The Loch Ness Monster

The Great Glen in the Scottish highlands is a rift valley, 60 miles long, and contains three famous lochs, Lochy, Oich and Ness. The most famous of the three is Ness, because of the monster that is said to occupy the deep waters. The water is deeper than the North Sea and is very long, deep and narrow. The loch has never been known to freeze.

The Loch Ness Monster is thought by many to be a Plesiosaur, one of the last surviving dinosaurs.

The first person on record to have seen the Monster was St Columbia in the 6th century. According to the report, St Columbia ordered one of his monks to swim across the loch to retrieve a boat, when the monk reached mid way, the

Monster appeared and headed towards the swimmer, allegedly roaring. The report tells that Columbia yelled at the monster, “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed!” Nessie has never been known to harm anyone.

The Loch Ness Monster is more fondly known as “Nessie”, and has been seen many times since St Columbia’s account. There have been very few sightings over the centuries, but in the 20th century Nessie has been far more active. The first photograph was taken in 1933, It showed something with a long neck and thick body. In 1951 a forestry worker called Lachlan Stuart took a photograph of Nessie. The photograph showed that the monster had a line of three humps.

Many scientific investigations have taken place over the years, and the Loch Ness phenomena Investigation Bureau was formed in 1961, to conduct investigations into the sightings. Submarines with sonar’s have been used to search for Nessie. All that was found was a huge underwater cavern, near Castle Urquhart in water 950 feet deep.

Many years ago a circus owner offered twenty thousand pounds to anyone who could catch the monster for his circus. Since then many people have done crazy things to lure the monster to the surface for a better look. In 1975 four firemen built a 309-foot long lady monster, with false eyelashes, but the attempt was abandoned when the lady monster was damaged going into the water.

If you want to catch a look at the monster for yourself, the best way is to use the free lay-bys along the roads that run parallel with Loch Ness. You have the best chance of seeing Nessie when you are actually next to the water, so make use of these great facilities.

You can see the original and the best exhibition at “The Original Loch Ness Exhibition” on Beauly Road. There are others available, but not as good as the original.

Urquhart Castle is a romantic ruin, located on Loch Ness. It has good views across and along the loch. In 2002 a new visitors centre was opened, which was discretely built into the hillside. Audio-visual displays and a model show the castle in earlier, less ruinous days.