Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness monster is an ancient monster, allegedly living in the homonymous loch (lake, in Scottish) in Northern Scotland. The first time it was spotted was, according to our knowledge, in 565 AD., when he grabbed and ate a local farmer. It is also depicted in many ancient stone carvings, that show a mysterious beast with flippers. Finally, its origins are also connected to St. Columba, which apparently protected and saved a couple of swimmers after one of them was bitten by the monster.
Since then, years and centuries passed, and rumours about uncommon events happening at Loch Ness continued to spread, throughout Scotland and the world.
The moment in which really, the legend of the Loch Ness monster became mainstream, was in 1933, when the A82 road constructions began, and all the drilling work forced the monster to surface from the depth of the lake onto the surface.
Furthermore, with the creation of the road, an unobstructed view of the lake was also created, and this is when the series of independent sightings began. One of the most famous happened in April 1933, when a couple saw a “dinosaur-like” animal passing in front of their car and then disappearing in the deep waters. This incident brought a lot of attention onto the topic and on the monster.
The same year, the Daily Mail commissioned a hunter, Marmaduke Wetherell, to find the monster: he came back with some very interesting results. The hunter had found footprints of a 20 feet long animal left all over the lake shores.
Disappointingly enough, though, upon further analysis, the Natural History Museum found that the tracks were a hoax, even if the role of the hunter within this prank is still unclear.
In 1934, then, R. K. Wilson, a doctor from London, managed to take a picture of what appears to be a slender head and neck rising from the water. The famous picture, generally known as the surgeon’s photograph, made many people speculate about the monster, who to some appear to be a plesiosaur, a marine reptile which went extinct about 65.5 million years ago.
Since then, the monster has been at the centre of debate in several occasions.
In the 1960s, in particular, the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau conducted a ten-year observational survey, and found that there was an average of 20 sightings per year of the beloved monster. Before the 1970s kicked in, submarines went to investigate the phenomenon with the latest technology and sonar equipment. They were apparently able to take a photograph of a “flipper”.
Other sonar explorations of the lake took place over the years, until in 1994, it was revealed that Wilson’s photograph was nothing but a fake: a plastic and wooden head attached to a toy submarine.
Most would probably find discouraging that up till this day, no one has been able to prove its existence… but is it a coincidence that so many have seen this “enormous creature” rising from the water? The explanations that have been given in history are many: seismic activity, an hoax, a trick of the light… and our favourite: a prehistoric animal.
Among others, the BBC sponsored a search of the mysterious animal, and a circus offered 20.000 pounds to anyone who could bring them the monster. Even Dr. Rines, who helped in finding the wreck of the Titanic, dedicated almost 40 years in the attempt to find the Loch Ness monster.
As of now, the only physical evidence we have about the Loch Ness monster are the several million pounds that it brought to the Country, attracting curious and hunters since decades.
But is it really all there is?
Author Letizia
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/legend-loch-ness.html
http://www.visitinvernesslochness.com/explore/myths-and-legends.aspx
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Loch-Ness-monster-legendary-creature
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