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Loch Ness Monster

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"Nessie" redirects here. For other uses, see Loch Ness Monster (disambiguation) and Nessie (disambiguation).

Loch Ness Monster
The "surgeon's photograph" of 1934, now known to have been a hoax[1]
Other name(s)Nessie, Niseag,
Nessiteras rhombopteryx
CountryScotland
RegionLoch Ness

In folklore, the Loch Ness Monster is a being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, although its description varies; it is described by most as large. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with few, disputed photographs and sonar readings.

The most common speculation among believers is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs.[5] Most of the scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a myth, explaining sightings as misidentifications of mundane objects, hoaxes, and wishful thinking.[6] The creature has been affectionately called Nessie[b] (Template:Lang-gd)[7] since the 1940s.[8]

Origins

The word "monster" was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in an Inverness Courier report.[9][10][11] On 4 August 1933 the Courier published a report by Londoner George Spicer that several weeks earlier, while they were driving around the loch, he and his wife saw "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 with "an animal" in its mouth.[12] Letters began appearing in the Courier, often anonymously, claiming land or water sightings by the writer, their family or acquaintances or remembered stories.[13] The accounts reached the media, which described a "monster fish", "sea serpent", or "dragon"[14] and eventually settled on "Loch Ness monster".[15]

On 6 December 1933 the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published in the Daily Express;[16] the Secretary of State for Scotland soon ordered police to prevent any attacks on it.[17] In 1934, interest was further piqued by the "surgeon's photograph". That year, R. T. Gould published an account[18] of the author's investigation and a record of reports predating 1933. Other authors have claimed sightings of the monster dating to the sixth century AD.

History

Saint Columba (565)

The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the seventh century AD.[19] According to Adomnán, writing about a century after the events described, Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he encountered local residents burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man was swimming in the river when he was attacked by a "water beast" which mauled him and dragged him underwater. Although they tried to rescue him in a boat, he was dead. Columba sent a follower, Luigne moccu Min, to swim across the river. The beast approached him, but Columba made the sign of the cross and said: "Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once."[20] The creature stopped as if it had been "pulled back with ropes" and fled, and Columba's men and the Picts gave thanks for what they perceived as a miracle.[20] The oldest manuscript relating to this story was put online in 2012.[21]

Believers in the monster point to this story, set in the River Ness rather than the loch itself, as evidence for the creature's existence as early as the sixth century.[22] Sceptics question the narrative's reliability, noting that water-beast stories were extremely common in medieval hagiographies and Adomnán's tale probably recycles a common motif attached to a local landmark.[23] According to sceptics, Adomnán's story may be independent of the modern Loch Ness Monster legend and became attached to it by believers seeking to bolster their claims.[22] According to R. Binns, this account is the most credible of the early sightings of the monster; all other claims before 1933 are dubious and do not prove a tradition of sightings before that date.[10]

D. Mackenzie (1871–72)

Pre-1933 sightings of the creature were rare.[24] In October 1871 (or 1872), D. Mackenzie of Balnain reportedly saw an object resembling a log or an upturned boat "wriggling and churning up the water". The object moved slowly at first, disappearing at a faster speed.[25][26] Mackenzie sent his story in a letter to Rupert Gould in 1934, shortly after popular interest in the monster increased.[26]

Spicers (1933)

Modern interest in the monster was sparked by a sighting on 22 July 1933, when George Spicer and his wife saw "a most extraordinary form of animal" cross the road in front of their car.[12] They described the creature as having a large body (about 4 feet (1.2 m) high and 25 feet (8 m) long) and a long, wavy, narrow neck, slightly thicker than an elephant's trunk and as long as the 10–12-foot (3–4 m) width of the road. They saw no limbs.[27] It lurched across the road towards the loch 20 yards (20 m) away, leaving a trail of broken undergrowth in its wake.[27]

In August 1933 a motorcyclist, Arthur Grant, claimed to have nearly hit the creature while approaching Abriachan (near the north-eastern end of the loch) at about 1 a.m. on a moonlit night. According to Grant, it had a small head attached to a long neck; the creature saw him, and crossed the road back to the loch. Grant, a veterinary student, described it as a cross between a seal and a plesiosaur. He said he dismounted and followed it to the loch, but only saw ripples.[18][28] Some interpret the story as a humorous explanation of a motorcycle accident.[29]

Sightings of the monster increased after a road was built along the loch in early 1933, bringing workers and tourists to the formerly-isolated area.[30] Sporadic land sightings continued until 1963, when poor-quality film of the creature was shot in the loch from a distance of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi).[31]

William Fraser (1938)

In 1938 William Fraser, chief constable of Inverness-shire, wrote a letter that the monster existed beyond doubt and expressed concern about a hunting party which had arrived (with a custom-made harpoon gun) determined to catch the monster "dead or alive". He believed his power to protect the monster from the hunters was "very doubtful". The letter was released by the National Archives of Scotland on 27 April 2010.[32][33]

C. B. Farrel (1943)

In May 1943, C. B. Farrel of the Royal Observer Corps was reportedly distracted from his duties by a Nessie sighting. He claimed to have been about 230 metres (750 ft) away from a large-eyed, "finned" creature with a 6-to-9-metre (20 to 30 ft) long body and a neck which protruded about 1.2 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) out of the water.[34]

Sonar readings (1954)

In December 1954, sonar readings were taken by the fishing boat Rival III. Its crew noted a large object keeping pace with the vessel at a depth of 146 metres (479 ft). It was detected for 800 m (2,600 ft) before contact was lost and regained.[34] Previous sonar attempts were inconclusive or negative.

