Lovingly known as Nessie, the lochness monster is arguably the most well known of all cryptids. She is said to reside deep beneath the dark murky depths of Scotland’s lochness. Lochness, loch being Scottish for lake, is the greatest body of water in great Britain. It has more water than all other lakes between the UK, Scotland and Wales combined. Its 734 feet deep with 16, 430, 000 gallons of water. Scottish and Celtic lore is rich with water monsters such as the water horse, sea serpents, the Stronsay beast. and of course most famously Nessie.
The Pictish stones
The Picts were a Celtic tribe that inhabited the isle of Scotland from the 3th to the 9th century AD. They were known to carve various creatures into stones. Many were ordinary creatures like snakes. Notably however, a very strange and unrecognizable creature known as the pictish beast accounted for over 40 percent of all carvings. This creature at a glass look shockingly similar to how one would perceive a plesiosaur, the creature that the beast of the loch is thought to be.
Over the years many explanations have been given to explain the beast. Some have said its a deer which seem almost certainly untrue or more possibly a dolphin. Some have also put forward the theory that it was a composite creature that was an amalgamation of known creatures. Perhaps the most compelling theory put forward by researchers are that the beast is actually modeled of a piece of roman jewelry called the dragonesque brooches which looks very similar. However It leads one to wonder if it is what it looks like? A ancient depiction of the Lochness monster.
Saint Columba
The first written story we have to turn to for potential evidence of the beast, is the story of Saint Columba. Saint Columba was a 6th century catholic monk credited with spreading Christianity to the Picts, He was also credited with many miracles such as, turning water into wine, curing the sick, resurrecting the dead and repelling away the great water beast from the rive ness.
St. Adamnan’s book, The Life of Saint Columba, details the encounter Columba had with the monster. While in Scotland by the riverness, Columba came across Picts burying a man whom his companions said was attacked by a great water beast. Miraculously, Columba brought the dead man back to life. From there he order one of his followers to swim across the river to lore the beast out. As the man swam the beast appeared and Columba held his hands up, with his fingers forming a cross. This compelled the beast to go away is if it were “pulled by a rope”. After this the Picts were baptized in the same river that the Beast swam in.
The Modern Legend of Nessie
The modern legend if the Lochness monster began in the 1930’s. However before this there were notable scares of a monster within the loch. The water horse scare of 1868 is one such example. A bottle nose dolphin was put into the loch leading inhabitants to think it was a monster. There was also the Sea serpent scare of 1852 where scots men were armed with torches and pitch forks ready to do battle with the beast. In reality it was simply two horses swimming in the ness.
Our story begins with the story published in the Northern Chronicle on August 27th 1930. The story came from 3 fisherman as follows:
“About 8:15 o’clock we heard a terrible noise on the water, and looking around we saw, about 600 yards distant, a great commotion with spray flying everywhere. Then the fish – or whatever it was – started coming toward us, and when it was about 300 yards away it turned to the right and went into the Holly Bush Bay above Dores and disappeared in the depths. Duringits rush it caused a wave about 2½ feet high, and we could see a wriggling motion, but that was all, the wash hiding it from view. The wash, however, was sufficient to cause our boat to rock violently. We have no idea what it was, but we are quite positive it could not have been salmon.”
The first story to really garner interest however is of Aldie Mackay’s sighting. On May 2, 1933 Alex Cambpell, water bailiff for lochness published a report in the The Inverness Courier of a Whale like monster thrashing in the loch.
“The creature disported itself, rolling and plunging for fully a minute, its body resembling that of a whale, and the water cascading and churning like a simmering cauldron. Soon, however, it disappeared in a boiling mass of foam. Both onlookers confessed that there was something uncanny about the whole thing, for they realized that here was no ordinary denizen of the depths, because, apart from its enormous size, the beast, in taking the final plunge, sent out waves that were big enough to have been caused by a passing steamer.”
George Spicer
George Spicer’s account is the genesis of Nessie or at least the plesiosaur like interpretation. On July 22 1933 Spicer and his wife reported a prehistoric, dragon like creature crossing the road. They referred to it as
“a most extraordinary form of animal”
“the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life”
“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.”
The Spicer’s story was published in the Currier on August 4th 1933 which lead to the name “Lochness monster”. It also resulting in an increase in the reported sightings and a frenzied interest in the mysterious draconic dinosaur swimming beneath the loch.
Arthur Grant
The next next alleged sighting of a plesiosaur like creature came from veterinarian student, Arthur Grant on January 5th 1934. While riding his motor cycle he Claimed to have seen, what he referred to as a mix between a plesiosaur and a seal. He said the creature had a small head and a long neck. Upon seeing i Grant, it delve into the loch, impeding him from getting a closer look after dismounting from his motorcycle.
Grant sketched out what he had seen. On a plain viewing it would look strikingly like what we would think of a plesiosaur. From the body to the long neck and small head and flippers. So could it be that like George Spicer and his wife, that Arthur Grant too had witnessed Nessie in her pure unadulterated glory?
Surgeon’s Photo and Marmaduke Wetherill
In the Winter of 1933, The Daily Mail hired Marmaduke Wetherell to track down the monster. Wetherell, who was a big game hunter was not able to physically find the beast, however claimed to have found foot prints of the monster along the ness. He claimed to have found foot prints belonging to “a very powerful soft-footed animal about 20 feet 6 metres long.”
