Nessie: Scotland's Beloved "Pet" Monster

by Courtney Mroch | More from this Blogger

02 May 2007 07:06 PM

I've always been fascinated by accounts of things like UFO sightings, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster. Today as I was surfing History.com's "This Day in History," one of the items caught my eye because it related to the Loch Ness Monster.

The Story That Started It All

On May 2, 1933, the Inverness Courier ran a story about a local couple who had claimed to see "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the [lake's] surface." The couple was Mrs. and Mrs. John Mackay and they actually saw whatever it was on April 14, 1933. The newspaper story would prove to be the catalyst that launched Scotland, the Scottish Highlands, and the lake known as Loch Ness into the international spotlight forevermore.

Hoax, Hype, or Honest Fact?

Whatever "Nessie" (as the "monster" has come to be affectionately nicknamed) may be, she, he, or it has never been caught --in the actual flesh, that is. There has been sighting after sighting, photographs, even a few videos supposedly "proving" the existence of a creature not resembling any known to inhabit the lake, but no actual Nessie body has ever been claimed.

One of the most famous photographs, the one I grew up believing to be conclusive proof of a dinosaur-like creature living in the lake, turned out to be a hoax. (It's the picture most often associated with stories of the Loch Ness Monster. The grainy image of a small head perched atop a long skinny neck protruding from the water.)

But other scientific expeditions have produced some pretty convincing images, sound recordings, and sonar scans of something large and not readily explainable lurking in the depths of Loch Ness. All this evidence has done is created more mystery, though, because it can be disputed as malfunctioning equipment, geological anomalies, the play of light and shadows against rocks under the water (in the case of photographs), etc.

Nessie's Past and Future

The report in the Inverness Courier wasn't the first time someone had reported seeing something unusual and unexplainable in Loch Ness; it was just the first time it got modern media attention. There have been hundreds of accounts, and some actually date back as far as A.D. 500 to carvings of a sea beast made in stones near the loch.

While I'd love to know what (if anything) is really there, I also kind of like that Nessie's remained so elusive all these years. Imagine if they do finally find proof. The tourism there would boon like mad, and the researchers and scientists would be vindicated, but poor Nessie would be dissected and scrutinized without mercy.

Better the mystery endures, the search continues, and Nessie roams freely in peace I say.

Express Yourself!: What do you think?

Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster?

If you do believe in Nessie, what do you think it is?

What do you think would happen if Nessie's actually found?

Use the Comment section below to weigh in with your perspective!

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Learn more about Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a wife, a proud pet parent, and a writer. She's been with her husband, high school sweetheart Wayne Pryor, over 20 years, married 11 of those. She's "mom" to Mr. Meow, a.k.

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