Nessie - The Loch Ness Monster |
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The Loch Ness Monster is probably the second most famous cryptozoological mystery in comparison with Bigfoot. Stories of "Nessie" have been reported for over 1500 years. What's most likely more than one creature, with a 50% chance of being a male will from here on be affectionately referred to as "she" - or maybe still Nessie. What most people don't realize is that Nessie is only one of about 250 reported lake monsters throughout the world.. Some of the others will be included in other articles, but for now we'll stick to Nessie.Sightings for centuriesThe first reports of something strange in the waters of Loch Ness was in a biography of St. Columba (who converted Scotland to Christianity) by St. Admnan in the 7th century. Around 565 AD, St. Columba was to have confronted a water monster in the River Ness. Apparently he gave it the sign of the cross and the creature swam away fast.
Over the centuries, many other sightings have been reported - some even on land. Reports have been told of it resembling a cross between a horse and a camel, which walks off the land and swims away. How credible the sources are can never be known, especially when these sightings happened so long ago. Superstitions of the pre-modern people mixed with the overly exagerated eyes of the uneducated can often see things differently. I'm not saying nobody's credible before 1900, I'm just saying it's hard to establish legitimacy of someone who's been dead for at least a century.As the technology age progresses, the sightings occur more often as media spreads the word about mysteries of this kind. A sort of hysteria begins which cause people to see what they want their eyes to see and the fame and fortune seekers only add to the frenzy. 
From local legend to tourism industryUp until 1933, Nessie was only a local legend. Children of the surrounding villages were told not to go swimming in the lake for fear of getting eaten by the monster. In 1933, along the Loch's north shore dynamite was used to build a road. Vegetation was sawed back which improved a great view of the water. Tourism increased and before they knew it, outsiders were making reports.First modern Loch Ness Monster sightingThe first report, which is considered modern, was April 14, 1933 by Mr. and Mrs. Mackay. They reported seeing an unknown creature in the lake that "disported itself for fully a minute, its body resembling that of a whale."Next sighting came on July 22, 1933 when Mr. and Mrs. Spicer drove across the newly built road alongside Loch Ness. Their car nearly struck a huge, black creature with a long neck. The "prehistoric animal" shambled across the road, slithered through the undergrowth and splashed in the Loch. 
Hugh Gray's picture of a dog?On November 12, 1933, Hugh Gray took a picture of something rising out of the water. Word of it spread like wildfire as the picture was printed in newspapers around the globe. However, you can see the resemblance of a labrador retriever carrying a stick in its mouth towards the camera. Nevertheless, over the next year, there were over 50 reported sightings of Nessie.3000 Loch Ness Monster SightingsIn the 60 years from 1933 to 1993, there were more than 3000 sightings of Nessie. Most people describe a long-necked, humpbacked animal that can move very fast or rise quietly.
The "official" scientific name is now Nessiteras Rhombopteryx. After seeing the 1972 underwater photo by Dr Robert H. Rines of the Academy of Applied sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology which resembles some sort of flipper, Sir Peter Scott came up with the Latin name. Some anagram wizard figured out that by rearranging the letters in Nessiteras Rhombopteryx you can spell out "monster hoax by Sir Peter S." Is this a coincidence or a joke?Sea-monster sightings are in similar regionsAn interesting fact is that most sightings of not only Nessie, but the 250+ similar lake monsters all appear around the isothermic line of 50°F in both northern and southern hemispheres. In a scientific sense, this gives a credible pattern for the distribution of certain animals through the world. The fact that there are more claims around these areas means it may not all be hoaxes, folklore and fame-seekers.Open-minded scientists?It's good to see that even the Smithsonian Institute keeps an open mind on Nessie. On their website, they write: "A recent attempt to find the monster occurred in October, 1987 when 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 monster. To date, the actual existence of a monster in Loch Ness has not been proven. Even though most scientists believe the likelihood of a monster is small, they keep an open mind as scientists should and wait for concrete proof in the form of skeletal evidence or the actual capture of such a creature."
Loch Ness Monster Theories?Many theories exist to what Nessie and the other lake creatures are. The favourite is that Nessie is a plesiosaur - a marine reptile that has officially been extinct for the last 70 million years. Of course, those familiar with other cryptozoological species may recall the discovery in 1938 of the coelacanth - a fish thought to be extinct for 70 million years as well.Other theories (of the non-regular animal/reptile kind) are that it's possibly an ancient Pictish animal seen on rock carvings known as the swimming elephant or it could be a gigantic elephant squid. Loch Ness SummaryNo matter what the skeptics believe, there is strong evidence to support something unordinary going on with not just Loch Ness, but the other lakes around the world. They all seem to be reported in the same geographical and topographical areas. These are usually in lake and river systems that are or were connected in some way to the sea and they all harbour or once harboured migratory fish. Most of these lakes are also deep and cold. Although, like every other mysterious creature out there, nothing can be proven until solid physical evidence is in the hands of scientists.
I've shown you a few of the more well known pictures. Although some have been verified as fake, and others are just plain indistinguishable, you never know if one of those pictures just might be the real Nessie you're looking at. Hopefully with todays age of picture phones and video cameras it won't be long before some no-questions-asked footage can be broadcast for the world to see.
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