1 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Clouds of incense smoke swirled around the man in the 2 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: long hooded cape as he chanted magic incantations in an 3 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: ancient language. He was standing in a large room in 4 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: the southwest wing of a long, single story house, inside 5 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: which stood a crudely constructed oratory. The large wooden structure 6 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: was painted white and black and lined in part with 7 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: huge mirrors, all the better to keep the magical energy 8 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:45,559 Speaker 1: concentrated in one place. On the ground was painted a 9 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: large circle, triangle, and pentagram, and in the center of 10 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: it all stood an altar lined with a single human skeleton. 11 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: For the past several weeks, the man had been feeding, 12 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: laying offerings of blood and small birds onto its ribs. 13 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: Over time, the offerings had turned into a viscous black 14 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: slime which coated the bones and dripped from the altar 15 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: onto the floor in thick piles of ooze. Dotted around 16 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: the skeleton. Incense and candles burned, the smoke and flames 17 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: fluttering in the chill night air, which flowed in through 18 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: an open doorway at the north end of the room, 19 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: while outside, thunder rumbled and heavy clouds scudded across the 20 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: midnight sky, just perceptible through the dark was a large 21 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: terrace covered in fine river sand, below which a lawn 22 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: dropped down, first to a graveyard, and beyond that to 23 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: the shores of a vast, black watered loch. The man 24 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: was Alistair crow the year was eighteen ninety nine, and 25 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: the location was the southeastern shore of Loch Ness. You're 26 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith for those 27 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: unfamiliar with his story. Alister Crowley was born in eighteen 28 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: seventy five to a wealthy, god fearing family in Leamington, Spa, England. 29 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: Crowley's parents were fundamentalist Christians, but he preferred to indulge 30 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: in somewhat more esoteric pursuits. Educated at Trinity College at 31 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: the University of Cambridge, Crowley focused his attention on mountaineering 32 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: and poetry. Then, in eighteen ninety eight joined the Hermetic 33 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: Order of the Golden Dawn, a ritual magic society whose 34 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: members included the Irish poet W. B. Yates. After being 35 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: trained in ceremonial magic, Crowley pronounced himself a prophet entrusted 36 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: with wrenching humanity into the twentieth century, whether it would 37 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: ultimately prove true or not. He would go on to 38 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: become one of the most notorious occultists of his generation, 39 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: about which you can hear more in season one, episode 40 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: ten of Unexplained. Essentially, Crowley saw the ancient art as 41 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: ceremonial magic, which he spelt with a K, as a 42 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: technique for contacting spiritual entities, be they demons or guardian angels, 43 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: which he believed could be utilized to attain sacred mystical 44 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: knowledge and ultimately help you to develop and expand your 45 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: sense of consciousness. To realize this, Crowley planned to perform 46 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: a complex ceremony described in an ais ancient text called 47 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abrameln, the age 48 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: of fourteenth century Egyptian who taught an ancient system of 49 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: occult knowledge. The ritual would take eighteen months and require 50 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: Crowley to adhere to a strict regimen that included celibacy 51 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: and abstinence, as well as regular incantation sessions at all 52 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: hours of the day and night. In order for the 53 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: ritual to be successful, Crowley would also be required to 54 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: summon the twelve Kings and Dukes of Hell and assert 55 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: control over them. He began the ritual in a flat 56 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: in London, but having endured too many interruptions, Crowley decided 57 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: he needed somewhere far more secluded, away from the distractions 58 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: of the city and his nosy neighbours, and so in 59 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety nine he made his way first to Invernesse 60 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: and then to the shores of Lochness in the Highlands 61 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: of Scotland. There he came across Boleskin House. Deciding it 62 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: was everything he'd been looking for, he promptly bought it 63 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: and moved in. A few months later he began the ritual. 