The Loch Ness Monster

The Monster of Loch Ness
By Aaron Justice

Perhaps the most famous monster of our time is the Loch Ness monster, or Nessie.

Loch Ness itself is indeed a spectacle, the largest lake in Great Britain. It is 23 miles long, one mile wide, and almost 900 feet deep in places.

It is estimated that all 6 billion people on earth could fit in the loch. It is indeed a beautiful place--green hills surround it on all sides. It was extremely hard to get to until the 1930's when roads were constructed around Loch Ness. It was only then that the sightings really boomed.

THE FIRST SIGHTINGS
What may be the first sighting of the Loch Ness monster was in 565 AD by the missionary Saint Columba, who was visiting Scotland to spread the Gospel.

He needed to cross the loch, so one of his followers swam out in the water to reach their boat, which wasn't tied properly and had floated out.

Then a great beastie arose from the water and seemed that it was going to devour the man. Saint Columba ordered the rest of his followers to be quiet, and in the name of the Christ rebuked the monster. The monster drew back "as if pulled by ropes" and the man was left unharmed.

There were scattered reports of the beast prior to the construction of the roads: a gypsy once saw it and was badly frightened, and some school children saw what they thought was a large camel, but reports were few before the building of the road that now runs alongside Loch Ness.

LAND SIGHTINGS
A peculiar aspect for a lake monster, the Loch Ness monster has sometimes been seen on land. Perhaps the first was by Mr. and Mrs. George Spicer in 1933.

They were driving alongside the loch when Mrs. Spicer pointed out something crossing the road. It was a large-bodied creature with a long neck, and it slogged across the road in a seal-like fashion.
At first they thought it was only about 6-feet long, but they later changed it to 30 feet when they remembered that it was wider than the road.

Another land sighting occurred about one year later when veterinary student Arthur Grant was heading home at around one in the morning.

He saw something lurking in the bushes and when he rounded the corner the thing bounded onto the road. He swerved and stepped on the brakes, barely not colliding with it.

His headlight was on the creature, which he estimated to be about 20 feet long--it had a long neck and tail, which tapered to a point. Its head was eel-like with oval eyes, and it had two humps on its back, one on each shoulder.

The beast bounded back to the loch like a seal and swam off. Grant immediately drew what he saw. It highly resembled a plesiosaur.

Torquil Macleod, while on a private monster hunting expedition in February of 1960, also saw Nessie on shore, this time laid up on a beach at the remote Horseshoe area:

"I had a clear view of its left fore flipper which is grey in color and spade shaped... I confess to being rather appalled at its size, somehow the dimensions have never sunk in, but there is no doubt in my mind that this individual was of the order of 40-60 feet in length."

Whatever the Loch Ness monster may be, it can come on shore, perhaps to migrate or to lay eggs.

WATER SIGHTINGS
It is estimated that about 11,000 people have seen the Loch Ness monster, but most may be too embarrassed or afraid of ridicule to report it.

Perhaps the king of Nessie sightings is Alex Campbell, a water bailiff (game warden). He has seen the Loch Ness monster on 18 different occasions. He describes his best sighting, which was in 1934.

"My best sighting was in May 1934 right off the Abbey boathouse. That morning I was standing at the mouth of the river Hawick looking for what we call a run of salmon. I heard the sound of two trawlers coming through the canal from the West. Suddenly there was this upsurge of water right in front of the canal entrance. I was stunned. I shut my eyes three times to make sure I wasn't imagining things-the head and the huge humped body were perfectly clear. I knew right away that the creature was scared because of its behavior. It was twisting its head frantically. It was the thud, thud of the engines that was the reason for its upset. Then it vanished out of sight when the trawler came within my line of vision. I estimated that the body alone was 30 feet long, the height of the head and neck above the water was 6 feet, and the skin was grey."

Mr. Campbell had many more sightings, his last just before his retirement.

For 15 minutes on October 8, 1936, Nessie showed herself to a group of tour buses and several cars. About 50 people in all saw the beast, a neck with two humps traveling behind it, many of which had telescopes and binoculars. Unfortunately no one had cameras, or cameras loaded with film. Then the creature sank as if it were a stone.

The Loch Ness monster showed itself many times during the forties and fifties, but the sightings of the beast increased during the sixties and seventies.

Unshakable in his faith, Father Gregory Brusey entertained no doubts about his sighting of the monster in 1971. For about 20 seconds at a distance of 300 yards he saw a long neck followed by a hump swimming idly by for about 20 seconds. The clergyman admitted that if his friend weren't with him that he would have run away. "It gave us a feeling of something from another world."

A German nun and her friend Mrs. Robertson were alongside the loch back in 1975 when they saw the creature. Mrs. Robertson just took a picture of the nun and was handing her back her camera when she saw the beast. She estimated that it was about 40-45 feet in length and had a neck that stuck about 10 feet out of the water. It was grey with white underneath its neck. She asked her friend, the nun, if she had taken a picture of it. The nun was so frightened that she was on her hands and knees praying and forgot to take its picture.

Of course sightings of the beast will not convince any scientists of its existence. They usually discount the sightings, explaining them away as waves, floating logs, ducks, otters, and the occasional red deer that frequent the loch.

to read more click this link.:
http://www.cryptozoology.com/cryptids/nessie.php

I completely and utterly believe in Nessie!!!! Throughout my entire life I do think that it lives in the space under the castle there....... I have never seem him myself (yes, I do think it is male as well!!) but there is a very strange feeling whenever I have been there. A feeling of calmness........ Nessie will never be caught and I don't wish for him to be caught - he is too smart for that... and before you all think I am mad I will leave it there.....

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