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Facts About the Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands is the country’s second-largest loch by surface area, at 22 square miles, and it has a depth of 230 metres. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined, which is perhaps why the legend of its mythical creature lives on to this day. Who knows what lives at the bottom of those murky depths? Discover the full story of the Loch Ness monster in this complete guide.

Is the Loch Ness monster real

Is the Loch Ness Monster Real?

No visit to Scotland is complete without taking a journey to see Loch Ness, the world-famous body of water in the Scottish Highlands that captivates tourists with its tales of a mysterious sea monster that has somehow evaded capture for hundreds of years.

A visit to the area is worth making just to see the loch, and even without the legend of Nessie it would most definitely be at the top of many tourist must-see Scottish attraction itineraries. Before we explore the monster legend let’s take a closer look at the place where it supposedly lives.

Loch Ness is located close to the Scottish Highlands city of Inverness where it extends south for 23 miles to the town of Fort Augustus. Although it’s only the second-largest loch in Scotland by surface area at 22 square miles (Loch Lomond takes first place for that), it’s by far the largest by volume.

At its deepest point, the bed of the loch lies under 230 metres (750 feet) of water which is only beaten by Loch Morar, which means that Loch Ness contains more fresh water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined.

Surely, then, there must be plenty of nooks and crannies at the bottom of it for any monster to hide from curious human eyes? Well maybe, but to date, hundreds of Nessie hunters have failed to produce any conclusive proof that such a creature lives there, although there have been many reported sightings over the years.

Let’s explore the history of Nessie and try to make up our own minds to answer the question – is the Loch Ness monster real?

The Loch Ness Monster Mystery

To understand how the legend of Nessie began you have to visit the loch for yourself. There’s a definite otherworldly atmosphere about the place, especially when the frequent plumes of thick mist roll in from the steep banks that rise on either side of the shoreline.

Coupled with the peat-stained, pitch-black water, it’s not surprising that the story of the mysterious, mythical creature has developed. The loch certainly isn’t shy of its fair share of animals, and fishermen are drawn to the rich variety of fish species that thrive in the cold and unpolluted water.

Along with European eels, northern pike, and Atlantic salmon, sea trout and brown trout are living alongside some infrequently seen otters. Some of these animals have been theorised to be the starting point for the Nessie story, especially the otters which could possibly be mistaken for a larger animal when viewed from a distance.

Otter

However, as we’ll see later there have been several sightings that are impossible to explain as simply a case of mistaken identity.

The loch itself has a couple of secrets that most tourists don’t know about and they all add to its intrigue. Did you know for example, that Loch Ness has an ancient artificial island in the middle of it? Cherry Island lies at the southwestern end of the loch and is believed to have been constructed around 3,000 years ago during the Iron Age.

It’s surprising that an artificial island was created such a long time ago, especially considering it sits 140 metres from the shoreline and is believed to have been over 50 metres across at one time. Little is known as to the original purpose of Cherry Island but there are historic records that suggest a small castle once stood on it which was probably used as a hunting lodge and a fortified refuge.

Another interesting point to note about Loch Ness is that it lies along the Great Glen Fault, a massive geological fracture that runs through the 62-mile length of the Great Glen of Scotland.

This fault line runs northeast to southwest across the country and extends deep below sea level to continue as far as northwest Ireland. The fault line is believed to have caused several catastrophic land tremors since its formation over 400 million years ago.

While it’s mostly dormant today, the Great Glen Fault is still known to cause occasional tremors, to the extent that some bridges in the area have had buffers installed to cushion them from seismic shocks. Although Loch Ness is a popular tourist destination due to the tales of the monster that supposedly swims beneath its surface, even without this legend, it would no doubt still be one of Scotland’s top attractions, thanks in no small part to the famous landmark that lies on its western bank, Urquhart Castle.

This stunning ruined castle was at one time the most important defensive position in Scotland and was instrumental during the Jacobite uprising. It’s a fascinating historic attraction set in a breathtaking waterside setting, so if you want to know more about it, read my Complete Guide to Urquhart Castle.

Alternatively, you can find out more about Loch Ness by reading my Complete Guide to Loch Ness, while my Guide to the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition will tell you everything you need to know about the educational attraction on the western side of the loch. If you want to do some research of your own into the secrets of the Loch Ness monster, you won’t go far wrong by starting at the Wikipedia page of Loch Ness and the Wikipedia guide to the Loch Ness monster.

Follow the directions on this map to find this world-famous tourist attraction for yourself.

Google Map of loch ness

Loch Ness Monster Sightings

Although most people credit the start of the fascination with Nessie to the infamous 1933 photograph published in the British newspaper The Daily Express, some records indicate that a large animal had been sighted in the area several centuries before.