64 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: Lochness was an interesting choice for Crowley's magic Ritual. Over 65 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: ten thousand years old and formed by glacial erosion near 66 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 1: the end of the last Ice Age, Lochness is the 67 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 1: UK's largest body of fresh water, twenty three miles long, 68 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: just under two miles wide, and reaching depths of just 69 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: under eight hundred feet. The tea colored tannins that leech 70 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: from the surrounding peatlands is what makes its water so 71 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: dark and opaque. For centuries long, was effectively one of 72 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: the most remote and isolated parts of Britain. It may 73 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: be of little surprise, then, perhaps, to discover that rumours 74 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: of some kind of monster stalking. Its black waters have 75 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: a long history. In an ancient biography of Saint Columba, 76 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: an Irish monk credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland, written 77 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: in the sixth century CE, it is stated that while 78 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: traveling across Scotland, Columba saved a man from the jaws 79 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: of a water beast as he termed it as he 80 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,599 Speaker 1: crossed the loch. The mysterious creature was said to have 81 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: come hurtling towards Columber's boat, only for the saintly monk 82 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: to hastily make the sign of the Cross, which then 83 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: apparently caused the beast to retreat as if pulled back 84 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: by ropes. In the centuries that followed, the superstition that 85 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 1: mythical creatures inhabited Loch Ness abounded among the local community, 86 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: but were rarely discussed elsewhere. In seventeen twenty seven, a 87 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: road was built right along the eastern shores of Lochness, 88 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: during which workers reported seeing a leviathan of some kind 89 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: on two separate occasions, disturbing the surface of the water, 90 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: with leviathan being an archaic term for both whales and 91 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: sea monsters more generally quite what they were referring to 92 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: here is not entirely clear. All in all, with a 93 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: number of similar reports occurring over the next two hundred years, 94 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: many locals were left with an ingrained belief that something 95 00:07:47,880 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: strange lurked in the dark waters of the loch. Despite 96 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: the newly constructed road along the eastern shore at the 97 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: close of the nineteenth century, Lochness was still tricky to access, 98 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 1: making it an ideal setting for summoning powerful forces. To 99 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: deter locals from being too curious about what he was doing, 100 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: Alister Crowley is said to have posted signs around the 101 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: edges of his Burleskin estate warning of an evil water monster, 102 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: as well as letting people know that he was throwing 103 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: a sacrificial sheep into the loch every Sunday to feed it. 104 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: Anyone venturing close enough to the house at the time 105 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: might also have glimpsed the fabled terrace, which he is 106 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: said to have covered in fine river sand when he 107 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 1: practiced his ritual magic. Perhaps they might too have seen 108 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 1: the peculiar footprints in it said to have appeared there 109 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: on the nights when Crowley was allegedly so successful in 110 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: summoning the dukes and kings of hell. These spirits included 111 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: the dark lords Lucifer, Satan, Belliol, and, according to some, 112 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: most significantly for subsequent events, Leviathan, not a whale or 113 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: general sea monster more recently associated with the word, but 114 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:32,840 Speaker 1: something altogether more horrific. Thought to be an embodiment of chaos. 115 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: Leviathan is described in ancient Hebrew texts as being a 116 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 1: gigantic sea serpent. As Crowley began performing his ritual day 117 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: after day, it was said that a sense of malignancy 118 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: and foreboding enveloped the domestic staff and all who later 119 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: visited the house. The building and grounds became peopled with 120 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 1: shadowy shapes. Semi solid figures could be glimpsed materializing and 121 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: then de materializing in different parts of the house, especially 122 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: in the early hours of the night. One housemaid, unable 123 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,719 Speaker 1: to bear it any longer, reportedly left, while one man 124 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,599 Speaker 1: doing some work on the property was said to have 125 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:25,719 Speaker 1: been driven mad. One week, Crowley claimed he wrote some 126 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 1: names of demons on a receipt from a local butcher's shop. 127 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: When he next asked a servant to collect meet for him, 128 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:37,359 Speaker 1: he was informed that at some point