Tourists' shock as Morag of Loch Morar – Scotland's second most famous monster – makes a comeback after 20 years

SHE has been quiet for more than two decades without even the hint of a recorded sighting…

But now Scotland’s second most famous Loch monster – Morag of Loch Morar – has made a comeback.

Holidaymaker Doug Christie, a recently retired oil industry engineer not given to flights of fancy, said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a solid 20ft black shape in the water.

He and wife Charlotte say they saw the beast three times during a stay at Kisimuil B&B by the loch. Doug, 66, from Brechin, Angus, said: “I could not believe my eyes.

“I am not the type to get excited unduly but this just couldn’t be explained.

“It was a large black shape on the loch that looked just like a bit of a ­submarine and around the same size.

Charlotte said: “I thought it was a whale. We saw it three times in the space of two days.

“The ­longest sighting was about 10 minutes before it submerged again.”

The couple were staying for a night at the B&B owned by Barra-born Michael MacNeil, 53, and his 50-year-old nurse wife Catherine, who was brought up on the lochside.

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Several Early Encounters With Morag Uncovered By Scotish Researcher

From Herald Scotland

Some of the earliest-known writings on Nessie's less well-known cousin shed new light on the community which lived in its shadow more than 100 years ago, according to the researcher who uncovered them.

Morag, a mysterious creature supposed to inhabit the depths of Loch Morar, in the Highlands, is the subject of three separate writings from Alexander Carmichael, a prolific gatherer of folklore in his day.

The scripts, believed to date from 1902, have been uncovered by the Carmichael Watson project at the University of Edinburgh library.

Dr Donald Stewart, a senior researcher on the project, discovered the texts while leafing through a "mad mixture" of folklore collected by Carmichael over 50 years.

"We were so pleased when we found them, it was just totally unexpected," he said.

The writings paint a conflicting view of Morag. On the one hand she is presented as a mermaid-like character with flowing hair, while another description paints her as a grim reaper whose sighting was viewed as a death omen.

In the first text, Carmichael states: "Morag is always seen before a death and before a drowning."

(More After The Break)



A second text reads: "There is a creature in Loch Morar and she is called Morag. She is never seen save when one of the hereditary people of the place dies. The last time she was seen was when Aeneas Macdonnell died in 1898.

"The Morag is peculiar to Loch Morar. She is seen in broad daylight and by many persons, including church persons.

"She appears in a black heap or ball slowing and deliberately rising in the water and moving along like a boat water-logged.

"The Morag is much disliked and is called by many uncomplimentary terms."

A final description, penned by Carmichael at a later date, retains Morag's association with death, but sees her take on more human characteristics.

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