The Loch Ness Monster, also reffered to as "Nessie", is a creature or group of creatures said to live in Loch Ness, a deep freshwater lake (known in Scotland as a loch) near the city of Inverness. Nessie is generally considered a lake monster. Along with Bigfoot and Yeti, Nessie is perhaps the best-known mystery in cryptozoology. "Nessie" was born by a journalist in a newspaper article in 1933 after the first modern sighting of a monster in loch ness was reported.
The oldest sighting on record dates back to AD 565 when St Columba was said to have seen a large monster in the water. Since the first newspaper report thousands of sightings have been reported on the loch and on land, many report the long neck and head emerging from the loch, others see moving shapes and objects on the loch surface or a large beast crossing the road in front of them. Over 50 images have been recorded but only six of these have stood the test of time, the others are either fakes or mis-identifications. The most famous of these images is the 'surgeon' photo taken by gynacologist Kenneth Wilson in 1934. His photo showed what looked like a large neck and head emerging from the loch although with nothing visible in the background a scale could never be found. It is now pretty much agreed that the surgeon photo was faked by using a plastic-wood model attached to a toy submarine. In 1968 the first sonar investigation took place in an attempt to track large objects in the loch, this was unsuccessful. The second attempt Operation Deepscan in 1987 employed 20 sonar boats and made 3 possible contacts between 77 and 178 metres. The latest scan was made in 1992 to build up a picture of the bottom of the loch, no evidence of caves or anomolies were found. The picture reproduced here from the 1987 expedition may look impressive but questions have been raised about the high level of computer enhancement.
Many theories have been put forward to explain what is in the loch but it is a mystery to this day. The most popular of these was the plesiosaur theory. An extinct dinosaur that some believe has survived in the loch without detection for millions of years. It was only the 'surgeon' picture that held any real evidence for this theory which is now discounted by most serious researchers.
The ancient plesiosaur is also an air breather and a surface dweller which makes it a very unlikely candidate. Although lots of sightings have been made of a creature resembling a plesiosaur (or at least at long neck and small head) some if not all of these have been influenced or shaped by the media ... READ MORE