in the intervening days, 129 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: the butcher had accidentally severed an artery and bled to 130 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: death in his shop. As has been well documented, a 131 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: few months into his ritual, Alister Crowley received an unexpected 132 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: summons from one of the Masters of the Golden Dawn, 133 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: the secretive magical order to which he belonged, with a 134 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: command to go and meet him in Paris. Immediately, reluctantly, 135 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: Crowley suspended his elaborate ritual without first trapping or banishing 136 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: the malignant entities he was said to have summoned, leaving 137 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,559 Speaker 1: them out in the open and free to do whatever 138 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: they pleased. One bright summer's day in nineteen thirty, Sandy Gray, 139 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: an expert fissure and boater from the village of Foyers 140 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: on the southern shore of Loch Ness, was out fishing 141 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,760 Speaker 1: with two companions. After a good few hours, the trio 142 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 1: had had little luck when suddenly they saw a large 143 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: salmon leaping through the air toward their boat. It was 144 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: followed by a strange disturbance in the water behind it 145 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: that created a wave about two and a half feet high, 146 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: causing their boat to rock violently. It reminded Gray of 147 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: an incident sixteen years previously, when still a teenager he'd 148 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: been fishing on the loch when he saw a large 149 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: black object around six feet wide, first draw near to 150 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: the surface before sinking rapidly, leaving a swirling vortex on 151 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: the water's surface. It was as if a creature with 152 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 1: the bulk of two adult elephants had surfaced and then retreated. 153 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: Gray later explained. Going back to that summer's day, in 154 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty, Gray and his two friends reported their unusual 155 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: incident with the salmon. Their story was published in the 156 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: local Inverness newspaper, The Northern Chronicle, on August twenty seventh, 157 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty, with the headline A Strange experience on Loch Ness. 158 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: This appears to be the first newspaper report of a 159 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:01,079 Speaker 1: mysterious creature in Lochness. It wouldn't to be the last. 160 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: Three years later, Sandy Gray was working as a local 161 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: bus driver. While driving along the lochs western shore, he 162 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: saw a large, dark shape moving across the water's surface 163 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: at speed. He jamped his foot down on the accelerator 164 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: and tried to keep up with it, only for the 165 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: shape to speed on ahead and disappear soon after. The 166 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,679 Speaker 1: Aberdeen Press and Journal wasn't noted for its in depth 167 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:37,439 Speaker 1: coverage of events beyond Aberdeenshire. Famously, in April nineteen twelve, 168 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: the paper had run a front page report on the 169 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: sinking of the Titanic with a headline that read simply 170 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: Aberdeen man drowns at sea, but a report of Sandy 171 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: Gray's latest unusual encounter appeared on its front page in 172 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: May nineteen thirty three. There, whatever Sandy had supposedly seen 173 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: was referred to as the loch Ness Monster, and the 174 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: name stuck and the sightings kept on coming. Another warm 175 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: summer's day, this time in July nineteen thirty three, A 176 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: mister George Spicer and his wife were taking a drive 177 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: along Lochness East Shore Road, shortly after passing through the 178 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: town of Doors at the northern end of the loch. 179 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: They were just coming up to a slight rise when 180 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: what they described as an extraordinary looking creature suddenly shot 181 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: out across the road, moving in a series of jerks. 182 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: It was said to be a loathsome looking grayish color, 183 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: like a mud covered elephant or rhinoceros. Its body was 184 00:14:55,800 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: comprised mainly of a long, thin neck which undulated up 185 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: and down and contorted into a series of hoops. At 186 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: its base was a much thicker body and something flopping 187 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: up and down, which they assumed to be some kind 188 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: of tail. They saw no head or any kind of 189 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: arms or legs. It looked, they said, like a huge 190 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: snail with a long neck. They watched dumbfounded as it 191 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: wriggled across the road and then disappeared into the waters 192 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: of the loch. The couple had barely taken stock of 193 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: