Mr. and Mrs. Spicer were travelling home to London on the 22nd July 1933, after a holiday in the North of Scotland. They were driving along the single track undulating road between Dores & Foyers at 4pm, when they saw something about 200m ahead. The encounter is described in Mr. Spicer`s letter to the Inverness Courier:
"I saw the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life. It crossed my road about fifty yards ahead and appeared to be carrying a small lamb or animal of some kind.
It seemed to have a long neck which moved up and down in the manner of a scenic railway, and the body was fairly big, with a high back; but if there were any feet they must have been of the web kind, and as for a tail I cannot say, as it moved so rapidly, and when we got to the spot it had probably disappeared into the loch. Length from six feet to eight feet and very ugly.
I am wondering if you can give me any information about it, and am enclosing a stamped addressed envelope anticipating your kind reply.
Whatever it is, and it may be a land and water animal, I think it should be destroyed, as I am not sure whether I had been quite so close to it I should have cared to tackle it. It is difficult to give you a better description, as it moved so swiftly, and the whole thing was so sudden. There is no doubt it exists".
The Newspaper article balanced this with the opinion that the animal was a large otter carrying a young otter in its mouth. Also saying that when disturbed an otter would scramble rapidly across the road, giving the appearance of having no feet. None of the books promoting the existence of Nessie quote this original letter. They usually print a later account given by Mr. Spicer which he had toned down, and was much less dramatic. The 1989 book by Nicholas Witchell "The Loch Ness Story" prints an account appearing to quote Mr. Spicer, but is annotated to say the quote is written from Mr. Spicers letters as well as newspaper reports at the time. In other words, he did not wish to print Mr. Spicers original letter. Spicers first estimate of the animals length was seven feet, after finding out the width of the road was twelve feet, he changed the estimate to twenty five feet. Three years later he claimed it was thirty feet. This sighting has serious inconsistancies as well as being explainable as being an otter. A heat haze rising from the road could also explain the undulating nature of the sighting.
Updated 17th August 2004