Photos and video

Hugh Gray photograph (1933)

On 12 November 1933, Hugh Gray was walking along the loch after church when he reportedly saw a large creature rising from the lake. Gray took several pictures, but only one was successfully developed. The blurry image appeared to show a creature with a long tail and thick body on the surface of the loch.[35] Although critics have claimed that the photograph is of Gray's Labrador Retriever swimming towards the camera (possibly carrying a stick), researcher Roland Watson suggests that there is an eel-like head on the right side of the image.[36] This is the first known photograph of the creature.

"Surgeon's photograph" (1934)

The "surgeon's photograph" is reportedly the first photo of the creature's head and neck.[37] Supposedly taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist, it was published in the Daily Mail on 21 April 1934.[38] Wilson's refusal to have his name associated with its led to its being known as the "surgeon's photograph".[39] According to Wilson, he was looking at the loch when he saw the monster, grabbed his camera and snapped four photos. Only two exposures came out clearly; the first reportedly shows a small head and back, and the second shows a similar head in a diving position. The first photo became well-known, and the second attracted little publicity because of its blurriness.

Although for a number of years the photo was considered evidence of the monster, sceptics dismissed it as driftwood,[26] an elephant,[40] an otter, or a bird. The photo's scale was controversial; it is often shown cropped (making the creature seem large and the ripples like waves), while the uncropped shot shows the other end of the loch and the monster in the centre. The ripples in the photo were found to fit the size and pattern of small ripples, unlike large waves photographed up close. Analysis of the original image fostered further doubt. In 1993, the makers of the Discovery Communications documentary Loch Ness Discovered analysed the uncropped image and found a white object visible in every version of the photo (implying that it was on the negative). It was believed to be the cause of the ripples, as if the object was being towed, although the possibility of a blemish on the negative could not be ruled out. An analysis of the full photograph indicated that the object was small, about 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 ft) long.[39]

Since 1994, most agree that the photo was an elaborate hoax.[39] It had been accused of being a fake in a 7 December 1975 Sunday Telegraph article which fell into obscurity.[41] Details of how the photo was taken were published in the 1999 book, Nessie – the Surgeon's Photograph Exposed, which contains a facsimile of the 1975 Sunday Telegraph article.[42] The creature was reportedly a toy submarine built by Christian Spurling, the son-in-law of Marmaduke Wetherell. Wetherell had been publicly ridiculed by his employer, the Daily Mail, after he found "Nessie footprints" which turned out to be a hoax. To get revenge on the Mail, Wetherell perpetrated his hoax with co-conspirators Spurling (sculpture specialist), Ian Wetherell (his son, who bought the material for the fake), and Maurice Chambers (an insurance agent).[43] The toy submarine was bought from F. W. Woolworths, and its head and neck were made from wood putty. After testing it in a local pond the group went to Loch Ness, where Ian Wetherell took the photos near the Altsaigh Tea House. When they heard a water bailiff approaching, Duke Wetherell sank the model with his foot and it is "presumably still somewhere in Loch Ness".[26] Chambers gave the photographic plates to Wilson, a friend of his who enjoyed "a good practical joke". Wilson brought the plates to Ogston's, an Inverness chemist, and gave them to George Morrison for development. He sold the first photo to the Daily Mail,[44] who then announced that the monster had been photographed.[26]

Little is known of the second photo; it is often ignored by researchers, who believe its quality too poor and its differences from the first photo too great to warrant analysis. It shows a head similar to the first photo, with a more turbulent wave pattern and possibly taken at a different time and location in the loch. Some believe it to be an earlier, cruder attempt at a hoax,[45] and others (including Roy Mackal and Maurice Burton) consider it a picture of a diving bird or otter which Wilson mistook for the monster.[25] According to Morrison, when the plates were developed Wilson was uninterested in the second photo; he allowed Morrison to keep the negative, and the second photo was rediscovered years later.[46] When asked about the second photo by the Ness Information Service Newsletter, Spurling " ... was vague, thought it might have been a piece of wood they were trying out as a monster, but [was] not sure."[47]

The hoax story is disputed by Henry Bauer, who claims that the debunking is evidence of bias and asks why the perpetrators did not reveal their plot earlier to embarrass the newspaper.[48] According to Alastair Boyd, a researcher who uncovered the hoax, the Loch Ness Monster is real; the surgeon's photo hoax does not mean that other photos, eyewitness reports, and footage of the creature are also, and he claims to have seen it.[49]

