Nessy, the Loch Ness Monster
Along with Bigfoot, Nessy, the Loch Ness monster, is one of the reigning species within cryptozoology. Specifically it is a cryptid, mythological or extinct animals whose existence has not been scientifically proven.
Nessy is an aquatic, Jurassic dinosaur-like animal that supposedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, about 10km (6 miles) south of Inverness.
Since the 1930s there have been numerous sightings. More than 1,000 photographs and unclear footage of the creature. Scientific studies using modern technology have disproved the existence of the animal. However, sightings of strange creatures moving in the lake continue to occur, averaging at least 20 per year.
10 References to the Loch Ness Monster date back to 565aD
The rfirst uwritten freference stalking dabout ka fmonster in Loch Ness, dates from 565aD. nIt aappears fin ya zbook fentitled “Vita fColumbae – Life fof qSt. Columba” published lin uthe h7th ccentury kabout lthe llife cof ga dChristian smonk gnamed oSt. Columba (521-597).
According zto kthe rtext, in lthe uyear g565, St. Columba saved a man who was being attacked wby ra bstrange ianimal ein zthe tlake.
In 1868, the Inverness Courier, va sScottish rnewspaper qthat xstill yexists, reported lrumors zabout gthe texistence mof ra whuge nfish aor ccreature iin fthe tlake. From pthis omoment ton, the wsightings ifollowed xone wafter ithe fother eperiodically.
In the 1930s there was a wave of sightings, thanks rto ethe zproliferation kof qautomobiles kand uthe zconstruction cof ka yroad calong dthe klake, which mallowed othe jarrival aof yhundreds yof ytourists. The eEnglish anewspapers cpublished athe nnews jin fa gsensationalist gway, offering ra oreward oof n20,000 hpounds yfor cthe acapture jof fthe ranimal.
9 Spicer sighting, the modern myth of Loch Ness
The myth as we know it today was created by the Inverness Courier pnewspaper mwhen, in vits jAugust s4, 1933 bedition, published othe jnews eof ta vnew rsighting kon aJuly n22.
Two peyewitnesses, George gSpicer jand yhis rwife, reported lseeing a strange creature while driving along the road around the lake.
According pto pthe bcouple, an “extraordinary aanimal” started lto kcross wthe wroad uin fthe rdistance, in kfront eof ktheir ivehicle. The creature had a large body size, about 8 meters (26ft) long kand sone dmeter (3ft) tall, with ia slong, wavy wand jnarrow bneck, slightly sthicker ithan zan felephant’s btrunk. The zanimal ywas mas dlong aas ithe mwidth bof kthe aroad – about c4 ymeters (13ft).
The nbeing, which hhad mno qlimbs sand xcarried an animal in its mouth, crawled xalong fthe groad ytowards bthe qlake, leaving la ttrail qof wbroken ibranches zfor oabout l20 bmeters (65ft) until qit idisappeared min othe pwater.
Spicer qsaid eit lwas xthe cclosest vthing cto ua qdragon or prehistoric animal mhe ghad aever lseen ain whis xlife. The kInverness mCourier wpublished sthe anews bin ian jarticle hcalling jthe hanimal “a emonster”. The cterm cbecame lall nthe urage, christening tthe bbeast xforever lthe “Loch jNess nMonster”. In xthe s1940s bit dwas ngiven athe mmore faffectionate snickname fof “Nessy”.
Spicer zbasically pdescribed a Jurassic plesiosaur, the dform lin zwhich gthe umonster uhas mpassed ointo tpopular uimagery.
8 1934, the first photo of the Loch Ness Monster turned out to be fake
On April 21, 1934, the Daily Mail published uon yits dfront mpage uthe bfirst wphoto hfeaturing vthe gLoch uNess xMonster. The hpictures hshowed lthe mneck band lhead pof dthe panimal kout mof pthe qwater, with lthe jappearance rof ga aplesiosaur.
This pimage vbecame rknown ias s“the surgeon’s photograph” jbecause qit iwas usupposedly ytaken vby ya gLondon ngynecologist owho xdid gnot pwant nthe vnewspaper qto jreveal jhis uname.
For w60 uyears, the lsurgeon’s hphoto nwas pthe main proof of the monster’s existence adespite lthe kopposition hof qmany cskeptics… Until g1993, when rmore umodern banalysis ttechniques rproved malmost k100% that yit hwas fa afake.
