IN THE WAKE OF MORAG
In the summer of 1979, Morag wasn’t the only strange and elusive entity in the vicinity of Loch Morar: two LN&MP (Loch Ness and Morar Project) members told of encountering a mysterious American who claimed to be living in a cave on the northern shore. He was, they said, a tall, Nordic type, with unkempt blonde hair and slightly wild blue eyes – “sort of like a Mormon missionary gone feral.” Before melting into the landscape, he’d said he intended to stay at the loch until he scored a clear picture of Morag.
THE HERMIT
The fellow proved almost as difficult to find as Morag herself, but one day, as I explored a rocky, bracken-covered ridge, I stumbled upon his camp. Beneath a large, flat-topped boulder, a tiny natural cave had been slightly enlarged by rough stone-work. A small peat fire smouldered near the narrow entrance. The little dwelling would have been homely enough had it not been for several evil-looking, bleached sheep skulls leering down from atop tall stakes beside the entrance. Wishing I’d brought along some holy water, garlic, or a silver crucifix, I stepped forward hesitantly, then jumped slightly as a tousled blonde head poked enquiringly out of the entrance.
The American was, if anything, even more startled than I was. In the 10 weeks he’d been at Morar, not one other person had found his cave. For a hermit, though, he was pretty friendly – particularly after he realised I was a fellow monster enthusiast.
As he brewed some coffee, he introduced himself as Todd Martin, a 22-year-old native of Lincoln, Nebraska. The sheep skulls, he explained, were intended to scare off any crofter’s children who might stumble on his camp while he was away. He had been obsessed with Morag since a visit to Scotland in 1977. In August of that year, while hiking through the area, he’d camped for a night on a small peninsula on Morar’s northern shore. At 8:24 that evening, as he sat outside his tent, he’d seen a disturbed patch of water moving around the point and into Tarbet Bay. “There was no wake, but I could see that something big was lifting the water. It was as if a porpoise or shark was just under the surface, but there was no fin or any part of a body visible. I now know there’s a ridge of rock just there. Apparently, the animal had to come close to the surface to get over it.”
“WHATEVER THESE BLOODY