Tim Dinsdale disputes the claim that the photograph is a hoax in his book, Loch Ness Monster, after reportedly extensively studying the photograph from a number of angles: "Upon really close examination, there are certain rather obscure features in the picture which have a profound significance."[50] Two are a solid object breaking the surface to the right of the neck and a mark to the left and behind the neck.[51] According to Dinsdale, the objects are either a subtle fake or part of the monster.[52] Others are vague, small ripples behind the neck, apparently after the neck broke the surface.[52]

Taylor film (1938)

In 1938, South African tourist G. E. Taylor filmed something in the loch for three minutes on 16 mm colour film. The film was obtained by popular-science writer Maurice Burton, who did not show it to author Peter Costello and the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau.[citation needed] A single frame was published in his 1961 book, The Elusive Monster.

Dinsdale film (1960)

Aeronautical engineer Tim Dinsdale filmed a hump which left a wake crossing Loch Ness in 1960.[53] Dinsdale, who reportedly had the sighting on his final day of search, described it as reddish with a blotch on its side. He said that when he mounted his camera the object began to move, and he shot 40 feet of film. According to JARIC, the object was "probably animate".[54][third-party source needed] Others were sceptical, saying that the "hump" cannot be ruled out as being a boat[55] and when the contrast is increased, a man in a boat can be seen.[54]

In 1993 Discovery Communications produced a documentary, Loch Ness Discovered, with a digital enhancement of the Dinsdale film. A person who enhanced the film noticed a shadow in the negative which was not obvious in the developed film. By enhancing and overlaying frames, he found what appeared to be the rear body of a creature underwater: "Before I saw the film, I thought the Loch Ness Monster was a load of rubbish. Having done the enhancement, I'm not so sure".[49] According to sceptics, the angle of the film from the horizontal and the sun's angle that day made underwater shadows unlikely.[56] Although the darker water is coincidentally shaped like a body,[57] there may be a smaller object (a second hump or a head) in front of the hump.[57]

"Loch Ness Muppet" (1977)

Blurry, fake-looking photo
The "Loch Ness Muppet", photographed by Anthony Shiels. According to Shiels, the creature is an "elephant-squid"; its "neck" is the squid's trunk and the white spot at the base of the neck its eye.

On 21 May 1977 Anthony "Doc" Shiels, camping next to Urquhart Castle, took "some of the clearest pictures of the monster until this day".[citation needed] Shiels, a magician and psychic, claimed to have summoned the animal out of the water. He later described it as an "elephant squid", claiming the long neck shown in the photograph is actually the squid's "trunk" and that white spot at the base of the neck is its eye. Due to the lack of ripples, it has been declared a hoax by a number of people and received its name because of its staged look.[58][59][60]

Holmes video (2007)

On 26 May 2007, 55-year-old laboratory technician Gordon Holmes videotaped what he said was "this jet black thing, about 14 metres (46 ft) long, moving fairly fast in the water."[61] Adrian Shine, a marine biologist at the Loch Ness 2000 Centre in Drumnadrochit, described the footage as among "the best footage [he had] ever seen."[61] BBC Scotland broadcast the video on 29 May 2007.[62] STV News North Tonight aired the footage on 28 May 2007 and interviewed Holmes. Shine was also interviewed, and suggested that the footage was an otter, seal or water bird.[63] According to Joe Nickell, the footage shows a beaver or otter swimming in the loch.[64]

Sonar image (2011)

On 24 August 2011 Loch Ness boat captain Marcus Atkinson photographed a sonar image of a 1.5-metre (4 ft 11 in)*, unidentified object which seemed to follow his boat for two minutes at a depth of 23 m (75 ft), and ruled out the possibility of a small fish or seal. In April 2012, a scientist from the National Oceanography Centre said that the image is a bloom of algae and zooplankton.[65]

George Edwards photograph (2011)

On 3 August 2012, skipper George Edwards published what he claimed to be "the most convincing Nessie photograph ever",[citation needed] which he said he took on 2 November 2011. Edwards' photograph shows a hump above the water which, he said, remained there for five to ten minutes. According to Edwards, the photograph was independently verified by a Nessie sighting specialist and a group of US military monster experts. Edwards reportedly spent 60 hours per week on the loch aboard his boat, Nessie Hunter IV, on which he takes tourists for rides on the lake and claimed to have searched for the monster for 26 years.[66][67] Edwards said, "In my opinion, it probably looks kind of like a manatee, but not a mammal. When people see three humps, they're probably just seeing three separate monsters."[68]

Other researchers have questioned the photograph's authenticity, and Loch Ness researcher Steve Feltham suggested that the object in the water is a fibreglass hump used in a National Geographic Channel documentary in which Edwards had participated.[69] Researcher Dick Raynor has questioned Edwards' claim of discovering a deeper bottom of Loch Ness, which Raynor calls "Edwards Deep". He found inconsistencies between Edwards' claims for the location and conditions of the photograph and the actual location and weather conditions that day. According to Raynor, Edwards told him he had faked a photograph in 1986 which he claimed was genuine in the Nat Geo documentary.[70] Although Edwards admitted in October 2013 that his 2011 photograph was a hoax,[71] he insisted that the 1986 photograph was genuine.[72]

