Unseen footage: ‘Sex, violence and madness’ Nessie documentary reveals untold story

A new documentary premiering in Inverness turns the camera on to the monster hunters who flocked to Loch Ness in the 1970s.

By Bailey Moreton

November 2 2023, 7:26 pm

Archival shots of monster hunters around Loch Ness with a camera stand set up. Image: John MacLaverty.

A new documentary, harnessing rare archival footage, reveals the untold story of the monster hunters of Loch Ness.

Loch Ness: They Created A Monster is a time capsule back to the 1970s, when Nessie fever was at its peak, according to director John MacLaverty.

Lieve Peten was one of the characters who flocked to the shores of Loch Ness hunting for Nessie in the 1970s.Image: John MacLaverty.

He said: “The Loch Ness story has been told many times, but usually by film crews coming to Scotland and doing a little quirky piece or mystery piece about it.

“They’re often promoting an old-school idea of Scotland: ’The land that time forgot,’ where dinosaurs can still live in lochs. It’s a romantic image.”

A time of ‘sex, violence and madness”

The film turns the camera around, away from the murky depths of Loch Ness to those who flocked to its shores during the 60’s and 70’s.

black and white photo of Frank searle in a tree over loch ness — Frank Searle, the peg legged veteran who went to extremes in his hunt for proof of the Loch Ness monster. Image: John MacLaverty.

“This is a more Scottish take on it… The sex, the violence, and madness and Twin peaks in Drumnadrochit: that stuff hasn’t been told before.”

One of the more infamous characters, Frank Searle, a Cockney ex-soldier with a wooden leg is included in the film, charting his journey from self-isolating enthusiast to a womanizing petrol bomber.

But there are several outlandish characters included in the film, all on the hunt for proof of the existence of the Loch Ness monster.

Mr MacLaverty said: “In the 1970s it wasn’t scorned quite in the same way as it is now. David Attenborough, we’ve got a clip of him on Parkinson saying, ’It’s worth investigating.’ He’s not going, ‘This is silly’.

“These are kind of credible people who are giving it the time of day, it wasn’t laughed out of court, it was seen as: ‘Well maybe there is something there.’”

Where to see the film

A ten-minute snippet of the film was shown for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival, before debuting in full at the horror-themed Sitges Film Festival in Spain.