The Loch Ness Monster
Pictures
Info:
The Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) is probably the most well known cryptid in the world. The only other
cryptid that might be better known is Bigfoot. The first known mention of a monster in Loch Ness is in
A.D. 565, when St. Columba supposedly confronted some sort of beast which had been killing people, and caused it
to flee backwards. Nessie then reappeared nearly 1400 years later in 1933, right after work was done on a
road running along the loch using dynamite, when a string of sightings occured. Nessie has been spotted
and photographed/filmed off and on ever since, some of them obviously fakes, some of them not. Although
most people think of The Loch Ness Monster as a single beast a few people report seeing more than one
animal at a time. Which makes sense, and explains the wide range of lengths reported.
Many differant things have been purposed as the true identity of Nessie. From floating logs, to
large fish. Those that believe that Nessie is truly a new species or a species thought extinct,
generally agree on either a plesiosaur, or a zeuglodon (a long bodied, snakelike whale).
My Thoughts:
Nessie was my first encounter with cryptozoology, and has always been one of my favorites. Long before
I had ever heard the words cryptozoology, cryptids, or plesiosaur, I found a book. I believe the title
was "The Dynamite Book Of Top Secret Information". I was around 8 or 9 years old at the time, and the
book contained a chapter dealing with the loch ness monster, and maybe bigfoot. I think it had a picture
of some humps in the water and, more importantly, the under water pictures taken in '72 and '75 showing
a flipper and a body with a long neck. I remember reading the
short chapter over, and over. I had no idea that there was an entire science dealing with unknown animals.
Later I found a book at the library about dinosaurs. While flipping through it, I saw a drawing of a
plesiosaur. I instantly became excited. This picture was exactly how I had pictured Nessie. I thought that
I had made an astounding discovery! I soon read more books dealing with Nessie, and learned that my discovery wasn't that new.
It was fun while it lasted though.
Anyways, that is probably why I still believe that there is a group of "monsters" in Loch Ness,
and that they are a group of plesiosaurs that have somehow lived past their day.
I think I still have that book somewhere. If I ever find it, I will put a picture of it in the pictures section.
Free counters provided by Honesty.com.