David Elder video (2013)

On 27 August 2013, tourist David Elder presented a five-minute video of a "mysterious wave" in the loch. According to Elder, the wave was produced by a 4.5 m (15 ft) "solid black object" just under the surface of the water.[73] Elder, 50, from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, was taking a picture of a swan at the Fort Augustus pier on the south-western end of the loch,[74] when he captured the movement.[75] He said, "The water was very still at the time and there were no ripples coming off the wave and no other activity on the water."[75] Sceptics suggested that the wave may have been caused by a wind gust.[76]

Apple Maps photograph (2014)

On 19 April 2014, it was reported[4] that a satellite image on Apple Maps showed what appeared to be a large creature (thought by some to be the Loch Ness Monster) just below the surface of Loch Ness. At the loch's far north, the image appeared about 30 metres (98 ft) long. Possible explanations were the wake of a boat (with the boat itself lost in image stitching or low contrast), seal-caused ripples, or floating wood.[77][78]

Google Street View (2015)

Google commemorated the 81st anniversary of the "surgeon's photograph" with a Google Doodle,[79] and added a new feature to Google Street View with which users can explore the loch above and below the water.[80][81] Google reportedly spent a week at Loch Ness collecting imagery with a street-view "trekker" camera, attaching it to a boat to photograph above the surface and collaborating with members of the Catlin Seaview Survey to photograph underwater.[82]

Searches

Edward Mountain expedition (1934)

The loch on a cloudy day, with ruins of a castle in the foreground
Loch Ness, reported home of the monster

After reading Rupert Gould's The Loch Ness Monster and Others,[18] Edward Mountain financed a search. Twenty men with binoculars and cameras positioned themselves around the loch from 9 am to 6 pm for five weeks, beginning on 13 July 1934. Although 21 photographs were taken, none was considered conclusive. Supervisor James Fraser remained by the loch filming on 15 September 1934; the film is now lost.[83] Zoologists and professors of natural history concluded that the film showed a seal, possibly a grey seal.[84]

Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau (1962–1972)

The Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau (LNPIB) was a UK-based society formed in 1962 by Norman Collins, R. S. R. Fitter, politician David James, Peter Scott and Constance Whyte[85] "to study Loch Ness to identify the creature known as the Loch Ness Monster or determine the causes of reports of it."[86] The society's name was later shortened to the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau (LNIB), and it disbanded in 1972. The LNIB had an annual subscription charge, which covered administration. Its main activity was encouraging groups of self-funded volunteers to watch the loch from vantage points with film cameras with telescopic lenses. From 1965 to 1972 it had a caravan camp and viewing platform at Achnahannet, and sent observers to other locations up and down the loch.[87] According to the bureau's 1969 annual report [88] it had 1,030 members, of whom 588 were from the UK.

Sonar study (1967–1968)

D. Gordon Tucker, chair of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, volunteered his services as a sonar developer and expert at Loch Ness in 1968.[89] His gesture, part of a larger effort led by the LNPIB from 1967 to 1968, involved collaboration between volunteers and professionals in a number of fields. Tucker had chosen Loch Ness as the test site for a prototype sonar transducer with a maximum range of 800 m (2,600 ft). The device was fixed underwater at Temple Pier in Urquhart Bay and directed at the opposite shore, drawing an acoustic "net" across the loch through which no moving object could pass undetected. During the two-week trial in August, multiple targets 6 m (20 ft) in length were identified rising from and diving to the loch bottom. Analysis of diving profiles ruled out air-breathers, because the targets never surfaced or moved shallower than midwater.[citation needed]

Robert Rines studies (1972, 1975, 2001, 2008)

In 1972, a group of researchers from the Academy of Applied Science led by Robert H. Rines conducted a search for the monster involving sonar examination of the loch depths for unusual activity. Rines took precautions to avoid murky water with floating wood and peat.[citation needed] A submersible camera with a floodlight was deployed to record images below the surface. If Rines detected anything on the sonar, he turned the light on and took pictures.

On 8 August Rines' Raytheon DE-725C sonar unit, operating at a frequency of 200 kHz and anchored at a depth of 11 metres (36 ft), identified a moving target (or targets) estimated by echo strength at 6 to 9 metres (20 to 30 ft) in length. Specialists from Raytheon, Simrad (now Kongsberg Maritime), Hydroacoustics, Marty Klein of MIT and Klein Associates (a side-scan sonar producer) and Ira Dyer of MIT's Department of Ocean Engineering were on hand to examine the data. P. Skitzki of Raytheon suggested that the data indicated a 3-metre (10 ft) protuberance projecting from one of the echoes. According to author Roy Mackal, the shape was a "highly flexible laterally flattened tail" or the misinterpreted return from two animals swimming together.[90]

