THERE LIVES, a gigantic monster, in a beautiful lake in the Highlands of Scotland. It has come to the surface just often enough to puzzle and frighten people of the region and keep them speculating about this identity of their monster. By now more than one thousand people claim to have seen the mysterious serpent believed to dwell in the depths of Loch Ness.
Loch Ness is a beautiful place for a monster to live. The lake,long, narrow, and deep, is flanked by high green hills where dew and fog and frequent rains keep the blankets of lush vegetation dripping with moisture. Clouds pile up in the valleys. From the high vantage points travelers sometimes look down, not only on the loch, but on the clouds as well. The centuries have not robbed this magic scene of its sense of loneliness and quiet. Beside the lake stand ancient abandoned castles. Nearby is an age-old monastery, and people living around the lake occupy the lands their ancestors held.
For twenty-three miles Loch Ness stretches along its valley. It connect with the sea through the River Ness. Within the river a system of navigation locks permits passage of boats from salt water into fresh, and some say provides opportunity as well for a traveling sea serpent to slip in and out as the mood strikes. It would, of course, not be the only creature to live part of its life in salt water into freshwater streams for spawning are classified as anadromous. The lake is scarcely more than a mile wide through most of its length but goes down to a depth of 754 feet.
These waters are stained dark brown from draining through beds of peat en route to the lake. One can not peer more than a few feet into the dim hidden world beneath the surface. Therefore observes must depend on this serpent to come to the surface, or out on land, if they ever to see it.
Many do not believe.The Loch Ness monster, they sometimes hint, is not in there at all. This, in fact,is what William Brodie, captain of a steam tug operating on the lake, used to think. "Humbug," said Captain Brodie, "Loch Ness monster indeed!"
Then one summer afternoon in 1938, when his tug was pushing along steadily across the fog-shrouded lake, there appeared out of the depths a creature unknown to all on board. For a short distance it swam along beside the tugboat. It was long and slender, and humps on its back stuck out of the water as the humps of a sea serpent are supposed to do.
Next the creature turned on the power, spurted ahead of the boat, and finally dived. A short time later it appeared again for out in front, still increasing its lead on the sluggish boat where Captain Brodie stood wide-eyed on the bridge.
The captain has joined the believers. "There can," he is quoted as saying,"be no doubt of the monster's existence."
Others who have been startled by sight of the creature hasten to agree. For example, there was a motorcyclist named Grant who, some years ago, swas speeding along the north shore road beside Loch Ness in the darkness of night. Suddenly, in the beam of his headlight there emerged from the woods a creature such as he had never before witnessed. Nobody wants to go crashing willy-nilly into a monster, and Mr.Grant maneuvered skillfully to avoid the collision.
Just why a sea serpent should cross the road is one of the big mysteries. To explain it away simply by saying that it "......wants to get on the other side," seems hardly adequate. But the Loch Ness monster has been reported on other occasions too, as coming out of the water to make its way overland for short distances. Mr. Grant reported that as he caught the form of the creature in the light of his cycle, it made two bounds and cleared the road, then quickly sloshed back into Loch Ness, there to vanish beneath the foaming surface. It was, had a small head, beady eyes, long slender neck, and appeared to be dark and slimy.
Another report of the Loch Ness monster being out of its water came from John McKay. Mr McKay operated a hotel nearby and one one spring evening in 1933 was out driving with his wife over the newly completed road along the north shore of the lake. There in plain sight was "Nessie" as folks around Loch Ness have come to know their sea serpent.The creature at once dived into the lake.
Later Mr.McKay reported to a local newspaper what he and his wife had seen.The story spread rapidly. The Loch Ness monster became world famous in the years that followed. Books have since been written about it. Countless newspaper account have told of its appearances. Expeditions have been mounted to unravel the mystery. Meanwhile around Loch Ness, and throughout Scotland, people have divided into three camps.There are those who believe, those who doubt, and those who keep an open mind.
Nessie has been around a longtime. For hundreds of years there have been stories around Loch Ness of the monster that roams the depths of the lake.It was written centuries ago that a "certain water monster" was driven away by prayer. But the effects of the prayer apparently were temporary.
Over the years legends about the sea serpent were passed down from generation to generation.It is said in one such legend to have killed a man. Folks around the loch have long felt that the creature might reappear at any moment.
But not until again by Mr. McKay in 1933 did Nessie rise to true prominence. As the story, more people began watching for the monster. People who want to see a monster stand a far better chance than those who do not care one way or the other. This is more in the nature of people than monsters.
Perhaps no monster has ever done more for people anywhere than has the Loch Ness monster. Living or dead, real or not, it has to be the valuable creature ever possessed by the Scottish people. Those who have come seeking it have brought a new source of wealth to the country.
As the stories of Nessie spread around the world the people of Scotland began to notice a strange and wonderful result. Curious tourist now planned their travels to include the Highlands of Scotland and Loch Ness, home of the world's best-known sea serpent. From all parts of the world they come now to the town of Inverness.
