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Overview and Evidence[]
The Loch Ness Monster, affectionately known as Nessie, is an enormous, ostensibly reptilian animal occasionally reported to dwell deep beneath the surface of Loch Ness, a 56km2 freshwater lake located in the Scottish Highlands. A member of the Cryptozoological Big 5 along with the sasquatch, yeti, chupacabra, and mothman, Nessie is without a doubt the most famous alleged lake monster in the world and one of Scotland's most famous 'residents'.
Eyewitness descriptions of the beast generally describe it as resembling a plesiosaur, an order of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles. Features of the plesiosaurs often attributed to Nessie are a long serpentine neck, two pairs of paddle-like flippers for propulsion, and a long muscular tail. Other features shared with no known plesiosaurs are two ossicone-like horns on its head and the row of small humps running down its back (while the scientific community can't rule out that any plesiosaurs had these features, no known fossils yet discovered have featured them). Coloration is usually said to be dark black or brown, although sightings are generally just quick glimpses at a hump emerging from the water.
Other than eyewitness testimony, there is currently no verifiable evidence of the creature's existence. Alleged videos and photos exist, but they are usually of dubious quality, only show the creature's alleged humps, and can often be explained by floating logs or hoaxes. One such photograph, dubbed the "surgeon's photograph", was allegedly taken in 1934 by British surgeon Robert Kenneth Wilson and quickly became the most iconic image of the Loch Ness monster ever taken. However, it was eventually revealed in the 1990s to have been an elaborate hoax on the part of Wilson and several associates.[1] Numerous sonar studies of the lake, in which teams of boats use advanced sonar technology to scan the volume of the lake, have turned up nothing substantial; while the occasional anomalous shape has been detected, it has always been explained as a sunken log or rock or a bloom of algae.
The hypothesis among cryptozoologists that the creature is a surviving plesiosaur is generally dismissed as preposterous by the scientific community. While it is not currently known whether or not plesiosaurs were warm-blooded, the loch would certainly be too cold for a cold-blooded reptile. In addition, plesiosaurs, like all reptiles, breathe air and thus one would expect the frequency of sightings to be very high given the level of tourism at the loch and the frequency with which the creature(s) would need to breathe. Another large problem with this hypothesis is that the loch as it is known today only formed approximately 10,000 years ago, over 65 million years after the last known plesiosaurs died out in the KT extinction.[2] Nessie proponents have suggested that a surviving plesiosaur could have entered the inland lake through an underground tunnel leading to the ocean, but no such tunnel has been found.
Skeptics have proposed the idea of giant eels being the prime suspect for cases of mistaken identity. European eels can be found in the loch and while they usually only grow to just over two feet in length, unusually large specimens of nearly six feet have been found. Other than intentional hoaxes, potential explanations include disturbances on the water's surface caused by the release of underwater methane, misidentification of floating logs or other debris, and even seals or sea lions that had come too far inland from the sea.
Alleged Sightings[]
First-Person Accounts[]
I have just returned from a motoring holiday in Scotland. and am writing to inform you that on Saturday afternoon, 22nd July last, whilst travelling along the east side of Loch Ness between Dores and Foyers Hotel, about half way, in fact, I saw the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life. It crossed my road about fifty yards ahead, and appeared to be carrying a small lamb or animal of some kind.
It seemed to have a long neck, which moved up and down in the manner of a scenic railway, and the body was fairly big, with a high back: but If there were any feet they must have been of the web kind, and as for a tail I cannot say, as it moved so rapidly, and when we got to the spot it had probably disappeared into the loch. Length from six feet to eight feet and very ugly.
I am wondering if you can give me any information about it, and am enclosing a stamped addressed envelope, anticipating your kind reply.
Whatever it is, and it may be a land and water animal, I think it should be destroyed, as I am not sure whether had I been quite close to it I should have cared to have tackled it. It is difficult to give a better description, as it moved so swiftly, and the whole thing was so sudden. There is no doubt that it exists.[3] [sic]Popular Culture[]
Film[]
- The Loch Ness monster exists in Legendary's MonsterVerse franchise, although it goes by the codename Titanus Leviathan (itself a reference to an enormous sea monster from Jewish mythology). Prior to calls emitted by King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it had been contained in a research facility at Loch Ness.
- The animated film Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster features the creature allegedly wreaking havoc at the nearby Highland Games. However, as with most Scooby-Doo villains, the creature turns out to be a hoax. The film ends with Scooby getting a brief glimpse at the real creature.
- A 2007 fantasy film titled The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep focuses on a young Scottish boy who accidentally hatches an egg belonging to a kelpie (a mythical Scottish semi-aquatic horse). When the creature grows too large, the boy is forced to release it into Loch Ness.
Television[]
- An episode of Godzilla: The Series, a spin-off of the 1998 Tristar film, features a mosasaur-like Nessie who has been attacking nearby research facilities that kidnapped her offspring.
- A British animated series titled The Family-Ness aired in 1983 and depicted two children who befriend a family of reptilian creatures living in Loch Ness.
- A similar series aired in the United Kingdom in 1995 called Happy Ness: Secret of the Loch.
Video Games[]
- One of the original 151 first generation Pokémon appearing in Pokémon Red. Pokémon Green, and Pokémon Blue is the Water/Ice-type Lapras, which is based on the Loch Ness monster as well as a sea turtle. The fact that it gains its Gigantamax form in the Galar region, which is based on the United Kingdom, strengthens this connection.
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