Concurrent with the sonar readings, the floodlit camera obtained a pair of underwater photographs. Both depicted what appeared to be a rhomboid flipper, although sceptics have dismissed the images as the bottom of the loch, air bubbles, a rock, or a fish fin. The apparent flipper was photographed in different positions, indicating movement.[91] The first flipper photo is better-known than the second, and both were enhanced and retouched from the original negatives. According to team member Charles Wyckoff, the photos were retouched to superimpose the flipper; the original enhancement showed a considerably less-distinct object. No one is sure how the originals were altered.[92]

British naturalist Peter Scott announced in 1975, on the basis of the photographs, that the creature's scientific name would be Nessiteras rhombopteryx (Greek for "Ness monster with diamond-shaped fin").[93] Scott intended that the name would enable the creature to be added to the British register of protected wildlife. Scottish politician Nicholas Fairbairn called the name an anagram for "Monster hoax by Sir Peter S".[94][95]

Another sonar contact was made, this time with two objects estimated to be about 9 metres (30 ft). The strobe camera photographed two large, white, lumpy objects surrounded by a flurry of bubbles. Some interpreted the objects as two plesiosaur-like animals, suggesting several large animals living in Loch Ness. This photograph has rarely been published.

In 2001, Rines' Academy of Applied Science videotaped a V-shaped wake traversing still water on a calm day. The academy also videotaped an object on the floor of the loch resembling a carcass and found marine clamshells and a fungus-like organism not normally found in freshwater lochs, a suggested connection to the sea and a possible entry for the creature.[96]

In 2008 Rines theorised that the creature may have become extinct, citing the lack of significant sonar readings and a decline in eyewitness accounts. He undertook a final expedition, using sonar and an underwater camera in an attempt to find a carcass. Rines believed that the animals may have failed to adapt to temperature changes resulting from global warming.[97]

Operation Deepscan (1987)

Operation Deepscan was conducted in 1987.[98] Twenty-four boats equipped with echosounder equipment were deployed across the width of the loch, and simultaneously sent acoustic waves. According to BBC News the scientists had made sonar contact with an unidentified object of unusual size.[citation needed] The researchers returned, re-scanning the area. Analysis of the echosounder images seemed to indicate debris at the bottom of the loch, although there was motion in three of the pictures. Adrian Shine speculated, based on size, that they might be seals which had entered the loch.[99]

Sonar expert Darrell Lowrance, founder of Lowrance Electronics, donated a number of echosounder units used in the operation. After examining a sonar return indicating a large, moving object at a depth of 180 metres (590 ft) near Urquhart Bay, Lowrance said: "There's something here that we don't understand, and there's something here that's larger than a fish, maybe some species that hasn't been detected before. I don't know."[100]

Searching for the Loch Ness Monster (2003)

In 2003, the BBC sponsored a search of the loch using 600 sonar beams and satellite tracking. The search had sufficient resolution to identify a small buoy. No animal of substantial size was found and, despite their high hopes, the scientists involved admitted that this proved the Loch Ness Monster was a myth. Searching for the Loch Ness Monster aired on BBC One.[101]

Explanations

A number of explanations have been suggested to account for sightings of the creature. They may be categorised as misidentifications of known animals, misidentifications of inanimate objects or effects, reinterpretations of Scottish folklore, hoaxes, and exotic species of large animals.

Misidentification of known animals

Bird wakes

Wakes have been reported when the loch is calm, with no boats nearby. Bartender David Munro reported a wake he believed was a creature zigzagging, diving, and reappearing; there were reportedly 26 other witnesses from a nearby car park.[92][better source needed] Although some sightings describe a V-shaped wake similar to a boat's,[96] others report something not conforming to the shape of a boat.[49] Under calm conditions, creatures invisible to the naked eye (such as a group of swimming birds) may leave a V-shaped wake. They can leave the water and land again, leaving a series of wakes like an object breaking the surface (which Dick Raynor cites as a possible explanation of his film).[102]

Eels

A large eel was an early suggestion.[17] Eels are found in Loch Ness, and an unusually-large one would explain many sightings.[103] Dinsdale dismissed the hypotheses, because eels undulate side to side like snakes.[104] Sightings in 1856 of a "sea-serpent" (or kelpie in a freshwater lake near Leurbost in the Outer Hebrides were explained as those of an oversized eel, also believed common in "Highland lakes": "All, however, agree, in describing its form as that of an eel; and we have heard one, whose evidence we can rely upon, state that in length he supposed it to be about forty feet. It is probable that it is no more than a conger eel after all, animals of this description having been caught in the Highland lakes which have attained a huge size."[105]

On 2 May 2001, two conger eels were found on the shore of the loch. Since that fish is a marine species, they were considered a hoax.[106]

Elephant

In a 1979 article, California biologist Dennis Power and geographer Donald Johnson claimed that the "surgeon's photograph" was the top of the head, extended trunk and flared nostrils of a swimming elephant photographed elsewhere and claimed to be from Loch Ness.[40] In 2006, palaeontologist and artist Neil Clark suggested that travelling circuses might have allowed elephants to bathe in the loch; the trunk could be the perceived head and neck, with the head and back the perceived humps. In support of this, Clark provided a painting.[107]

