The Seal Serpent : The Loch Oich Monster 1936 : otter, seal or sea lion?

In 1936 in Loch Oich, which is connected to Loch Ness by the River Oich, a much smaller monster was spotted which had some similarities to the one at Loch Ness. But this one appears to have had some possibly very telling pinniped features with regard to its method of locomotion and pelt.

First two humps, like the coils of a snake, appeared only a dozen yards from the boat. Then the head appeared. So close were the astounded witnesses that they could see it was shaggy and like that of dog. The creature kept diving and reappearing, first one The creature kept diving and reappearing, first one coil being seen, then both, followed by the head, which was shaken vigorously each time it came up. The coils, which were three feet high by the same length, appeared about three feet apart, with the head the same distance away, so that the total length of the creature was over 12 feet. The monster was speedy in its movements. Mr Richards, jun., who is about 20 year’s age, said the creature's nearness to the boat gave them all an uneasy feeling, and he rowed for the shore. There he waited for the monster to reappear, but it did not do so. Alderman Richards said they had never believed in the Loch Ness monster's existence, but now he was convinced that those Highland lochs harboured a race of animals which were quite unknown to zoologists. The colour of the “humps” and head, he added, was almost black, the former reminding him of a snake.

Monster Bobs Up In Loch Oich Startles Men In Boat; Serpent Coils and Shaggy Head -Dundee Courier - Friday 14 August 1936

Mr J. A. Richards said to a reporter: “I have been keeping a lookout for the creature since its first appearance near our boat on Tuesday. Today my attention was drawn to a disturbance in the water, and then what I took to be a head shot up. It was exactly like the monster we saw on Tuesday. It was jet black and the neck was shaggy. The head disappeared, and the next moment two distinct humps were visible. These were black and glossy”.

Dundee Courier - Saturday 15 August 1936

Just over a month later a local man provided a further description of presumably, the same animal.

The weather was clear and Mr Cameron said that the creature rose to the surface in the bay beside his house. With quick, powerful strokes of its fore-limbs it travelled briskly in an easterly direction, where it was lost to view. Six feet of its furry looking body, along with a dog-like head, were clearly visible. When asked if thought might be an otter he replied, there is no otter on earth anything like that sir.

Dundee Courier - Tuesday 22 September 1936

Now certainly, at first glance these accounts seem to refer to an otter, however as Cameron implies the indigenous European otter species (Lutra lutra) rarely reach such a size although this does not necessarily mean that they can`t. The largest otter the authors have come across, from an anecdotal account, reportedly competes with the South American otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) for size.

An otter weighing four stone and nearly seven feet long has been shot in a field near Affreton, Derbyshire.

A Giant Otter - Bournemouth Daily Echo - Tuesday 12 December 1905

In addition Cameron describes the animal as swimming with distinct, powerful strokes of its fore limbs and concludes there is no otter on earth anything like that sir, suggesting that it does not conform to ususal otter morphology. A pinniped such as a grey seal could have been responsible, but being a phocid or true seal, it would swim using its rear flippers rather than its fore-limbs which are used to steer at low speed.

At the beginning of September 1936 a special correspondent for The Scotsman made his own enquiries into the matter which subsequently brought to light some further interesting testimony.

The evidence, at any rate, up to the present, has nothing like the fullness and quality of that for the Loch Ness monster. The case rests on recent observation; but there may be taken into account local tradition and belief. There is, for example, the statement of a worthy old lady Miss Macdonald, or "Grey-house Mary,” as she is known amongst her friends, from the colour of the cottage on the loch side in which she has lived for many years. Miss Macdonald is about 70 years of age, but still alert and cheerful and observant. In casual conversation with her, in the porch of her cottage, where she sits and watches the stream of traffic go by, she mentioned to me that she remembers, when she was a child, her father declaring to her mother that there was a strange animal in the loch. Her parents lived on the shore of the loch, at the south or Laggan end, and Miss Macdonald has been close to the loch all her life. Her mother, in this early conversation which she recalled, was incredulous, and told her husband not to speak about such things. “There is, he asserted emphatically, “a great animal in the loch. I have seen it “.