While no one really knows where the origins of the monster came from, we do know that tales of a creature living in the area were recorded as far back as the 6th century. At this time, the Irish monk Saint Columba wrote that he encountered a group of locals burying the remains of a man who had been dragged underwater near the shore of Loch Ness before being mauled to death under the surface.

Although historians have cast doubt on this story as being a myth associated with the infamous Kelpies (mythical Scottish water horses with manes of serpents and possessing supernatural strength), most monster enthusiasts believe the Saint Columba story is the first proof that a strange animal lives in the loch. Accurate recollection or not, it took over a thousand years until the next recorded sighting of the monster became public knowledge.

Loch Ness Monster Pictures

The story of Nessie took its first step into modern mythology in 1871 when a local resident reportedly saw an object the size of an upturned boat moving at great speed across the loch, churning up huge waves in the process, and this tale quickly spread across Scotland.

Then, in the summer of 1933, the first detailed sighting of the monster occurred, which cemented the tale of Nessie into modern folklore. On July 22, 1933, an incredible sight stopped George Spicer and his wife mid-drive as they were traveling along the road next to Loch Ness.

Loping across the road was the body of an enormous beast, approximately 8 metres long with a long neck, that slowly made its way down to the water before sinking into the depths. News of this sighting spread far and wide, which also seemed to coincide with a deluge of reports of a strange animal lurking around the area of Loch Ness, although none of these reports were substantiated until the famous surgeon’s photograph’ of 1934.

The story goes that Robert Wilson, an acclaimed London gynaecologist who was on holiday in the Loch Ness area, had gone walking one day with his camera, hoping to capture one of the loch’s elusive otters on film. What he ended up photographing was one of the clearest images of the Loch Ness monster taken to date.

As he gazed across the water something caught his eye, and as he turned to look closer, to his astonishment, a long, thick neck rose from the depths of the loch, supporting a small head and with a wide, dark body beneath it.

Loch Ness monster 1933 Photograph

Robert managed to grab his camera quickly and he fired off four shots before the creature disappeared back under the water. Unfortunately, two of the images were badly exposed while the third was extremely blurry, but the fourth clearly showed the head and neck of the monster.

The images were sent to the UK newspaper The Daily Mail which published them in April 1934 to a great deal of public excitement, and from then until modern times eager monster hunters have sought to answer the ultimate question – is the Loch Ness monster real?

With regard to the photos, the facts of where they came from were never proven, and it was common knowledge that Robert Wilson denied any involvement with them at all, even refusing to have his name associated with them. Even so, for many years, people believed that the surgeon’s photograph provided irrefutable proof that Loch Ness was home to some strange prehistoric animal, despite the fact that locals who wanted to capitalize on the loch’s rising popularity undoubtedly exaggerated the story.

As photographic technology improved, the authenticity of the images was questioned more and more. First, an analysis of the original photo showed that the object in the water was no more than 1m long, certainly too small to be considered a ‘monster’.

Second, a comparison of several versions of the photos showed that a white object could be seen under the water where the body should have been, and third, an account of how the whole episode had been an elaborate hoax was released to the press in 1975.

In a letter sent to the Sunday Telegraph, explicit details were given of how a toy submarine had been fashioned into a monster by a disgruntled former employee of the Daily Mail, and further analysis of the photos confirmed they were likely showing something that was of artificial construction.

The next piece of evidence that something big was alive in Loch Ness came from a series of sonar readings taken by the fishing boat Rival III in 1954, when the boat’s crew saw that a large object was following them at a depth of 140 metres.

Remarkably, the object was seen tracking the fishing boat for more than 800 metres before contact was finally lost. These sonar readings were accompanied by a photograph taken from Urquhart Castle of two long black humps moving through the water, but a later study of the negatives was inconclusive.

Loch Ness Monster, Urquhart Castle

In the intervening years, there were several photos and films taken that proposed to prove the existence of the monster, but all were disproven as fakes until laboratory technician Gordon Holmes videotaped something strange swimming in the loch in 2007.

In the video, an object, obviously animate, can be seen moving through the water at great speed. The body appears to be jet black and was estimated by the photographer as being at least 14 metres long. While to date this footage hasn’t been completely disproven, it’s suspected by marine biologists that it’s likely a seal or an otter, although no one has been able to say so with any certainty.

The Modern Hunt for the Loch Ness Monster

One of the biggest scientific studies into the legend of the Loch Ness monster began in 1972 when a group of researchers from the Academy of Applied Science examined the animals living in the loch using an advanced sonar system coupled with submersible cameras and floodlights.