Greenland shark

Angler and television presenter Jeremy Wade investigated the creature in 2013 as part of the series River Monsters, and concluded that it is a Greenland shark. The Greenland shark, which can reach up to 20 feet in length, inhabits the North Atlantic Ocean around Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and possibly Scotland. It is dark in colour, with a small dorsal fin.[108] According to biologist Bruce Wright, the Greenland shark could survive in fresh water (possibly using rivers and lakes to find food) and Loch Ness has an abundance of salmon and other fish.[109][110]

Wels catfish

In July 2015 three news outlets reported that Steve Feltham, after a vigil at the loch which was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records, theorised that the monster is an unusually-large specimen of Wels catfish (Silurus glanis) which may have been released during the late 19th century.[111][112][113]

Resident animals

Tt is difficult to judge the size of an object in water through a telescope or binoculars with no external reference. Loch Ness has resident otters, and photos of them and deer swimming in the loch which were cited by author Ronald Binns[114] may have been misinterpreted. According to Binns, birds may be mistaken for a "head and neck" sighting.[115]

Seals

During the 1930s, Dutch zoologist Antoon Cornelis Oudemans proposed that the creature might be an unknown form of long-necked pinniped (semi-aquatic mammal, including the seals). In 1892, he concluded that several sightings of sea serpents were probably large, plesiosaur-like pinnipeds and named a hypothetical species of long-necked pinniped Megophias megophias. According to Oudemans, the Loch Ness Monster was a freshwater version of Megophias megophias.[citation needed]

A number of photographs and a video have confirmed the presence of seals in the loch for as long as several months at a time.[116][117] In 1934 the Edward Mountain expedition analysed film taken that year and concluded that the monster was a species of seal; a Daily Mirror headline read, "Loch Ness Riddle Solved – Official".[118] A long-necked seal was hypothesised by Peter Costello for Nessie and for other reported lake monsters.[119] According to R. T. Gould, "A grey seal has a long and surprisingly extensible neck; it swims with a paddling action; its colour fits the bill; and there is nothing surprising in its being seen on the shore of the loch, or crossing a road."[18] This explains sightings of lake monsters on land in which the creature reportedly waddled into the loch when startled, consistent with seal behaviour.[119] Seals would account for sonar traces of animate objects. However, it has been argued that all known pinnipeds sunbathe on land during the day.[120]

Misidentifications of inanimate objects or effects

Trees

In 1933, the Daily Mirror published a picture with the caption: "This queerly-shaped tree-trunk, washed ashore at Foyers [on Loch Ness] may, it is thought, be responsible for the reported appearance of a 'Monster'".[121] In a 1982 series of articles for New Scientist, Maurice Burton proposed that sightings of Nessie and similar creatures may be fermenting Scots pine logs rising to the surface of the loch. A decomposing log could not initially release gases caused by decay because of its high resin level. Gas pressure would eventually rupture a resin seal at one end of the log, propelling it through the water (sometimes to the surface). According to Burton, the shape of tree logs (with their branch stumps) closely resembles descriptions of the monster.[122][123][124]

Four Scottish lochs, including Loch Morar, Loch Ness and Loch Lomond, are very deep. Only lochs with pine forests on their shores have monster legends; Loch Lomond, with no such forests, does not. Gaseous emissions and surfactants resulting from log decay can cause the foamy wake reported in some sightings, and beached pine logs showing evidence of deep-water fermentation have been found. However, believers say that some lakes have reports of monsters despite an absence of pines; one example is the Irish lough monsters.[125][better source needed]

Seiches and wakes

Loch Ness, because of its long, straight shape, is subject to unusual ripples affecting its surface. A seiche is a large oscillation of a lake, caused by water reverting to its natural level after being blown to one end of the lake (resulting in a standing wave); the Loch Ness oscillation period is 31.5 minutes.[126]

Boat wakes can produce strange effects in the loch. As a wake spreads from a boat passing the centre of the loch, it hits both sides almost simultaneously and deflects back to meet in the middle. The movement produces standing waves larger than the original wake, which may appear humped. Since the boat has passed, the unusual waves are all that can be seen.[127][128]

Optical effects

Wind conditions can give a choppy, matte appearance to the water, with calm patches appearing dark from the shore (reflecting the mountains). In 1979 W. H. Lehn showed that atmospheric refraction could distort the shape and size of objects and animals,[129] and later published a photograph of a mirage of a rock on Lake Winnipeg which resembled a head and neck.[130]

Seismic gas

Italian geologist Luigi Piccardi has proposed geological explanations for ancient legends and myths. Piccardi noted that in the earliest recorded sighting of a creature (the Life of Saint Columba), the creature's emergence was accompanied "cum ingenti fremitu" ("with loud roaring"). The Loch Ness is along the Great Glen Fault, and this could be a description of an earthquake. Many reports consist only of a large disturbance on the surface of the water; this could be a release of gas through the fault, although it may be mistaken for something swimming below the surface.[131]

