Aldie and John Mackay's Strange Spectacle in Loch Ness

Loch Ness had its old stories long before 1933. The newspaper report that made this case famous opened with them: "Loch Ness has for generations been credited with being the home of a fearsome monster, or water kelpie."

Spring 1933. Aldie Mackay, manageress of the Drumnadrochit Hotel, and her husband John were driving from Inverness to Drumnadrochit. Near Abriachan Pier, almost opposite Aldourie Pier on the far shore, she saw the loch erupt. It had been "calm as a mill pond". Now there was "a tremendous upheaval". She thought at first of two ducks fighting. But it was far too extensive.

A big wake moved off across the loch towards Aldourie Pier. Then the cause emerged: two black humps moving in line, the rear one somewhat larger. It surfaced first. They were blue-black and smooth, with no trace of fins. She had often seen whales at sea. This looked like one. She put the overall length of the two humps at about 20 feet.

The humps rose and sank with the forward-rolling motion of a whale or porpoise. Then the thing turned sharply to port, described a half-circle and sank suddenly with considerable commotion. John stopped the car in time to see the final commotion and the wash that came rolling onto the shore. The couple waited for almost half an hour. They had seen the last of it.

Tuesday, 2 May 1933. The Inverness Courier printed "Strange Spectacle in Loch Ness", credited "From A Correspondent". It is usually attributed to Alex Campbell, the loch's water bailiff and a part-time journalist. The couple were not named. Mrs Mackay, it was said, wished to avoid the suggestion of self-advertisement. The article called the animal "the monster (if such it was)". Some credit that word to the editor, Evan Barron. The Daily Mail and international papers followed.

In late 1933 Rupert T. Gould interviewed the Mackays. He included the case in his 1934 book, The Loch Ness Monster and Others. In the 1980s Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness and Morar Project interviewed Aldie face to face. Speaking to the BBC in 1983, she gave the month as March and the size as "six to nine feet". According to one account, she told a naturalist in the late 1980s that she had known of an oral tradition of a "beast" in the loch before her sighting. Even the date is disputed: 14 April, 15 April, or March.

The debate came afterwards. Ronald Binns called Campbell's report "wildly exaggerated" and said Mr Mackay "had seen nothing". Roland Watson countered with Gould's interview, which records two humps and John seeing the wash. Dick Raynor proposed two seals in a mating display. Critics reply that seals rarely enter the loch. Steuart Campbell argued for boat wakes, concluding that "the only monster in the lake at the time was Scot II". Gary Campbell noted the timing matched the recent release of King Kong.

The Loch Ness Centre holds its own view: "While it has been suggested by some that she may have embellished what she saw, we do not believe she was being dishonest."

The hotel building became the Loch Ness Exhibition, now the Loch Ness Centre. A £1.5 million revamp in 2023 added a filmed re-enactment of Aldie telling her story. On 14 April 2013, Adrian Shine led a boat trip to toast Mrs Mackay with whisky. The sighting is generally treated as the start of the modern Loch Ness Monster legend.