Rather than jump to the conclusion that the supposed monster was anything prehistoric, and considering that many Scottish lochs already had a tradition of harbouring a water horse, a more down to earth approach was taken with the otter theory becoming prominent once more.

Very interesting and important is the hitherto unreported evidence of Mr Simon Cameron, whose house is at the extreme south end of the loch, and who is the bridge-keeper at that point. The road from Fort William to Fort Augustus crosses the canal by a swing bridge where it enters Loch Oich, and the bridge has to be opened to allow vessels to pass. It was Mr Cameron's boat that Alderman Richards used when he had his experience. Like most of the other witnesses of Loch Oich whom I interviewed, Mr Cameron tends to err on the side of understatement. He considers that what Mr Richards saw was an otter, but an otter of a phenomenal kind. This opinion is based on his own experience of the morning after Mr Richards’s observations. Mr Cameron’s house is built on a slight projection into the end of the loch. To the right is a comparatively shallow pond, with a narrow entrance, like an overflow from the loch itself, bordered on the house side with trees, and shallowing out into a bed of reeds and a low bank on the further side. Coming out of his house and looking over this -pool at seven o'clock in the morning, Mr Cameron noticed a disturbance on the surface of the water. It was a calm, sunny morning, and the pool was perfectly smooth. Soon he was able to see the cause of the disturbance a large animal swimming below the surface. It swam with a dog-like action of its front feet or fins. It came close in to the bank, and he lost it for a little, where a tree shadowed the water. Then , only a few yards from where he stood , it put its head above the water , looked about it , and then saw Mr Cameron and stared at him for a few seconds before disappearing into the water. Mr Cameron describes the head as shaggy, and like that of a dog. It was, he considered, an otter but “an enormous, great otter.” He admitted that the description of Alderman Richards applied to the head which he saw. As to its size he estimated it to be about six feet long much bigger than any otter that had ever been seen. He was struck with its length. It looked to him like an otter dragging something else behind it. He made the further, important qualification that there might have been more of the body than he actually saw, owing to the extremity being invisible at a lower depth. The creature crossed the pond, and got amongst the reeds on the further side. He called to his daughter to watch it, while he went for his gun. He returned in time to see the animal apparently come out on the bank he could only see the movement amongst the reeds. It seemed to be making for a culvert under the byroad from the station. Just at this moment a cyclist came along the byroad. At the sound of his approach the animal took fright, and returning to the loch disappeared from view. Mr Cameron had not at this time heard of Mr Richards’s experience. The latter said nothing about what he had seen when he left the boat.

Cameron’s testament is particularly interesting as away from the furore and publicity at Loch Ness the accounts describe a much smaller monster yet one with very similar traits. In addition there is now mention of fins and an allusion to there being more length to the body, surpassing the South American otter in size, unless this was more than just one otter swimming of course.

Taking into account our findings in The Seal Serpent; that a number of non-indigenous sea lions have escaped or been released from captivity in Europe over the years, if this animal was not an otter or seal, could it have been an errant sea lion? Sea lions such as the California sea lion reach a length of about 8ft.,do swim by using their fore-flippers and may appear black and glossy. Presumably Cameron was familiar with phocid seals, but would he have been familiar with a sea lion?

If this is was the case then it might suggest that the monster of Loch Oich and the one at Loch Ness were perhaps one and the same.

The article finished with a fairly logical conclusion.

The statement of Gibb’s suggests the possibility of a visitant identical with, or similar to, the Loch Ness animal, and it corroborates the definite testimony of Alderman Richards. The evidence of the others is comparable with the “great otter " theory. It should be noted that there is no impossible bar against the Loch Ness animal migrating to Loch Oich. An animal that could make its way from the sea by the River Ness could also make a passage from the one loch to the other by the channel of the River Oich which connects them independently of the canal.

Loch Oich Mystery; Appearances of an Unusual Animal- Eye Witness Accounts by our Special Correspondent. The Scotsman - Tuesday 01 September 1936