The idea behind the use of this equipment was that if the sonar detected anything large moving on the bottom of the lake, then the floodlights would automatically turn on and the submersible cameras would take photos of whatever was swimming past. On August 8, marine acoustics engineers set up the tools and then waited to see what images the cameras would produce.

It must have been a nerve-wracking time for the team as they waited for the exposures to be developed, as the possibility of faulty equipment meant they’d face an expensive repair bill. However, once the footage was examined some of the most detailed images ever taken from the bottom of the loch could be seen, to the astonishment of all involved.

The most exciting photograph, and the one that gained worldwide notoriety, appeared to show a rhomboid flipper splashing through the water, something uncannily like the flippers seen on prehistoric Plesiosaurs.

Loch Ness monster flipper

The media frenzy over this photograph even prompted British naturalist Peter Scott to call for the Loch Ness monster to be officially added to the register of protected British wildlife. The fact that another underwater camera image appears to show two sizable objects encircled by a flurry of bubbles was less widely reported.

In addition, sonar readings taken at the same time indicated that two objects approximately 9 metres long were moving in the area of the underwater equipment. Was this conclusive proof that there were actually two monsters living in Loch Ness, and was this part of the story purposely kept quiet to prevent a worldwide stampede of tourists hunting for some elusive, timid creature that needed to be protected?

It’s unlikely the general public will ever know. But what we do know is that after the 1972 study, sightings of any unusual creatures in Loch Ness dwindled significantly, and another scientific study carried out ten years later seemed to indicate that if there had once been a monster living in Loch Ness, then it had either died or moved elsewhere.

In 1987 Operation Deepscan was conducted on the loch, intended to be the final, ultimate study to prove whether or not a large creature did or did not exist. Deepscan involved the use of twenty-four boats all equipped with high-tech echosounder equipment moving simultaneously along the entire length of the loch.

With such a wide net of acoustic signals it would be impossible for any animal to evade detection, and so on 11th October, the armada began their voyage. Because media excitement had been whipped into a frenzy the team involved in the hunt were under a fair amount of pressure to report something interesting to the waiting reporters.

It didn’t take long before the sonar apparatus detected three large objects moving on the bottom of the loch, the news of which was broadcast worldwide within minutes. But after the excitement had died down independent researchers concluded the objects were likely to have been seals that had somehow made their way into the loch from the adjoining Inverness-Caledonian canal.

Loch Ness Operation Deepscan

Ultimately we will never know what the sonar from Deepscan managed to detect, and it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see anything like it again.

From the 1990s onwards there have been very few reports of any kind of unusual creature sighted at the loch, except (unsurprisingly) for a few reports by locals just before the annual tourist season begins. However, perhaps the most concrete proof regarding a monster came from a 2018 study that took water samples from various places in the loch instead of relying on inconclusive sonar readings.

Accurate DNA tests were conducted on each sample, which categorically found zero evidence that any large, undocumented animal exists in Loch Ness, and to date, no other study has disproved those findings.

So what conclusions can we draw? Is the Loch Ness monster real? Does a sizable prehistoric animal still exist in Loch Ness, despite the fact that thousands of tourists visit the area every year? Or was there once a strange animal living beneath the surface that has now either moved away or is lying dead at the bottom?

We simply don’t know the answers to all those questions with 100% certainty, but I suspect the hunt for Nessie will resume again at some point, using bigger and better technology to tell a whole new chapter of this unusual tale.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Loch Ness monster?

The Loch Ness monster – also called ‘Nessie’ – is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that reputedly lives in Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.
It has been described as looking something like a prehistoric Plesiosaur with a long neck and humps protruding from the water.

What are some explanations for the Loch Ness monster?

Various theories exist but the currently held belief is that the legend of the monster originated from either sightings of European eels which migrate to Scotland annually from the Sargasso Sea, or native otters which can easily be misidentified in the open water without any point of reference to gauge their size.

Who was the first person to see the Loch Ness monster?

Saint Columba saw the first sighting in the fifth century, when a water beast dragged a man into the water.
The first account of a monster that spiked interest in the story was by Mr. D. Mackenzie in 1871, who saw an object the size of an upturned boat swimming in the loch.

Is there proof of the Loch Ness monster?

There is anecdotal proof that the Loch Ness monster exists in a film reel which is supposedly stored in a secret vault that will not be disclosed till the public is ready to see it.
There is, however, proof that the monster does not exist in a DNA survey carried out in 2018 that found no evidence of any large animal in the loch.

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Craig Neil

Craig Neil is the author, photographer, admin, and pretty much everything else behind Out About Scotland. He lives near Edinburgh and spends his free time exploring Scotland and writing about his experiences. Follow him on Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube.