Scotland Loch Ness Monster, the Scottish legend
Where is it
- Loch Ness and its monster are both found in northern Scotland
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- What is it
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- Loch Ness is part of the Great Glen, an enormous fissure
in the earth that just about splits Scotland into two. There are a series
of lochs, rivers and canals that link the Atlantic with the North Sea. this
is the most eastern of these.
- It is the largest freshwater lake in the Britain. It is twenty
four miles long and a maximum of one and a half miles wide. Its maximum depth
is around 750 feet and its average depth 450 feet. Because the waters are
very cold, and also very cloudy it is difficult to see underwater more than
a few feet. So there is a lot of murky water in which Nessie could hide
Monster legend
- Said to have started with an account of Saint Columba, in
565 A.D rescuing a swimmer from a lake creature. From then on stories
of such a creature emerged periodically, but little is actually recorded until
the 20th century
- It was only after1933, when a new road was built along the
lake shore and people were first able to visit the area in large numbers,
that reports of sightings really took off
Mackay's and Campbell 1933
- The MacKays owned a pub at Drumnadrochit, and on April 14th
saw an "enormous animal" in the Loch. They told the man responsible
for controlling salmon fishing in the Loch, a Alex Campbell. Campbell, because
of his job spent a lot of time observing the Loch, and he saw Nessie a number
of times.
- Campbell put it at 30 feet long and described it as having
"a long, tapering neck, about 6 feet long, and a smallish head with a
serpentine look about it, and a huge hump behind..."
-
Hugh Gray photo 1933
- The monster was first photographed by a Hugh Gray in 1933.
Gray claims "I immediately got my camera ready and snapped the object
which was then two to three feet above the surface of the water. I did not
see any head, for what I took to be the front parts were under the water,
but there was considerable movement from what seemed to be the tail."
The Surgeons photo
- This photo was the most famous of them all, and was reputedly
taken by a surgeon who was a pillar of the establishment, Colonel Robert
Wilson.
- Christain Spurling later admitted that he had taken part
in a hoax. He made the confession on his death bed in 1993 when he was aged
90. His story was that he had helped make a model out of a toy submarine and
photographed the model. Spurling claimed that his stepbrother, Ian Wetherell,
and Ian's father, Marmaduke ("Duke") Wetherell, had been hired by
the Daily Mail to find Nessie. They made their "monster"
out of a 14 inch toy submarine and plastic wood. The photo was taken so seriously
that they dared not own up to the hoax at the time
- You can take you pick as to whether this confession is proof
that the photo is a fake or not.
Seen on land 1934
- Arthur Grant, a veterinary student, saw the thing crossing
the road as he rode along on his motorbike. His decryption matched that of
a Plesiosaurus - small head, long neck, big body with flippers and a tail.
The Plesiosaurus, a relative of the dinosaur, has been thought to be extinct
for some 65 million years.
On moving film in 1960
- An indistinct moving picture was taken by an an aeronautical
engineer, Tim Dinsdale in 1960. The film may not have convinced the world,
but Dinsdale gave up his job, and spent the next twenty years trying to prove
they existed. He saw it twice more, but never got the photographic proof
Sonar Sweeps in 1970
- The American Academy of Applied Science, funded a search
by Dr Robert Rines, using sonar and automatic cameras. In 1972 one of their
cameras photographed, in the murk, what appeared to be a flipper about 6 feet
long on just four frames of film.
- Various sonar contacts followed, but it was not until 1975
that they got a vague, very blurred image of what might possibly have
been the face
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Submarines
- In more recent years mini submarines have tried to find Nessie,
without success In 1987, 20 cruisers methodically swept the Loch with
sonar equipment bouncing sound waves from the surface down to the bottom and
electronically recording any contacts. Many salmon were found, but no Nessie.
Conclusion
- None of the evidence so far shows proof of Nessie's existence.
- On the other hand the waters are big enough and deep enough
to hide such a creature
- And there again it is impossible for one to exist, there
would have to be a breeding population of say at least 10 to 20
- Certainly no bones or bodies have been found, so the myth
lives on
Loch Ness Monster
touring the area
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