.

Enthusiasts, tourists, and researchers continued to search the loch, driven by curiosity and the thrill of the unknown. In August 2023, nearly fifty years after the previous large-scale expedition, around 100 volunteers gathered each day over two days for the largest Loch Ness search in half a century. Equipped with drones, sonar, and underwater microphones, they scoured the waters — but the monster remained elusive. According to Willie Cameron, a local entrepreneur affectionately known as “Mr Loch Ness” and founder of Loch Ness Marketing, interest in the creature is greater than ever. He estimates that about two million tourists visit Loch Ness each year, contributing more than £55 million to the local economy. “Interest globally has never, ever been higher,” he told Sky News. Cameron, whose father reported a sighting in 1965, says he also saw something “most unusual” himself in August 2016. He insists that many locals have had similar experiences but stay silent “for fear of being ridiculed.” When asked whether the search might ever end, he replied:“Even if artificial intelligence came out tomorrow with 100 reasons why there is nothing in Loch Ness, trust me, 50% of people would believe that there is something in Loch Ness. We’re in a win-win situation. If it’s there, it’s there, if it’s not, it’s not going to make one iota of a difference. People love a mystery.”As of October 2025, the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register lists 1,163 reports. Four new sightings this year, at Dores Beach, Urquhart Bay, the northern shore, and by a coach passenger on 7 October, involved unusual movements, dark shapes, and unexplained ripples in the water. Each incident was investigated or noted by the Loch Ness Centre, contributing to ongoing research, witness accounts, and media attention, showing that the fascination with Nessie continues to inspire both serious inquiry and public imagination. And in true twenty-first century fashion, those who wish to join the hunt no longer need to travel to Scotland; they can now observe Loch Ness in real time through 24/7 CCTV livestreams installed around its shores.

The monster that lives on

From ancient chronicles to modern cameras, from Aldie Mackay’s frightened account to Hugh Gray’s grainy photograph, Nessie’s story endures. Scientists and enthusiasts have put every imaginable technology to the test, sonar, underwater imaging, drones, and exhaustive searches, scouring the loch for evidence.

Yet the idea that Loch Ness might be entirely ordinary, that there is nothing lurking in its depths, is in itself profoundly unsettling.

It is this tension between expectation and emptiness that keeps the legend alive. Whether seen as a prehistoric survivor, a clever hoax, or a mirror for human wonder, the Loch Ness Monster remains one of the world’s most captivating mysteries. Ninety years after that first photograph, the story still ripples across time, proof that some mysteries refuse to be explained away.