However this bold claim did not withstand scrutiny when examined by Zoologist from the Natural history museum. They deduced that the foot prints were made from a umbrella or ash tray stand with a hippo leg as a base. Thus rendering Wethererell’s find as nothing more than a hoax which brought ridicule to him by the public and his ex employer. Was Wetherell responsible for this hoax? We can not say for sure but examining the next topic may illuminate the subject.
On April 21 1934 the Daily Mail had a sensational story. A photograph of the legendary Lochness monster with its head and next visibly poking out photogenically to say hello. This Photo though not the first, was the most clear and unambiguous picture of Nessie. The picture was supposedly taken by a gynecologist named Robert Kenneth Wilson. He claimed he saw the creature and took four photographs two of which came out and only one was of good quality. For decades, despite detractors and skeptics alike, this picture stood as the best evidence of a dinosaur living in the depths of Scotland’s mystical lagoon.
In 1975 an article from the daily telegraph and in the 1999 book “Nessie- the surgeons photo exposed”, showed how the photo was not as authentic as many had believed. To bring this chapter full circle. It turns out the Photo was faked by none other than Marmaduke Wetherell to get back at his former employer the Daily Mail. In the 1975 article Wetherell’s son, Ian, claimed the photo was faked and was nothing more than a toy submarine. An insurance agent named Maurice chambers was said to have assisted Wetherell. In the 1990’s Alastair Boyd after having read the 1975 article of Ian Wetherell’s confession tracked down the elder Wetherell’s step brother Christian Spurling. At the old age of 93 and dying, he confessed that his step brother indeed carried out the hoax to get revenge on the Daily Mail for the ridicule he he suffered after the revelation of the foot print hoax.
Is Nessie a plesiosaur?
Now that we have reviewed a brief history of the Lochness monster, we are left with the obvious question. Does Nessie exist? Is there really a plesiosaur dwelling beneath Britain’s greatest lake? A creature thought to have all died out over 65 million years ago? Could this just be folk tales and fairy tales? While I’ll leave that to you to decide, we can review what we know.
In regards to the Pictish stones there’s no denying its significance to its people having accounted for 40 percent of all carvings. While fun to think it could be Nessie, it could easily be a dolphin, the composite creature or even based of the dragonesque Brooches. The story of Saint Columba is a great story, but unfortunately most likely is nothing more than Church Propaganda to convert Celtic people, a story told over 100 years after the events allegedly took place.
Notably there’s no reported sightings in the 1400’s 1500’s 1600’s, 1700 or really the 1800’s even. Why would this be? Despite Alex Campbell in his article stating there’s a legend of a beast within loch for many generations there’s hardly any written accounts. Now in all fairness given the frequency of sea creatures being spoken of in all cultural around the world, especially for Celts, it makes sense that legends would abound of such a creature with their greatest body of water. whether it be Sea serpents, water horses or kelpies it makes sense that they had an idea something within the loch. However was it a Plesiosaur they envisioned?
The Plesiosaur conception of Nessie seems to be born in 1933 through the sighting of George Spicer and his wife. This year however, may be no coincidence due to it being the year the highly successful movie KING KONG was released. In this movie which was a gigantic hit, KONG does battle with a. Plesiosaur dinosaur in stop motion fashion. It could be a yarn Spun by Spicer and on a greater level the merging of a current pop culture trend of dinosaurs with a Celtic lore of water beasts that were said to inhabit bodies like lochness.
The Loch interestingly does not freeze and in fact is so deep that the hot water raises and cool sinks leaving the loch at a temperature of about 44 degrees. This would seem promising for a prehistoric reptile such as a plesiosaur. One huge issue however with this theory is that being a reptile they would have to surface to breath and according to research it is thought that they would have to surface as often as once every hour. Keeping this in mind, unless Nessie is a ninja she would be impossible to hide from a passer by’s cellphone no need to even mention satellite imagery.
In the alleged sightings by Spicer and grant, they both detail the monster crossing the street. It was once thought Plesiosaurs came onto land to give birth much like how sea turtles do and based on a more archaic understanding it would seem imaginable you could see a Plesiosaur upon land. However recent research has shown that they gave live birth and would seem less likely that they would come upon land further discrediting these accounts. We also know for the most part their necks were very stiff and not crane like as once imagined, however in an article in scientific American it was discovered that some species had greater ranges of flexibility, which could make the neck point less important.
Conclusion
While this legend has lasted almost 100 years and will likely last many more no evidence has been found of a monster within Lochness. Despite satellite surveillance, despite sonar expeditions and even DNA analysis like which was done in 2018 by researches from New Zealand. They attempted to catalogue all life in the Ness yet no evidence was found of any unusual creatures like a prehistoric dragon. Interesting theories have been put forward such as the legendary long necked seal, eels and sturgeons to explain the mystery of the ness aside from the Monster theory. While it at face value appears no evidence bears out any type of Monster with Lochness it must be left to each mind to come to their own conclusion. As always thank you for reading.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Loch-Ness-monster-legendary-creature
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lochness/legend.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49495145
https://www.heroicage.org/issues/8/cessford.html
https://www.si.edu/encyclopedia_si/nmnh/lochness.htm
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/loch-ness-monster-sighted/
http://www.nessie.co.uk/
http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2019/01/plesiosaurs-on-rocks-terrestrial.html#:~:text=Their%20flipper%20skeletons%20were%20essentially, way%20that%20eared%20seals%20can.\
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/up-to-the-neck-in-plesiosaurs/#:~:text=The%20plesiosaur%20was%20also%20able, movements%20in%20the%20vertical%20plane.