Loch Ness Monster Fossil Hoax

On the 2nd July 2003 a Mr. Gerald McSorley came to Loch Ness 2000 and reported finding some bones on the shore of Loch Ness below the most northerly lay-by on the A82 road. The material was examined by Adrian Shine and found to consist of four fossil vertebrae embedded in a limestone material not found at the loch. It was felt most likely that the fossil had been exposed in a marine environment and had been placed at the lay-by in order to be found. Shine then referred Mr. Mc Sorley to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and briefed the palaeontology department. Here, Dr. Lyall Anderson determined that the vertebrae were from a plesiosaur and were about 150 million years old. He confirmed however, that the matrix was foreign to Loch Ness and contained evidence of marine borers. Plesiosaur fossils have occasionally been collected on the Black Isle.

The incident is reminiscent of another plesiosaur fossil found nearby in 1985. In this case the fossil was a femur and was found by a tourist who took it to The Australian Museum in Sydney. It turned out that it had been inadvertently left by the lochside by a tour guide, Dr. Gordon Williamson, who used it as a demonstration piece.

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