The Loch Ness Monster. United Kingdom

The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the "Life of St. Columba" by Adomnan, written in the 7th century AD. 

According to Adomnan, who wrote about a century after the events described, the Irish monk Saint Columba was in the Pictish country with his companions when he met the locals who were burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man was swimming in the river when he was attacked by a "water beast" that mauled him and dragged him under the water, despite their attempts to save him on a boat. Columba sent his follower, Luin Mokka Min, to swim across the river. The beast approached him, but Columba crossed himself and said:

"Don't go any further. Don't touch the person. Come back immediately."

The creature stopped as if it had been "dragged away with ropes" and ran away, and the people of Columbus and the Picts thanked it for what they perceived as a miracle.

Believers in the monster point to this story, which took place in the Ness River, and not in the lake itself, as proof of the existence of the creature back in the VI century.

Skeptics question the authenticity of the narrative, noting that stories about the water monster were extremely common in medieval hagiographies, and Adomnan's story probably repeats a common motif associated with a local landmark. According to skeptics, Adomnan's story may be independent of the modern legend of the Loch Ness monster and has been tied to it by believers seeking to back up their claims. 

Ronald Binns believes that this is the most serious of the various alleged early sightings of the monster, but all other claimed sightings before 1933 are questionable and do not prove the existence of a legend about the monster before that date. Christopher Kearney uses Adomnan's specific historical and cultural analysis to separate Adomnan's story of Saint Columbus from the modern myth of the Loch Ness monster, but finds an earlier and culturally significant use of Celtic folklore of "water beasts". In doing so, he also discredits any strong connection between kelpies or water horses and the modern "media augmented" creation of the Loch Ness Monster. He also concludes that the story of St. Columba may have been inspired by earlier Irish myths about Caoranach and the Oilifeist.

__________________________

Original and pictures based on the book Vita Sancti Columbae: 

Tum vero bestia, hac Sancti audita voce, retrorsum, ac si funibus retraheretur, velociori recursu fugit tremefacta.

Translation from the book "The World of St. Columba" by N.Y.Zhivlova: 

At the same time, the trembling creature, hearing the voice of the saint, rushed very quickly, backing away, as if it was being dragged by ropes.