According to Ronald Binns, there is probably no one explanation of the monster. A wide range of natural phenomena have been hypothesised, including otters, swimming deer, and unusual waves. Binns wrote that an aspect of human psychology is the ability of the eye to see what it wants, and expects, to see.[10]

Folklore

In 1980 Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren wrote that present beliefs in lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster are associated with kelpie legends. According to Sjögren, accounts of loch monsters have changed over time; originally describing horse-like creatures, they were intended to keep children away from the loch. Sjögren wrote that the kelpie legends have developed into descriptions reflecting a modern awareness of plesiosaurs..[132]

The kelpie as a water horse in Loch Ness was mentioned in an 1879 Scottish newspaper,[133] and inspired Tim Dinsdale's Project Water Horse.[134] A study of pre-1933 Highland folklore references to kelpies, water horses and water bulls indicated that Ness was the loch most frequently cited.[135]

Hoaxes

A number of hoax attempts have been made, some of which were successful. Other hoaxes were revealed rather quickly by the perpetrators or exposed after diligent research. A few examples follow.

In August 1933, Italian journalist Francesco Gasparini submitted what he said was the first news article on the Loch Ness Monster. In 1959, he reported sighting a "strange fish" and fabricated eyewitness accounts: "I had the inspiration to get hold of the item about the strange fish. The idea of the monster had never dawned on me, but then I noted that the strange fish would not yield a long article, and I decided to promote the imaginary being to the rank of monster without further ado."[136]

In the 1930s, big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell went to Loch Ness to look for the monster. Wetherell claimed to have found footprints, but when casts of the footprints were sent to scientists for analysis they turned out to be from a hippopotamus; a prankster had used a hippopotamus-foot umbrella stand.[137]

In 1972 a team of zoologists from Yorkshire's Flamingo Park Zoo, searching for the monster, discovered a large body floating in the water. The corpse, 4.9–5.4 m (16–18 ft) long and weighing as much as 1.5 tonnes, was described by the Press Association as having "a bear's head and a brown scaly body with clawlike fins." The creature was placed in a van to be carried away for testing, but police seized the cadaver under an act of parliament prohibiting the removal of "unidentified creatures" from Loch Ness. It was later revealed that Flamingo Park education officer John Shields shaved the whiskers and otherwise disfigured a bull elephant seal which had died the week before and dumped it in Loch Ness to dupe his colleagues.[citation needed] On 2 July 2003, Gerald McSorely a fossil supposedly from the creature when he tripped and fell into the loch. After examination, it was clear that the fossil had been planted.[106]

Long-necked dinosaur model
Cryptoclidus model used in the Five TV programme, Loch Ness Monster: The Ultimate Experiment

In 2004 a Five TV documentary team, using cinematic special-effects experts, tried to convince people that there was something in the loch. They constructed an animatronic model of a plesiosaur, calling it "Lucy". Despite setbacks (including Lucy falling to the bottom of the loch), about 600 sightings were reported where she was placed.[138][139]

In 2005, two students claimed to have found a large tooth embedded in the body of a deer on the loch shore. They publicised the find, setting up a website, but expert analysis soon revealed that the "tooth" was the antler of a muntjac.[140] The tooth was a publicity stunt to promote a horror novel by Steve Alten, The Loch.[106]

In 2007, a video reportedly showing Nessie jumping into the air appeared on YouTube. It was unmasked by eSkeptic as an advertisement for Sony Pictures' The Water Horse,[141] since the video contained footage from the film.

Exotic large-animal species

Plesiosaur

Model of a dinosaur in water
Reconstruction of Nessie as a plesiosaur outside the Museum of Nessie

In 1933 it was suggested that the creature "bears a striking resemblance to the supposedly extinct plesiosaur",[142] a long-necked aquatic reptile which became extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. A popular explanation at the time, the following arguments have been made against it:

  • Plesiosaurs were probably cold-blooded reptiles needing warm tropical waters; the average temperature of Loch Ness is only about 5.5 °C (42 °F).[143] If the plesiosaurs were warm-blooded, they would require a food supply beyond that supplied by Loch Ness.[144]
  • In an October 2006 New Scientist article, "Why the Loch Ness Monster is no plesiosaur", Leslie Noè of the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge said: "The osteology of the neck makes it absolutely certain that the plesiosaur could not lift its head up swan-like out of the water".[145]
  • The loch is only about 10,000 years old, dating to the end of the last ice age. Before then, it was frozen for about 20,000 years.[146]
  • If creatures similar to plesiosaurs lived in Loch Ness they would be seen frequently, since they would have to surface several times a day to breathe.[99]

In response to these criticisms, Tim Dinsdale, Peter Scott and Roy Mackal postulate a trapped marine creature which evolved from a plesiosaur directly or by convergent evolution.[147] Robert Rines explained that the "horns" in some sightings as breathing tubes (or nostrils), allowing it to breathe without breaking the surface.

