It was late, just after one in the morning. I was on my motorcycle, approaching the Abriachan turn out of Inverness when I noticed something large in the bushes up ahead. I was almost upon it when it abruptly turned, exposing a long, hefty body, maybe 4.5–6 meters (15–20 feet). It possessed a very powerful tail, rounded at the end, and two front flippers. The head was snakelike, flat on top, and my headlight reflected an oval eye. The animal made two great bounds across the road and down into the water, followed by a big splash.

—MR. W. ARTHUR GRANT, VETERINARY STUDENT, 5 JANUARY 1934

I was driving on the A82, just south of Invermoriston when I saw it! It was half ashore and I had a clear view of it for nine minutes in my binoculars. It was at least 12–18 meters long (40–60 feet) but did not see its full tail as it was not quite completely out of the water. As it turned I had a clear view of its left fore flipper, which is grey in color, spade-shaped, and devoid of any markings which might indicate toes or claws. It was a clearly a flipper and not a foot. The animal eventually made sort of a U-shaped turn and flopped back into deep water. It did not reappear and left only ripples, no wake.

—MR. TORQUIL MACLEOD, EXCERPTED FROM A LETTER TO INVERNESS AUTHOR, CONSTANCE WHYTE, 28 FEBRUARY 1960

Chapter 14

Invermoriston, Scottish Highlands
Scotland

While I tossed and turned on my lumpy jail cell mattress and hundreds of reporters from around the world descended upon Castle Inverness like bees to honey, the real story was unfolding twenty miles to the south on the banks of Loch Ness.

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Two major rivers intersect Loch Ness along its western shores. Enrick River is the larger of the two, flowing west to east through the Great Glen and past Drumnadrochit until it reaches Loch Ness at Urquhart Bay. Fifteen miles farther to the south, the River Moriston passes through the Glen Moriston dam, rages into a grade-five waterfall, then rushes below the old stone Telford Bridge on its way past Invermoriston before it too releases into Loch Ness.

The hamlet of Invermoriston dates back to the early 1600s. It's home to a handful of lodgings, taverns, and quaint craft shops, and its pier was once a popular destination for steamships traveling up and down the Loch in the 1890s.

Invermoriston first found fame in 1746 when the town harbored the "Seven Men of Moriston," a loyal band who protected Bonnie Prince Charlie from the English forces following the massacre at Culloden.

Thirteen generations later, the tiny Loch Ness village was about to become popular for an entirely different reason.

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