Here are some of the documented sightings of Lizzie over the years. Compiled by Gary Campbell.
1929: Two local gamekeepers saw what they thought was a floating log in the loch. When they looked at it with a telescope they could see that it was actually a large living creature which they followed for one mile before it dived, never to resurface.
1930: A man living on the loch side saw a strange creature in the water one day - he told his wife never to wash her clothes there again!
1960: In July of that year Eric Robinson and his family were staying in a caravan near Glen Fintaig when they saw what they thought looked like a standing wave but through binoculars could see that it was a large living creature. As it started to move South a huge back rose and looked to roll over. At this time they saw a fin or paddle appear. The creature had a main body length of 15-20 feet and an estimated overall length of 30-40 feet. It was dark on top with a light underside. This sighting was witnessed by nine other people.
1975: Mrs. Margaret Sargent of Fort William was passing the loch with her husband and family near the Corriegour Hotel when they saw an unusual wake on the flat calm loch. A long black shape could be seen moving through the water. As she took a photo, the object disappeared below the water and the subsequent picture showed only the wake.
1996: Staff and guests at Letterfinlay Lodge Hotel saw an unidentified creature moving in a strange fashion through the waters of Loch Lochy opposite the hotel.
1997: Local gamekeeper Alastair Stevenson reported that a 15-20 foot creature had taken his rod and tackle while he was fishing by the loch. He said it was something akin to catching a rowing boat.
1997: The first ever expedition to look for Lizzie was organised by the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club in July. On the first day of the search an 18-20 foot object was detected on sonar 160 feet down in the loch out from Letterfinlay Lodge Hotel. On turning the boat to follow the creature, it was re-located at a new depth of 200 feet only two minutes later. The contact was then lost. This encounter took place in the middle of the loch above a trench where the depth of the loch falls to over 300 feet. The club intends to carry out further research in the future.
If you see anything please report it to the monster hotline on (01463) 791099.
Sighting Report of ‘Lizzie’ the Loch Lochy Monster, Courtesy of Richard Carter.
Lizzie of Loch Lochy was seen on 11th of September 1997 by staff and guests of the Corriegour Lodge Hotel situated on the shore of Loch Lochy. Sandra Turner who while working in the dining room of the hotel saw three large, dark humps about one mile away.
Joined by Cate Allan they together with sixteen guests watched the object move in what they both described as a most unusual manner.
The tail end whipped from side to side very fast, the front end was large and rounded. It moved as fast as a dingy.
Both named witnesses gave the size as about the same as a dolphin but it became obvious it could not be by its side to side movement. Dolphin’s have been reported in Loch Linnhe, a sea loch which is separated by canal lochs.
Sandra Fraser made enquires around the loch and discovered that one or two local fishermen had reported unusual wakes in the last couple of days.
The sighting ended when the three humps disappeared out of sight. No one else from around the water reported anything else strange.
By Gary Campbell:
President of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club: (And not that cheap imitation of an American one!)
Following on from our expedition (See issue eight of Haunted Scotland.) Cameron Turner was determined to return to Loch Lochy in the Autumn of 1997 for another crack at finding Lizzie.
For those unfamiliar with the area, Loch Lochy is at the southern end of the Great Glen and similar in appearance to Loch Ness. It is approximately 10 miles long and one mile wide and was about 300 feet deep at its deepest, according to our July findings.
Cameron returned in the second week in September and we hired a boat at the south end of the loch from the family of Alasdair Stevenson who had an encounter with Lizzie in February 1997. We had a chance to talk with Alasdair who confirmed his sighting of something large in Minarkaig bay at the south end of the loch.
During our day's work, we were accompanied by a journalist and photographer from the Sun newspaper. We checked the depth from the south end of the Loch up to Letterfinlay where we had been based in July, finding it initially to be a fairly consistent 90-120m deep. However, we occasionally got readings showing a much greater depth, something which at first we did not understand.
We continued with more detailed work in the area where we had the sonar contact in July, close to Letterfinlay, nearer the north end of the loch. As the day drew to a close, we had a strong contact in the same area as before, this time at approximately 90m down in the middle of the loch. We tracked the contact for about three minutes and managed to get clear photographs of the target registering on the sonar screen. When we re-covered the same area shortly afterwards, there was nothing there.
Carrying on, the only other readings we got that were strange were more really deep readings, the lowest being 697m. What appeared to be happening was that we were picking up holes in the bottom of the loch, something that had never been reported before. This fact was confirmed by the manager of the boat hire firm who said that he had picked up similar readings in the past, showing deep holes in the bottom of the loch.
We concluded our day's research at that point. We now had photographic evidence of the large contact deep in the loch and also of the depth reading showing 697m. If this is a true reading, it makes Loch Lochy by far the deepest inland lake in Europe at over 2000 feet deep.
The whole story was published in the Sun of September 22, 1997 (With no embellishment!) thus putting the event on public record. This further evidence of unusual features in Loch Lochy again lends support to the conclusions reached in the original report that more work needs to be done at this loch. In addition, as most of it is shallower than Loch Ness and it is also less than half its length, we feel that a more comprehensive study should be logistically more straightforward than in its more northerly neighbour.
We would be interested to hear of any strange sightings that you may have had in any of the Scottish lochs, personal details will be omitted if that is your wish. Email