Loch Ness Monster real or myth? Some people will claim that the existence of the Loch Ness Monster has really only been a topic of conversation for around a century or so. However, others will take you back almost fifteen centuries to around 565AD when it was reported that Saint Columba banished a giant beast. This creature had already been said to have mauled and killed a local man. One of his followers was then sent to swim in the waters of the Ness river itself. When the creature approached, Columba made the sign of the cross and then ordered it to halt; and the monster obeyed. Certainly.

About Loch Ness itself

Part of The Loch Ness Monster mystery can be attributed to the water itself. Before we delve into the depths of the intriguing mystery, it might be useful to find out more about the location. Set just over fifty feet above sea level, the loch is Scotland’s second biggest by surface area, but due to its depth, by far the largest in water volume. It’s also a sea lake, fed as it is through the River Ness from the Moray Firth and the North Sea beyond. This could be important because there are many examples of sea creatures monsters in Norse legends.

As it flows into the loch from a variety of streams and rivers, this water is darkened by its exposure to peat particles. A dark brown tint means that the sun never reaches much further that around four metres below the surface. With a maximum depth of more than 200 metres, Loch Ness provides plenty of truly murky volume for a monster, or creature if you prefer, to call its own private domain.

Scots would certainly like you to know that it contains more freshwater than all the lakes in the Lake District combined (occasionally known to Scots as ‘those big puddles’) and that you could also add in every other English or Welsh lake and still not fill Loch Ness. It’s a monster on its own!

Welcome to the world of Cryptozoology

If you are intending to visit Loch Ness and spend time hunting for the monster, then feel free to tell friends and family that you are actually a cryptozoologist. This means that you have the ambition of identifying and describing creatures from folklore, reported sightings, and anecdotal evidence, among other sources. This keeps you apart from those pesky biologists, who spend their time trying to identify new species. Where’s the fun in that? By the way, feel free also to impress by using the Gaelic term for the creature which is An Niseag – Anglicised to Nessie. Famed naturalist Sir Peter Scott, gave the scientific name of Nessiteras Rhombopteryx, meaning ‘Ness monster with diamond-shaped fin’

The first modern times’ sightings of the Loch Ness Monster

If you believe that those ‘in authority’ have never taken the matter even slightly seriously, it’s interesting to note that, over eighty years ago, the Royal Scottish Museum wrote to the Secretary of State for Scotland basically claiming the ‘corpse’ when it became available!

This communication followed a 1933 newspaper account, provided by Mr and Mrs Spicer, a pair of visitors from London. They maintained that a large creature, like nothing they could identify, had slithered across the road in front of their car with a smaller animal in its mouth. The monster then slipped into the dark waters of Loch Ness. This report was filed by Alex Campbell, the Loch Ness water bailiff, in his other role as Inverness Courier journalist. A few months later in December, local man Hugh Gray took the first picture of what might be the still-elusive Nessie. This was published in the Daily Express.

It’s worth pointing out the significance of 1933. This was the year of the building of the road along the shores of the loch. This meant that an area which had previously been fairly isolated, even remote, was much more available for tourists to enjoy and workers to use. Therefore the potential for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster increased greatly.

In 1938, the Chief Constable of Inverness-shire entered the debate. William Fraser by name, he stated that, beyond doubt, the monster existed and was concerned about the arrival of a hunting party, complete with a harpoon gun. He doubted that he could protect the famed creature. This letter remains as part of the National Archives of Scotland.

The ongoing hunt for Nessie

The above provides some examples, and many other attempts have been made to locate the Loch Ness Monster. Without covering each in detail, these have included taking sonar readings to identify objects under the water, filming of events causing ripples on the surface, plus further photographic evidence, including satellite imagery. It was also reported in 2015 that Google Street View spent a week capturing Loch Ness. Don’t be surprised if drones are the next investigation devices.

Sending out search parties

Many of the earlier examples could be said to be ‘accidental sightings’. These have been added to by official expeditions of various types. Sir Edward Mortimer Mountain, the founder of Eagle Star Insurance, financed a 1934 search where 20 men, armed with binoculars and cameras, spent each day for five weeks positioned around the loch, watching for the merest eddy on the surface. A few photos were taken but to no great excitement.

So does (did) the Loch Ness Monster exist?

This brings us to the crucial question. Let’s start by saying the existence of Nessie simply can’t be disproved there is no way to say, with complete certainty, that there has never been an unusual creature in the waters of Loch Ness. Just because no concrete proof has been produced, this does not mean there isn’t any. As with religions, people tend to believe what they want to, and base this on anything from an analysis of scientific evidence at one end of the spectrum, to optimistic hope and great imagination at the other!

What could the Loch Ness Monster actually be?

Cynics will tell you ripples, or wakes from boats, on the water’s surface, tree trunks or driftwood, seals, hoaxes. There have been several of the latter, to different standards, some trying to appear genuine, others simply to discredit any other sightings. Another explanation is simple optical illusions but genuinely believed. In folk tales, around the world, we can often find references to what Scots often refer to as kelpies, or water spirits, who have powers to shape-shift, even into human form. However, if there is (or was) a genuine Loch Ness Monster, of a decent size, what could it have been?

Experts provide a range of possibilities, some perhaps more fanciful than others. Starting with the pre-historic, we find suggestions such as the plesiosaur, although many scientists doubt that it could have survived through an ice age and that the loch couldn’t supply the necessary foodstuffs for its specific diet.

A Nessie postscript or two

With such a rich history, some other weird and wonderful stories have attached themselves to the Loch Ness Monster. So, to help finish our tale, here are just five fairly amazing facts…

1. The owner of Bertram Mills Circus offered a reward of £20,000 (a huge sum at the time) to anyone who could bring the monster to him

2. Famous Scots author of Whisky Galore, Sir Compton Mackenzie, reported a sighting of Nessie

3. It has been reported that PM Margaret Thatcher thought about making Nessie a protected species. Whether this would have made her more popular in Scotland is not known!

4. One survey, a decade or so ago, found the Loch Ness Monster to be the Most Famous Scot. Imagine how much more popular the creature could have been if Nessie had also invented TV, the telephone, or discovered penicillin!

5. Athletes competing in a triathlon in the area were said to have been insured for £1m each against monster bites

Are you going to be the one to find the Loch Ness Monster?

It’s estimated that a large majority of visitors to the area each year would cite Nessie as one of the reasons for their visit to the area. It’s a topic that is often heard in and around Fort William, itself a perfect base from which to start your Loch Ness Monster hunt. Whether you’d view that as just a piece of fun, or a more serious search, the chances remain that Nessie will get the better of you, as our beloved monster has of both committed hunters or visiting tourists for the last eight decades or 1500 years if you prefer.