what they'd seen as they pulled up quickly by the 194 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: side of the road. As they strained to catch sight 195 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: of it again, they saw nothing but placid water lapping 196 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: gently at the shore. This rare account of the monster 197 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: out of the water was published a few weeks later 198 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: in the Inverness Courier. In its wake, the myth of 199 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:01,440 Speaker 1: the loch Ness Monster began to grow. A short time later, 200 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: British national paper The Daily Mail, decided to hire some 201 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: one to capture it. Marmaduke Weatherall was an actor and 202 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: big game hunter. For two weeks, the flamboyant Weatherall oversaw 203 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: a search at the loch involving boats and airplanes. Local 204 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: volunteers were asked to stand watch at numerous points around 205 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: the loch, equipped with flares that they were instructed to 206 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 1: light immediately if they saw anything, though weather or wasn't 207 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: able to capture the creature. He offered some photographs of 208 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: questionable evidence, as well as a plaster cast of what 209 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: he claimed was a mysterious nine inch wide footprint found 210 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: in the mud on the shore near the town of 211 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: Foyers on the east side of the loch. However, after 212 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: an examination at the Natural History Museum of London, the 213 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: footprints were found to be fake, having been made by 214 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: a single hippopotamus foot. In November, Sandy Gray, this time 215 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: accompanied by his brother Hughey, took a walk down to 216 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 1: Loch Ness with a camera. The brothers found a spot 217 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: on a low ridge overlooking the loch and took a 218 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,439 Speaker 1: seat for a moment. Together, they gazed out at the 219 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:36,120 Speaker 1: gently rippling waters while bright sunlight glistened on the surface. 220 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 1: When suddenly Sandy spotted something, a strangely elongated, snakelike protuberance 221 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: in the water about two hundred yards away. Huey took 222 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: five quick shots before the object slipped under the surface, 223 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 1: or so they told journalists at the Scottish national newspaper 224 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: The Daily Record, as they handed over the photos for publication. 225 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,679 Speaker 1: Four of them were little more than blank exposures, but 226 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: the fifth appeared to show, albeit blurred and grainy, a long, 227 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: seemingly undulating shape sticking out of the water. A group 228 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: of photographic experts were brought in to assess the image 229 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: and found no evidence of tampering. A few days later, 230 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: the picture was published under the headline is this the 231 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: Lockness Monster? This image would be quickly forgotten about when 232 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: another stunning photograph emerged. It became known as the Surgeon's Photo. 233 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: Due to its taker's reluctance to be named, he was 234 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: identified only as a gynecological surgeon who was visiting the 235 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: loche one day when he spotted the thing rearing up 236 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: from under the surface. The man managed to snap four images. 237 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: Two were two blurry to discern anything, but the others 238 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: showed in stark detail what appeared to be some kind 239 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: of long necked aquatic creature slowly moving through the water. 240 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: It looked not too dissimilar to the head and neck 241 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: of a plesiosaur, a creature that had gone extinct sixty 242 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:27,359 Speaker 1: six million years ago. Unsurprisingly, the photograph created a sensation 243 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: and appeared on the front pages of newspapers across the globe. 244 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: It even prompted a debate about the apparent monster in 245 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,639 Speaker 1: the British House of Commons. Caught up in the excitement, 246 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: the Times of London sent retired naval officer Lieutenant Commander 247 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:49,640 Speaker 1: Rupert Gould to Locke Nest to conduct an inquiry. Initially 248 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: a skeptic, Gould collected fifty one witness accounts, including those 249 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: of Missus and mister Spicer, who had been so startled 250 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,199 Speaker 1: by the peculiar gray thing that had wriggled across the 251 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,159 Speaker 1: road in front of them, after which she became convinced 252 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: there was a large sea serpent living in the loch. 253 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: His book, The Lochness Monster, published the following year, remains 254 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 1: one of the most comprehensive on this early period in 255 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:23,200 Speaker 1: the subject's history. Others, such as self styled Britain's