The Loch Ness Monster is a creature believed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Whether you buy into the story, or not, it makes for a fascinating legend. Lets face it we all want Nessie, as it is affectionately known, to be found one day. Today's article examines some of the claims made by people who profess to have seen the monster, some even claim to have photographed or filmed her. Popular interest and belief in the animal has fluctuated since it was brought to the worlds attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is largely anecdotal, with minimal and much disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth and explains sightings as a mix of hoaxes and wishful thinking.
The term 'monster' was reportedly coined on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist. On 4 August 1933, the Inverness Courier published as a full news item the claim of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch , he and his wife had seen "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life," trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying an animal in its mouth.
In August 1933, a motorcyclist named Arthur Grant claimed to have nearly hit the creature while while approaching Abriachan on the north-eastern shore, at about 1 a.m. on a moonlight night. Grant claimed that he saw a small head attached to a long neck, and that the creature saw him and crossed the road back into the Loch. Grant said he dismounted and followed it to the Loch, but only saw ripples.
In another 1933 sighting a young maidservant named Margaret Munro supposedly observed the creature for about 20 minutes. She claimed it was about 6.30 a.m. on 5 June, when she spotted it on shore from about 200 yards. She described it as having elephant=like skin, a long neck, a small head and two short forelegs or flippers. The sighting apparently ended when the creature re-entered the water.
On 6 December 1933, the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published.
In 1934, interest was further sparked by what is known as 'The Surgeon's Photograph' (pictured above). It was supposedly taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist, it was subsequently proved to be a hoax. In the same year R T Gould published a book, the first of many which describe the author's personal investigation and collected record of additional reports pre-dating the summer of 1933.
In May 1943, C B Farrel of the Royal Observer Corps was supposedly distracted from his duties by a Nessie sighting. He claimed to have been about 250 yards away from a large-eyed, 'finned' creature, which had a twenty-to thirty-foot long body, and a neck that protruded about 4-5 feet out of the water.
In December 1954 a strange sonar contact was made by the fishing boat Rival III. The vessel's crew observed sonar readings of a large object keeping pace the boat at a depth of 480 feet. It was detected travelling for half a mile in this manner, before contact was lost, but then found again later.
The earliest report of a monster associated with the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St Columba by Adomnan, written sometime during the 7th century.
So, there we have it. Is Nessie for real or a figment of imagination. If she is real and still alive, she must now be a little old lady of at least 80 years old.
The term 'monster' was reportedly coined on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist. On 4 August 1933, the Inverness Courier published as a full news item the claim of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch , he and his wife had seen "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life," trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying an animal in its mouth.
In August 1933, a motorcyclist named Arthur Grant claimed to have nearly hit the creature while while approaching Abriachan on the north-eastern shore, at about 1 a.m. on a moonlight night. Grant claimed that he saw a small head attached to a long neck, and that the creature saw him and crossed the road back into the Loch. Grant said he dismounted and followed it to the Loch, but only saw ripples.
In another 1933 sighting a young maidservant named Margaret Munro supposedly observed the creature for about 20 minutes. She claimed it was about 6.30 a.m. on 5 June, when she spotted it on shore from about 200 yards. She described it as having elephant=like skin, a long neck, a small head and two short forelegs or flippers. The sighting apparently ended when the creature re-entered the water.
On 6 December 1933, the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published.
In 1934, interest was further sparked by what is known as 'The Surgeon's Photograph' (pictured above). It was supposedly taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist, it was subsequently proved to be a hoax. In the same year R T Gould published a book, the first of many which describe the author's personal investigation and collected record of additional reports pre-dating the summer of 1933.
In May 1943, C B Farrel of the Royal Observer Corps was supposedly distracted from his duties by a Nessie sighting. He claimed to have been about 250 yards away from a large-eyed, 'finned' creature, which had a twenty-to thirty-foot long body, and a neck that protruded about 4-5 feet out of the water.
In December 1954 a strange sonar contact was made by the fishing boat Rival III. The vessel's crew observed sonar readings of a large object keeping pace the boat at a depth of 480 feet. It was detected travelling for half a mile in this manner, before contact was lost, but then found again later.
The earliest report of a monster associated with the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St Columba by Adomnan, written sometime during the 7th century.
So, there we have it. Is Nessie for real or a figment of imagination. If she is real and still alive, she must now be a little old lady of at least 80 years old.