Long-necked giant amphibian

R. T. Gould suggested a long-necked newt;[18][148] Roy Mackal examined the possibility, giving it the highest score (88 percent) on his list of possible candidates.[149]

Invertebrate

In 1968 F. W. (Ted) Holiday proposed that Nessie and other lake monsters, such as Morag, may be a large invertebrate such as a bristleworm; he cited the extinct Tullimonstrum as an example of the shape.[150] According to Holiday, this explains the land sightings and the variable back shape; he likened it to the medieval description of dragons as "worms". Although this theory was considered by Mackal, he found it less convincing than eels, amphibians or plesiosaurs.[151]

See also

Footnotes

Notes
  1. ^ The date is inferred from the oldest written source reporting a monster near Loch Ness.[2]
  2. ^ Derived from "Loch Ness". Also a familiar form of the girl's name Agnes, relatively common in Scotland, e.g. the Daily Mirror 4 August 1932 reports the wedding of "Miss Nessie Clark, a Banffshire schoolteacher"
References
  1. ^ Krystek, Lee. "The Surgeon's Hoax". unmuseum.org. UNMuseum. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  2. ^ Life of St. Columba (chapter 28).
  3. ^ Delrio, Martin (2002). The Loch Ness Monster. Rosen Publishing Group. p. 48. ISBN 0-8239-3564-7.
  4. ^ a b Gander, Kashmira (19 April 2014). "Loch Ness Monster found on Apple Maps?". London: The Independent. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  5. ^ A. G. Harmsworth (2009). Loch-ness.org says the Plesiosaur theory is "Without doubt (the) most popular candidate among monster believers and the press".
  6. ^ Robert Todd Carroll, The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. pp. 200–201 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003). ISBN 0-471-27242-6
  7. ^ Campbell, Elizabeth Montgomery & David Solomon, The Search for Morag (Tom Stacey 1972) ISBN 0-85468-093-4, page 28 gives an-t-Seileag, an-Niseag, a-Mhorag for the monsters of Lochs Shiel, Ness and Morag, adding that they are feminine diminutives
  8. ^ "Up Again". Edinburgh Scotsman. 14 May 1945. p. 1. So "Nessie" is at her tricks again. After a long, she has by all accounts bobbed up in home waters...
  9. ^ The Sun 27 November 1975: I'm the man who first coined the word "monster" for the creature.
  10. ^ a b c R. Binns The Loch Ness Mystery Solved pp 11–12
  11. ^ Inverness Courier 2 May 1933 "Loch Ness has for generations been credited with being the home of a fearsome-looking monster"
  12. ^ a b "Is this the Loch Ness Monster?". Inverness Courier. 4 August 1933.
  13. ^ R. Binns The Loch Ness Mystery Solved pp 19–27
  14. ^ Daily Mirror, 11 August 1933 "Loch Ness, which is becoming famous as the supposed abode of a dragon..."
  15. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary gives 9 June 1933 as the first usage of the exact phrase Loch Ness monster
  16. ^ R. P. Mackal (1983) "The Monsters of Loch Ness" p.94
  17. ^ a b Daily Mirror 8 December 1933 "The Monster of Loch Ness – Official! Orders That Nobody is to Attack it" ... A Huge Eel?"
  18. ^ a b c d e Gould, Rupert T. (1934). The Loch Ness Monster and Others. London: Geoffrey Bles.
  19. ^ J. A Carruth Loch Ness and its Monster, (1950) Abbey Press, Fort Augustus, cited by Tim Dinsdale (1961) Loch Ness Monster ppp 33–35
  20. ^ a b Adomnán, p. 176 (II:27).
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Bibliography

  • Bauer, Henry H. The Enigma of Loch Ness: Making Sense of a Mystery, Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 1986
  • Binns, Ronald, The Loch Ness Mystery Solved, Great Britain, Open Books, 1983, ISBN 0-7291-0139-8 and Star Books, 1984, ISBN 0-352-31487-7
  • Burton, Maurice, The Elusive Monster: An Analysis of the Evidence from Loch Ness, London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1961
  • Campbell, Steuart. The Loch Ness Monster – The Evidence, Buffalo, New York, Prometheus Books, 1985.
  • Dinsdale, Tim, Loch Ness Monster, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961, SBN 7100 1279 9
  • Harrison, Paul The encyclopaedia of the Loch Ness Monster, London, Robert Hale, 1999
  • Gould, R. T., The Loch Ness Monster and Others, London, Geoffrey Bles, 1934 and paperback, Lyle Stuart, 1976, ISBN 0-8065-0555-9
  • Holiday, F. W., The Great Orm of Loch Ness, London, Faber & Faber, 1968, SBN 571 08473 7
  • Mackal, Roy P., The Monsters of Loch Ness, London, Futura, 1976, ISBN 0-86007-381-5
  • Whyte, Constance, More Than a Legend: The Story of the Loch Ness Monster, London, Hamish Hamilton, 1957

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