Life Issues - The Loch Ness Monster

Scotland is undoubtedly a beautiful country. Magnificent hills and mountains covered in heather change colour as the sun moves though the sky; the sound of bagpipes floats on the summer breeze as tourists gather to watch highland dancers; the smell of shortbread and strawberry tarts, bridies and cloutie dumplings tempt travelers into the doors of local bakeries; a wee dram of malt whisky awaits visitors to a quaint pub in a small fishing village at the edge of a rough and rugged coastline. Perhaps the best -known attraction in Scotland however is Loch Ness.

Situated towards the northern end of Scotland, Loch Ness lies outside of Inverness. It is the highest fresh water lake in the country and is surrounded by mountains. It contains roughly 2 cubic miles of fresh water and though many rivers flow into the loch, only one flows out of it. This river is one of the best fishing rivers in all of Scotland.

Loch Ness is impressive to look at. It is 24 miles long and a mile wide and the average depth is 600 feet. The water is mysterious, murky and dark, so dark that only the first 5 feet are clear enough to see into!

The loch is full of salmon and trout and one other very strange beast…

Nessie, many Nessie Hunters have spotted the Loch Ness monster over the years. Reputedly a monster with at least one hump, Nessie is said to look like an upturned boat.

Some people have seen Nessie’s neck and head breaking the surface of the water whilst others have seen the beast heave its way across the road and into the loch.

Sightings of sea serpents and monsters have been recorded as long as man has been on the earth and folklore is full of stories of water horses, sea beasts and kelpies that seem to have stuck in our minds today.

The first ‘proper’ sighting of a monster in the loch was in 1933 when Mrs. Mackay spotted a whale like creature in the water near Aldourie Castle. When the local water bailiff Alex Campbell reported the event in the local paper he elaborated on the story and called the creature a monster. This grabbed the attention of journalists in London and soon the loch was swarming with Nessie Hunters.

Since then many people from all walks of life has spotted something strange in the dark waters of the loch. There are several reports of a hump moving at great speed through the water and there are a lot of sketches of Nessie in circulation.

There have been a couple of sightings reported of multiple beasts in the water and some say that there is one or a family of plesiosaurs living in Loch Ness.

The loch was originally an enormous glacier that melted towards the end of the Ice Age and some think that one or some plesiosaurs were frozen in the ice and began to breathe again when it melted and have lived in the loch ever since.

There is a cavern under the waters of the loch that was discovered by a local businessman and auxiliary coastguard, George Edwards. He believes that the cavern might lead to a network of other caves and that underwater creatures could inhabit them.

There have been several scientific experiments made to gain information on the possibility of a creature living in Loch Ness. Some sonic pictures have been taken of what appears to be a flipper as well as a head and body. But the result is still the same amongst scientists as it is amongst the general public – some believe and some do not.

Whether there is a creature living in Loch Ness or not, Nessie has become well known all around the world and even if you don’t believe she exists it is more than likely you would find yourself looking for her if you visited the loch…

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