circus 256 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: King Bertram Wagstaff Mills, were determined to capture it. Mills 257 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 1: offered a reward of twenty thousand pounds around two million 258 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: pounds in a day's money to anyone who could bring 259 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: it to him alive to the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London, 260 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 1: where a large steel cage was waiting for it. Thankfully, 261 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: the creature remained misdefyingly elusive. In the summer of nineteen 262 00:20:55,600 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: thirty five, bus driver Sandy Gray, whose apparent creature sighting 263 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: five years before at first so ignited the public imagination, 264 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 1: was back once again fishing on Loch Ness when he 265 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: was startled by a big black object rising out of 266 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: the water about one hundred yards away. Sandy watched on 267 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: in horror as the head and neck appeared, rising as 268 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 1: he later claimed, nearly two feet out of the water, 269 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: and behind the head he saw what he described as 270 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: a series of small ridges, seven in number, and what 271 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 1: he assumed to be the huge tail of the creature. 272 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: Sandy described the head as resembling a horse's, but being 273 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,159 Speaker 1: small in relation to the huge size of the body. 274 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 1: It reminded many of the much fabled Kelpie, a horse 275 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:54,200 Speaker 1: headed shape shifting creature of Scottish folklore. Gray is said 276 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: to rode back to shore as fast as he could, 277 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: then hurried to the local post office, where he alerted 278 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: post office manager Missus Cameron and a gardener named mister Batchen. 279 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: Moments later, they stood on the banks of the loch, 280 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: where they spotted the creature once again, apparently moving in single, 281 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 1: heavy lurches through the water, heading toward inver Morriston on 282 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: the far side of the loch, before vanishing from sight. 283 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,920 Speaker 1: Over the next few years, as far more terrifying monsters 284 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: revealed themselves and the world slipped into war, visions of 285 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: mythical Scottish sea creatures soon faded from the headlines. During 286 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 1: the war years, Sandy Gray moved to Inverness, but he 287 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: often returned to his home village of Foyers on Lochness's 288 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:49,399 Speaker 1: southern shore to visit his mother and brother and to 289 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: go out fishing. It was a cold Tuesday morning in 290 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 1: February nineteen forty nine when Sandy set off from the shore, 291 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: bouncing through the waves his motor boat. The experienced boatmen 292 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,679 Speaker 1: headed out into the middle of the loch, aiming for 293 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,199 Speaker 1: one of his favorite fishing spots on a relatively calm 294 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: and clement day. Later that afternoon, however, a violent, unexpected 295 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: storm swept over the loch. Soon gale force winds whipped 296 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: the water into an angry churn. That evening, Sandy failed 297 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: to return home. Friends and family formed a search party 298 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: and ventured down to the loch to look for him, 299 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: but before long, darkness forced them to abandon the search. 300 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,719 Speaker 1: The following morning, when the search had resumed, it had 301 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,160 Speaker 1: just gone nine a m. When one of the team 302 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: spotted Sandy's boat upturned and badly damaged on a small 303 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 1: stretch of beach near his mother's house, and beyond that, 304 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:02,440 Speaker 1: lying on some rocks nearby was Sandy's body. Some suggested 305 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: Sandy's boat had most likely capsized in the storm and 306 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,439 Speaker 1: he drowned as a result before being swept onto the rocks. 307 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: Others wondered how could it be that such an experienced 308 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: boatman could have died in that manner close enough to 309 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: the shoreline to be swept onto the rocks. The true 310 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: cause of his death remains a mystery. Aleister Crowley died 311 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,879 Speaker 1: two years before Sandy, in nineteen forty seven, at the 312 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: age of seventy two, never having returned to the shores 313 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: of Lochness. Could some believe what Crowley had done there 314 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: back at the turn of the century had survived long 315 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: after he left. It was some time in the nineteen 316 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: seventies that reports of a monster on and around Lockness 317 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: ganter's surface once more. Frederick ted Holiday, an English journalist 318 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: and author who spent hundreds of hours watching the Loche 319 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: claimed to have cited NeSSI as the creature became affectionately known. 