Many of them board the Scott II and travel out onto the lake, sharing for a few hours the mystery-shrouded environment of the serpent's ancient home. The Scott II makes three trips daily. From Inverness it goes to about the middle of the lake,turns, and comes back to its dock. Lining its rails are the curious ones.
Many insist that they do not believe the tales of the sea serpent, that they come only because they have for so long wanted to see the Highlands and hear the strains of the bagpipes moaning with the winds.
But instead of looking up to the hills, their eyes more often are turned down upon the dark waters of Loch Ness. Cameras hang from their necks. Binoculars are ready in their hands. These are the ones who do not know quite what to believe. What did John McKay really see? What was this strange unnatural creature sighted by Captain Brodie and so many others? How could it have been seen so many times and not be there? Surely there is the possibility that all the people living around the lake, the ones who insist, "There has to be something out there," may be right. And so the visitors hopefully study the rippling waters of Loch Ness.
Some outsiders have devised elaborate plans for capturing or killing the beast and transporting it to a museum, zoo,or circus. A giant giant electronic net has been suggested, and so has the possibility of shooting it from a submarine. In efforts to prevent monster poaching, officials have passed regulations, perhaps the only rules in the world against the harming of a sea serpent.
Most who come to study the mystery of Scotland's sea serpent, however, have no plans to harm it. They seek only truth, the opportunity to solve for good the centuries-old mystery.
Some come in groups with camping equipment. Above the loch they set up their tents and post serpent watchers. Some have made pictures of strange forms appearing on the lake. One of the most famous pictures shows a long slender neck, small head, part of the tail, all attached to a large balloon-like body.
Perhaps no one has studied the Loch Ness monster more than Tim Dinsdale has. For long days and weeks he wandered the shores of Loch Ness. He carried cameras and binoculars and possessed a grim determination to prove that the monster does exist. His hunt for the creature is outlined in his two books on the subject. He has little patience with the non-believers, especially the men of science who steadfastly refuse to join the search for the serpent of Loch Ness. Dinsdale says the simply ignore the facts.
The case for a sea serpent in Loch Ness is strengthened, according to fans of Nessie, by the appearance of similar creatures in other parts of the world. For example, there is the monster of Lake Okanagan, British Columbia, in western Canada. This lake, in some ways resembles Loch Ness, long,narrow, and almost as deep, with cold water and good population of fish. There have also been frequent reports of a monstrous serpent living in a lake in Manitoba in central Canada.
Perhaps if science would apply its efforts to the search for the Loch Ness monster the mystery might be solved. So far most of the work has been done, not by scientists, but by amateur monster hunters. Most of the serious work has been co-ordinated by the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau Ltd.
More than once there has been the suggestion that sonar is the tool for finding Nessie. Sonar is a method of using electronics to study what lies beneath the surface of water. It was developed during World War II for tracking submarines. Electric impulse are sent into the water. Converted to sound waves, they travel trough the water spreading out into a broad cone as they leave the source.
When one of these waves strikes any obstacle under water, the impulse bounces back like an echo to be measured by the instrument that sent it. The length of time taken for it to return tells the depth of the object. The bottom of the lake will reflect the sound but so will obstacles appearing between the surface and the lake bottom. In addition, the sonar reveals the depth, size, and movement of whatever is down there.
In 1968 a scientific party moved in on Nessie with electronic locators. In due time the results were published in the New Scientist, a respect British scientific journal.
Engineers in a research team from the University of Birmingham set up their equipment on the store of Loch Ness. Then, as the impulses traveled through the cold depths of Loch Ness, engineer Dr. Gordon Tucker carefully studied the screen of the sonar outfit.
Flickering signals began to echo to the machine. Together they told Tucker a fascinating story and opened a new possibility. There was, as the folks around Loch Ness had long insisted, something down there, and plainly it was not a wee monster. For 13 minutes two large objects had their images reflected as the signals were photographed on movie film. One was about 164 feet long,the other, somewhat smaller.
Did the image of these monsters move on the screen? Definitely! Their speed was about17 miles an hour,and they dived at a rate of 450 feet per minute.
After these observations the research team quickly consulted with biologists who know the common fish of Loch Ness. Could a school of fish have caused this kind of signal? The answer was "not likely", and this to many observers was new evidence that Nessie might after all be real.
But if the Loch Ness monster does live, what in the world could it be? Investigators over the years have advanced two favored explanations. Some say it is the larvae of a giant eel.
Others insist that Nessie must be one of an ancient group of reptiles known as Plesiosaurs are believed to have become extinct seventy million years ago. Perhaps it is just as well that we do not yet know for certain whether or not Loch Ness has a real monster.
Those who claim Nessie belongs to the Plesiosaurs might point out that scientists have been surprised before when they found "extinct" creatures still surviving. The best known example is the Coelacanth.
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