The Loch Ness Monster: Does It Exist?

At over a mile wide, twenty miles long and up to seven hundred feet deep, Loch Ness is Scotlands largest lake by volume and is the home to a legendary monster.

The first recorded sighting of “Nessie” was by St.Columba in 565 AD who was crossing the loch with some of his followers , since that time there have been numerous sightings however photographic and video evidence are very sparse.

In 1933 the Daily Mail a British newspaper hired  renowned big game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to investigate the loch and hopefully find the monster, no sightings of “Nessie” were made, however Wetherell was pleased to announce that he had found what appeared to be enormous footprints on the loch shore leading to the water, dissapointingly when the tracks were checked by experts from the British National History it was found the tracks had been made with a dried hippopotamus foot the type used at the time as an umbrella stand, Wetherell quickly retreated from public view.

Probably the most well known evidence of the monster is the “surgeons photograph” which was taken on April 19th 1934 by British surgeon Colonel Robert Wilson this appeared to show a creature with a large serpentine neck rising from the water, strangely when the photograph became public knowledge Wilson distanced  himself from it, although considered the best evidence of “Nessie” sceptics were sure the photo was a hoax and in 1994 they were proved correct when 90 year old Christian Spurling came forward shortly before his death to confess how he had made a convincing “Nessie” model from a toy submarine at the behest of his stepfather Marmaduke Wetherell! Spurling admitted that an angry and bitter Wetherell had decided that the public would get their monster  after all  and had convinced  respectable surgeon Robert Wilson to be part of the ruse.

Aeronautical engineer Tim Dinsdale filmed a possible sighting of the monster in 1960, the film shows a hump crossing the water and leaving a powerful wake, this particular film has been the subject of much scrutiny and although not conclusive proof a study of the film by the Discovery Network in 1993 seems to show flippers and as many as three humps when the film is looked at in the negative.Disappointingly some experts now claim that this film shows a man in a small boat however Tim Dinsdales widow will not allow the original film to be studied so authenticity cannot be proved either way.

Numerous sonar expeditions have been made across the loch , moving objects that appear to be animate have been recorded on sonar on many occasions including one recording where the  returning sonar echo was twice the size of what would be expected of a Pilot whale. In the early part of the 1970s some underwater photographs were taken on an expedition led by Robert.H.Rines one of which appeared to show a large flipper.

In recent years ” Nessie” sightings have slowed down considerably to the point where some commentators have suggested that whatever lived  in the lake has now died, indeed the Monster Quest TV show did an episode the “Death of Loch Ness” where they investigated this.

So does “Nessie” exist? of course its impossible to say either way for sure, its seems incredibly unlikely that a prehistoric creature such as the Plesiosaur could have survived in the lake for millions of years,  and whatever the creature is there would have to be a breeding population for it to survive.With the size of Loch Ness it seems likely that the majority of “Nessie” sightings are nothing more than the effects of wind and current on the surface of the lake, inanimate objects like fallen tree stumps, misidentification and all sorts of natural phenomena,  like most legends of this type its nice to hope that there could be an undiscovered creature in the loch but ultimately perhaps its better not to know for sure the mysteries of life are always more interesting than the facts.