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mysteries |
The Loch Ness Monster |
Other Information |
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| Is the largest freshwater lake in the UK home to a giant,
unknown creature, or are the reports of ‘Nessie’ no more than stories?
‘It was shiny black like a seal’s skin. We did not see any head, but I can only think it is what people call the Lock Ness Monster.’ this was the description that Bill Kinder gave. He had spotted a ten metre long trail in April 1996, he slowed his car and watched as the black object appeared from under the water. He thought it was a rock at first, but then he realised that it was living creature. Two-humped Trail. Behind Bill was another car, driven by Yurong Ling, his wife and a friend. They confirmed seeing the trail in the water, and also stated that it had two humps. Yurong then said that he did not know what it was, but that it could have been the wake of a boat. But a later investigation found that there were no boats in the area at the time. There have been thousands of sightings of the monster dating from around AD 565, during this time St Columba reported that she saw a large creature in the loch. It was not until 1933, that the sightings became headline news and the legend of ‘Nessie’ was born. During this time the sighting was made by a Mr. and Mrs. McKay who were out driving to Drumnadrochit, near Loch Ness, when they saw ‘an enormous animal rolling and plunging’ in the loch. They later described it as ‘resembling a whale’. A newspaper report was later written and it sparked an international sensation which sparked off many more sightings. All of them were of a large creature about 5-6 metres long, and with a long neck and a very small head. The reports differed in one respect, some of them had one hump, while others had three. The summer of 1933 was the hottest on record at the time, and as such could have given rise to mirages, this effect magnifies objects, whatever they happen to be, such as bottles or birds. Alex Campbell has been the bailiff of the loch for the last 52 years, and he claims to have seen Nessy over 18 times, but he has never managed to take a picture. On one occasion, he claimed ‘the swanlike neck reached six feet above the water at the highest point, and the body, a dark grey colour, was at least 30feet long.’ Loch Ness is 230 metre’s deep, and it is very large - bigger than all the UK’s other reservoirs and lakes, put together. The temperature of the loch is low, but a heat is released from it, and this helps to keep it a uniform and regular temperature throughout the year. The loch also contains a large number of Salmon, Trout and Eels that could sustain any large creature that lives in the loch. Photographic Evidence. The first photograph of the monster was taken by Hugh Gray on 13th November 1933, and again in 1934, this second one is one of the most famous, as it depicts a long neck rising from the water. It was taken by a gynecologist Kenneth Wilson, and is known as the ‘Surgeon’s Picture.’ The clearest of all the pictures are those taken by Antony Shiels in 1977, on 21st May, he was observing the loch from below Urquhart Castle, when, he says a long neck emerged from the water, so he took 2 photo’s. He describes the creature thus: ‘the colour of the animal was greenish-brown, with a paler underside. Skin texture, smooth and glossy. The animal was visible for about 5 seconds, and held itself upright and still, except for the turning of the head, it then slowly sank back into the water.’ Ronald Binns, suggests that most witnesses are actually seeing a number of other things and mistaking them for Nessy. They include the wakes of boats, logs, rocks, birds and even deer. An example of this kind of mistaken identity, occurred in 1932, when a crocodile-like creature was seen in the loch. Adrian Shine, runs the Loch Ness Project, and he says that the sighting was possibly due to a ‘rare visit by a Baltic Sturgeon which can be 12 feet long and would have come in from the sea to spawn.’ Other theories as to what Nessy may be include:
Monster Movie. On 23rd April 1960, Tim Dinsdale, managed to capture something moving on film, and The Royal Air Force’s Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre confirmed it to be authentic. They also stated that the object in the film was not a boat or a submarine and ‘that it is probably an animate object’. The film was shown all over the world and brought world-wide interest, and this film remains one of the most important pieces of evidence concerning Nessy. The sceptics, however, maintain that Nessy is the invention of the press, and has since been made into a Scottish icon, to boost the tourist industry. Meet the Family. One point that is raised every now and again, is that if the monster has been around for centuries where are the other Nessy’s and also why are their never any bones found, belonging to the monster? One reason for this is because the bones sink to the bottom of the loch and get buried by silt.
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Sources: The X Factor |