320 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: On four occasions. He claimed that even when there were 321 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: several witnesses along the shore during a sighting, the creature 322 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:28,639 Speaker 1: invariably appeared in a location obscured from cameras. In a 323 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,199 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two book he wrote on the topic of monsters, 324 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:37,200 Speaker 1: including NeSSI, Holiday made the suggestion that perhaps the creature 325 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,399 Speaker 1: wasn't in fact a physical thing, but rather some kind 326 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: of supernatural entity, something conjured up by Alistair Crowley, even 327 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: as some have suggested, and he wasn't the only one 328 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:57,040 Speaker 1: who felt that NeSSI might be a paranormal phenomenon. The 329 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: reverend doctor Donald Ormond also believed the same thing. Back 330 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven, Ormond was caravanning in Rosshire, in 331 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,679 Speaker 1: the northwest of Scotland. While walking one morning along the 332 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: shores of a nearby loch, he apparently witnessed a great, 333 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: frothy disturbance in the water. Expecting to see a submarine 334 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 1: suddenly rise up, he was aghast to see it was 335 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: instead some kind of aquatic animal with at least two humps. 336 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,640 Speaker 1: As he would describe it later. Ormond's strange encounter would 337 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: set him on a path that eventually led him to 338 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: another experience in Norway, where he again apparently encountered some 339 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: kind of aquatic beast out in the wild. Like Holiday, 340 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,919 Speaker 1: He soon came to the conclusion that these creatures, the 341 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: apparent Lochness Monster included, were all paranormal in nature and 342 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: deeply evil. As an experienced exorcist, he began to wonder 343 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,840 Speaker 1: if he could turn that experience toward the sea creatures instead, 344 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: starting with the so called Lochness Monster. After consulting a 345 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 1: Benedictine monk, Ormond mapped out the shape of a crucifix 346 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: over the loch and made a note at the geographical 347 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 1: location of each point of the cross. Then, on June second, 348 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, he traveled out to the loch for real. 349 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:33,959 Speaker 1: To each of his recorded points. There, he shouted an 350 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 1: incantation into the air designed to banish any malignant entities 351 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: from the region. When he'd finished with each point, Ormond 352 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: climbed into a small boat and rowed out into the 353 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: middle of the loch to where the two sections of 354 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: his imaginary cross intersected. There, surrounded by the black water 355 00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: and the near eight hundred feet depth of it below him. 356 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,600 Speaker 1: He cried out, I adjure thee, though ancient serpent, by 357 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: the judge of the quick and the dead, by him 358 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,920 Speaker 1: who made thee and the world, that thy cloak thyself 359 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: no more in manifestation of prehistoric demons, which henceforth shall 360 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:22,439 Speaker 1: bring no sorrow to the children of men. When the 361 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: Reverend returned to shore, he was reported to have felt 362 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: drained and fell into a deep sleep soon afterwards, satisfied 363 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: that his exorcism had been a success, and for a 364 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: while it seemed it was, But before long the creature 365 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: was back. You've been listening to Unexplained Season seven, episode three, 366 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 1: Under Blackwater, Part one, The second and final part, will 367 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 1: be released next Friday, August twenty fifth. This episode was 368 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: written by Diane Hope and produced by Richard mc clain smith. 369 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: Unexplained is an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard 370 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: mc clan smith. All other elements of the podcast, including 371 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: the music, are also produced by me Richard mc lean smith. Unexplained. 372 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: The book and audiobook, with stories never before featured on 373 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: the show, is now available to buy world wide. You 374 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: can purchase from Amazon Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. 375 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get 376 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with 377 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on 378 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own 379 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: you'd like to share. You can find out more at 380 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,719 Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com and reach uses online through Twitter 381 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward 382 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: slash Unexplained Podcast