Nessie’s had it good for too long, right? The water-dwelling monster thinks she’s the only Scottish cryptid in town. It’s about time for a look at a few of her rivals

Och aye, there’s plenty of not-so ‘timorous beasties’ out there!

This week, the Daily Star revealed the Loch Ness monster is back, with the latest recorded sighting being hailed the best in 30 years.

A two-minute video of a mysterious object lurking in the water has emerged, filmed by a local resident. It has reignited the legend of an ancient long-necked animal, long said to inhabit the murky depths of the Scottish Highlands.

Yet the fabled Nessie is not the only mythical creature living in the nation’s lochs, if the folklore tales are to be believed. Time for a plunge into the most fascinating stories…

There's plenty of other beasts lurking in the depths...apparently (Image: Getty Images)

Nessie’s Sister

Nessie might be the most famous prehistoric-style monster from Scotland, but there’s talk of a similar beast nicknamed Lizzie, which is believed to live in the ten-mile-long Loch Lochy, in Lochaber.

Some think that Loch Ness’s mystery critter is a long-lost relative of the plesiosaur, a kind of reptile that became extinct 65 million years ago.

And the three-humped 40ft creature from Loch Lochy seems to match this description too.

It was first reported in 1929 by two game wardens. At first, they thought it was just tree debris, but on looking through a telescope realised that they’d seen a creature. They watched it swim for a mile before submerging. There have since been plenty of other encounters…

Does Nessie have a sister?(Image: Getty Images)

In 1960 Eric Robinson saw ‘Lizzie’ through binoculars, estimating that it was 40ft long with a huge flipper, while in 1975 the Sargent family stopped to take a snap of a large black shape moving through the water.

And in 1996 angler Alastair Stevenson came across a large beast in the shape of an overturned rowboat that snatched his fishing rod away from him.

Morag the Mermaid

Loch Morar is the deepest in Scotland, with its waters extending down to over 1000ft. So, it’s perhaps no wonder that there might be something unusual down there.

Researchers have uncovered texts from the 1900s of a mermaid-like creature known as Morag living in the lake. Alexander Carmichael, a collector of folklore, recorded that she appeared half-human, half-fish, with large breasts and long flowing yellow hair. Other accounts suggest Morag only appears as a bad omen before death.

There's reportedly a mermaid in Loch Morar (Image: Getty Images)

There have been recent sightings of a more Nessie-like creature too. In 1948 nine people out on a boat on the loch all reported seeing 20ft long creature they couldn’t explain.

While in 1969 two fisherman said their boat had accidentally hit a mystery creature and that it had disappeared after they fired shots and hit it with an oar.

Hound of the Deep

Lying just south of Loch Ness is Loch Oich. The body of water is said to be home to a creature ironically dubbed ‘Wee Oichy’. Tales of a magical flying ‘deformed pony’ are associated with the loch as far back as the 19th century.

Tourists saw a beast with a dog head (Image: Getty Images)

But in 1936, two tourists boating on the loch described seeing a 12ft serpent with coils and a “shaggy, dog-like head” swimming just 30ft from them.

Around the same time local bridge keeper Simon Cameron saw a humped form with a dog’s head in the water there. As recently as 1998 a photographer and mountain guide who were in the area reported seeing a strange, large hump break Loch Aich’s surface.

The ‘Slug Pig’

Loch Maree, in Wester Ross, is often described as the most beautiful in the Highlands. But legend has it that something not very pretty is hiding in it – known as the ‘slug pig’ or ‘Muc-sheilch’ in Gaelic. It has been said to move stealthily through the water like a giant eel.

In 1850 a Mr Banks of Letterewe reportedly tried to drain the loch and even tried to poison it in a bizarre bid to find the fabled monster – but failed.

Loch Maree may be home to a 'slug pig' (Image: Getty Images)

Hair-raising Horse

A number of Scottish lochs are associated with legend of water horses or kelpies. They’re sometimes said to have the head of a horse and the tail of a serpent or a whale. One of these locations is Loch Arkaig.

In 1857, James Harris, who would become foreign minister during Queen Victoria’s reign, said that he had a first-hand account from a local called John Stuart, who described twice having seen a horse-headed monster basking on the surface of the motionless lake.

Water horses are a big part of Scottish folklore (Image: Getty Images)

Harris, who said he was inclined to believe the reports himself, added: “The Highlanders are very superstitious about this creature.”