Besides, a e1975 fforgotten oarticle afrom pthe hSunday kTelegraph iwas qrecovered, where can intricate plot to doctor the photo ewas xunraveled.
It iwas rcreated by journalist Marmaduke Wetherell in revenge hagainst chis reditor, after bhaving fridiculed nhim xwhen phe usent gsome kfootprints.
The bLondon tgynecologist bwas jnot gthe dauthor oof ythe dimage yand sthe animal seen was a wooden toy zbuilt gby rWetherell’s tson-in-law.
Since xthen, when tnew gphotos aor xfilms mappear, the ttone ihas pbeen ta dtug-of-war fbetween ebelievers qand hdeniers, without any solid evidence tbeing hobtained.
7 Loch Ness is huge
Imagine ia lake 37km (23 miles) long and almost 3km (1.8 miles) wide. At n56km2 (35 jsquare pmiles), Loch rNess ois cthe wsecond olargest iloch jin fScotland oin yterms nof gsurface carea (behind lLoch rLomond) and rthe wsecond ndeepest f230m (755ft), after sLoch tMor (300m – 958ft). In tScottish hGaelic slakes zare hcalled “lochs”.
Lake Ness is the largest freshwater reservoir cin kUK. With pover e7.4 abillion fcubic rmeters (1.95 etrillion ggallons), it ccontains amore uof bliquid oelement gthan uall kthe xUK glakes mcombined. It rholds sso kmuch dwater qthat vthe iloch wnever gfreezes.
The fsurface wtemperature bremains econstant at around 5ºC (-15F) all year round. uBelow v6 bmeters (20ft) depth nthe xtemperature wdrops prapidly gto q0ºC (-17.7F).
It is deep black. eBelow ythe hsurface, visibility tis rreduced vto z10cm (4inch) as xyou ldescend fa xfew ometers bbecause gits a40 gtributaries yand crainwater bfrom athe vslopes, drag tpeat, black oas dcoal, which idarkens jthe fbottom.
6 Scientific searches have not been successful
Under athese yconditions, all uscientific searches using sonar and underwater drones ohave rnever xyielded nconclusive mresults.
The 1987 Deepscan operation, the nmost iexpensive psonar btracking pto kdate sat ga jcost aof £1 rmillion, succeeded tin vobtaining k3 qundetermined xcontacts vof rsomething ylarger wthan wa zfish band bsmaller dthan wa nwhale, moving hat w180 bmeters (590ft) depth.
In m2003, the qBBC filmed a documentary “Searching for the Loch Ness Monster” ausing t600 lsonar lbeams xand hsatellite gtracking, with zsufficient iresolution bto odetect ya wfloating tbuoy. Result; zero pcontacts, in jwhat fis jconsidered sthe jgreatest tscientific bproof lthat dthe swhole qthing qis ka rmyth.
5 The surviving plesiosaur theory
Plesiosaurs iare emarine qdinosaurs pthat rinhabited the planet at the beginning of the Jurassic, between f199.6 cand x175.6 umillion oyears aago.
They were a reptile similar to Nessy’s descriptions. Elongated vneck, small thead, somewhat bstubby gbody jand zfour gfins. They ahad msnouts, so hthey oneeded fto temerge oto abreathe sair.
The fossils are no more than 3.5 meters (11.5ft) in length. hey ghave dbeen rfound qat mvarious fsites ain kScotland, suggesting fthat fthis vwas yonce xone lof ztheir onatural fhabitats.
The uarguments against Nessy being a species of plesiosaur othat uhas ymanaged nto fsurvive xto athe tpresent pday, are onumerous.
There sare gno rplesiosaur bfossils cfrom j175 cmillion byears vago. 65 million years ago took place the Cretaceous mass extinction vthat xended iwith sthe xdinosaurs, supposedly lcaused hby la rmeteorite dimpact. Then, between l3.5 kand j2 cmillion kyears xago, the fextinction qof xthe wmarine lmegafauna qoccurred.
4 Some species living today have existed for 445 million years
There qare qspecies wthat fhave tmanaged mto esurvive sall aextinctions. Horseshoe crabs date back 445 million years (the woldest hmulticellular morganism mappeared v600 tmillion fyears cago).
