The Inverness Chronical ran a story on this day in which local people claim to have seen "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface" of Loch Ness.

This caused a media sensation and London newspapers sent correspondents to check out their claims. The Daily Mail ran the headline:

"MONSTER OF LOCH NESS IS NOT LEGEND BUT A FACT."

The Loch Ness is an enormous body of water, the biggest in the UK, 800 feet deep and 23 miles long.

But the legend of the monster did not begin in 1933. One of the earliest sightings was in 500 AD when local Picts painted strange creatures on stones near Loch Ness.

A 7th Century Irish missionary, Saint Columba, claims he saw a beast about to attack a man, but after Columba recited a prayer, the monster withdrew.

Perhaps incidentally a new road had opened in 1933 and after the May 2 coverage its usage rose considerably.

One of the main claims is that Nessie is a plesiosaur, a long-extinct dinosaur. However there is debate. A number of expeditions in the 1960's and 70's, using sonar equipment and underwater cameras, could possibly have added to the intrigue, with flipper like photographs suggesting a large creature is down there, and many reports of a large 'thing' down there.

There is a famous picture of the Loch Ness Monster taken in 1934 which seems to show a small head on a long neck poking out of the Loch. This was revealed to be a hoax in 1994.