Scotland Stirred by Mysterious Loch Ness Sea Monster. Modern Mechanix. April, 1934
In
the early hours of January 5th, 1934, veterinary student Arthur Grant
nearly collided with an amphibious monster at Loch Ness as he rode his
motorcycle home. His subsequent account of this episode, taken at face
value and with the unverified rumours of hoax put to one side, is
perplexing but perhaps also rather revealing.
He
was motor cycling to his home in the glen at 1.30 yesterday morning,
when he observed a huge object on the roadway near Abriachan. As he
almost struck it, the creature leaped across the road and dashed into
the loch. Curiously enough, the place where this incident occurred is on
the north side of the loch, almost opposite to the place on the south
side where Mr Spicer, of London, and Mrs Reid, the wife, of the
postmaster at Inverfarigaig, saw the monster “on the land. "It was,
“said Mr Grant, “a bright moonlight night after rain had fallen.
When
almost forty yards away under the shadow of the hills , a short
distance from the part of the reconstructed Glasgow-Inverness road near
Abriachan , I observed what appeared to be a large black object on the
opposite side of the road . I was almost on it when it turned what I
thought was a small head on a long neck , and the creature , apparently
taking fright , made two great bounds across the road and plunged into
the loch . "I had a splendid view of the object; in fact, I almost
struck it "with my motor cycle. It had a long neck with an eel-like head
and large oval shaped-eyes just on the top of the small head. The body
was very hefty, and I distinctly saw two front flippers. There were
other two flippers which seemed to be webbed behind and there was a tail
,which I estimate would be from five to six feet long.
The
curious thing about the tail was that it did not so far as I could see ,
come to a point but was rounded off . The total length of the animal
would be from 15 to 20 feet . " Knowing something about natural history ,
I can say that I have never seen anything in my life like the animal I
saw. It looked like a hybrid . "
I
jumped off my cycle , " said Mr Grant but the animal with great speed
had rushed into the loch , splashing the surface violently and making
away . The weather on the loch has been very stormy , with the result
that the River Ness in particular is in high flood .
The Scotsman - Saturday 06 January 1934
Aberdeen Press and Journal - Saturday 06 January 1934
Grant would go on to descibe the animal as a cross between a seal and plesiosaurus.
The
monster first turned its head to the right and then to the left. The
head was on the end of a tapering neck. It gave a leap into the middle
of the road appearing to propel itself by a lurch of its two rear
flippers which were very strong looking and webbed. It landed on its two
front flippers, which also strong looking, but not webbed. The back
feet were seal like, and the forefeet were in the shape of a penguin’s.
The body was thicker towards its tail than at its forefeet. It was black
or dark brown in colour, and had a skin like that of a whale. Its head
would be about six feet from the ground, and its neck would be three and
a half to four feet long, and the tail about six feet long. The height
from its belly to its back "would be about four and a half feet. Its
length over all would be from eighteen to twenty feet.
The Scotsman - Tuesday 09 January 1934
Nearly
90 years after Loch Ness hit the headlines it seems obvious that no
large, unknown animal; reptile, mammal or amphibian is present in the
loch and probably never has been so unless we dismiss Grants encounter
as an outright hoax then there must be some explanation for what he saw and the other land sightings.
The only extant animal species that are amphibious and approach the
size of the animal are the pinnipeds; seals, sea lion, fur seals and
walrus.
Another
animal which certainly moves the way Grant describes and might look
like a cross between a seal and a plesisosaur is a sea lion. Although no
extant species of sea lion is indigenous to Europe and as far as we
know never has been there are numerous documented, verified historical
records
of these animals escaping captivity; zoos, menageries and circuses as
well as being deliberately released into the wild, most notably at the
start of both world wars.
The
most common animal was the California sea lion which can reach a length
of 8ft and a head height of 5ft. Less common, but still historically
resident in the UK, have been Steller sea lions which can reach a length
of around 10ft. Both animals being otariids can use their hind-flippers
for movement on land like the walrus and can move quickly on land.
And funnily enough if we remove the tail from the illustrations of Grants animal we have, what appears to be a sea lion....
A
wandering, foraging sea lion which found its way into the loch during
spate or flood, (or had been exploiting the environment for some time),
able to travel fairly easily on land, would at least offer a believable
solution. In fact this scenario is likely to have happended many times
around the world over the last hundred years or so and might explain
many reports of lake monsters in Europe. After June 1934 there were no
other land sightings for 20 years..perhaps whatever was behind the
sighting had moved on...
And funnily enough if we remove the tail from the illustrations of Grants animal we have, what appears to be a sea lion....
Lucy the California sea lion, Denver Zoo, Colorado / 2013 (Greg Goebel)