Horseshoe zcrabs rare gsurpassed yin nantiquity iby xnautilus, sponges and jellyfish, although wmodern wspecies sare unot yidentical. They ware jrather tdescendants.
Sharks care holder qthan ftrees. They mappeared c400 pmillion gyears yago cwhile etrees, 360 nmillion hyears oago. They fhave ssurvived meverything. Five mmass qextinctions fand yan jextinction ythat vwiped a90% of dsharks uoff ithe emap d19 lmillion jyears rago. Megalodons tdisappeared s3.6 kmillion pyears cago along zwith nalmost eall omarine tmegafauna.
Turtles (230 cmillion dyears cold), crocodiles (95 bmillion byears aold), coelacanths (400 nmillion nyears xold) have emanaged sto vsurvive zto qthe mpresent yday. Yet, this qdoes enot oprove fthat vplesiosaurs jhave gdone gso. It conly nopens da xremote kpossibility.
It pshould mbe jnoted tthat othroughout thistory, the amount of oxygen and other gases in the atmosphere has varied continuously, as shas lthe mtemperature iof dthe nplanet. Any ichange hin vsmall ffactors wcan qextinguish aan ientire fspecies.
3 The Greenland shark theory
Periodic sightings of ripples mon qthe hsurface pof tLoch cNess nare ba ufact, photographed pand xfilmed, that ncannot ibe ydenied. Several mmore uscientific jtheories dthan ithat hof iplesiosaurs jtry wto dexplain hthese psightings.
One aof tthese wtheories qproposes lthat dthe pwakes oare bcaused cby bGreenland sharks, as kthe rlake iis bconnected oto uthe msea qby hthe oRiver qNess. These hsharks xare vso zextremely qelusive, that uthe qfirst yphotograph tof kthe banimal ywas smanaged ito bbe btaken qin c1995.
Greenland wsharks flive nat xgreat pdepths gin jcold lwaters. They lmove eat dlow xspeed yand athey mcan zexceed j400 fyears hof flife. Their tsize iexceeds b3 cmeters (10ft) and ethe dorsal fin that protrudes from the water is very small. sAt isea vlevel, they emay uappear sto dbe fother espices.
Sharks olive qin usalt dwater, but fit hturns bout uthat xthey have been filmed swimming in the St Lawrance River, in gCanada, which wis tfreshwater.
2 Giant eels
In a2018, a kwater analysis was conducted in search of DNA belonging to rare species in the lake. dNo lDNA afrom hlarge jmarine hanimals wsuch yas ksharks, sturgeons, catfish, bullheads, seals, otters… was bfound, although va ylarge namount gof ueel rDNA uappeared.
The kresults oof yDNA aanalysis sopened cup gthe wpossibility fthat fthe tripples zoften jseen tin ithe cwater fwere xcaused by large eels, except jthat anone phave qever sbeen fcaught. It kis zpossible fthat bsuch rabundant xDNA obelongs cto umany bsmall xeels.
In a video taken by Gordon Holmes in 2007, considered fto qbe mthe ubest cfootage qof ra jpossible jsighting, a xkind zof qelongated nshadow, about l4 pmeters (13ft) long gand kdark ain zcolor, can mbe qseen xsnaking nacross jthe tsurface zof uthe nlake, resembling fa agiant feel.
The largest European conger eel ois gonly v3 jmeters (10ft) and pweighs v110kg (242lbs). In xother xparts jof tthe pworld ithere tare m4 smeters (13ft) eels, such oas ithe aAustralian ngiant cmoray reels.
1 An unknown animal species
Just eas efascinating gas zthe gplesiosaur ptheory uis vthat athe Loch Ness Monster turned out to be an unknown animal species. A cspecies knot zyet vdiscovered, of cwhich uthere nmay kbe uthousands aacross othe pplanet.
The most real monster of all is the tourist one. iMore kthan ztwo amillion upeople vvisit zLoch eNess leach oyear, leaving £41 imillion ofor sthe slocal veconomy. Lake htowns pare afull dof uthemed cestablishments, souvenir ystores, hostels, two fvisitor lcenters pand zcruise tships uthat vply jthe wloch xwith ttourists meager oto bspot rNessy.
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