Enigma of Loch Ness

INTRODUCTION

ENIGMA OF LOCH NESS

- Argument-

Does an ancient monster lurk in the depths of Scotland's Loch Ness? Is this creature the last living dinosaur? What secrets does the mysterious loch hold? These are some of the questions that made me choose to write about this subject and to find more information about the enigma of Loch Ness.

For centuries, an international eye has been focused on Loch Ness and the belief that a creature, "Nessie", lives deep within the isolated body of cold green water. The aim of this paper is to try to make sense on this mystery, to make a compact but comprehensive review of the principal evidence for the existence or better said inexistence of an unknown creature (or creatures) in Loch Ness.

Beside the fact that I want to point the evidence of the fakes and hoaxes, I have choused this subject because I was impressed how a simple and ordinary story could convert the Loch Ness monster in a multimillion dollar industry. I can understand the appeal of Nessie. So can the Scottish Tourist Board. Half a million tourists flock to the loch each year hoping to catch a glimpse of the monster — even though scientific evidence for it is negligible. This has spawned an employment boom, with the monster industry creating at least 2,500 jobs.

But most visitors to Scotland will have to be content with seeing him/her in the form of a plush toy or cartoon, which in a way is entirely fitting for a character younger than Mickey Mouse!

Even so, we still hunger after myth, magic and mystery - and Nessie gives us all of these.

SUMMARY

My paper focuses on the Loch Ness Monster and the question whether it is a legend or the monster really exists. My purpose is to present the Loch Ness Monster, the legends about it, the people who are still hunting for it and of course the lake, the monster’s “home”.

The paper contains 6 chapters.

In the 1st one is presented the Loch Ness and the legend in which some residence around still believe.

In the 2nd chapter are pointed some of the many sightings reported, that ones which are hard to explain, beginning with the earliest report taken from the life of St. Columba by Adamnan where it is described how a pict was supposedly attacked by the monster.

However, it was not until 1933 that the monster was publicized world wide after a couple reported seeing a creature on land, lumbering across the shore road. The first photo with the so called Nessie was taken in the same year by Hugh Gray. Other photos and films realized to prove the existence of Nessie are presented in the 3rd chapter.

Chapter 4 refers to the investigations and studies made using performing technology in order to find out what it is in fact the mysterious animal but with no evident proof.

The Loch Ness monster phenomenon has seen several attempts to hoax the public and some of these like the surgeon’s photo, were very successful. Others were revealed quickly by their perpetours and some were only exposed by researchers. A few examples follow in chapter 5 where some explanations are given for this mystery.

The most common description of Nessie is that of a pleistosaur, a long-necked aquatic reptile. Others believe that it may be a long-necked seal, a whale, an eel, a giant otter or only an appeareance called “kelpie”. A possible plausible explanation for the sightings of Nessie could be caused by slowly fermenting logs of pine in the loch rising to the surface.

With so many apparitions, Nessie became a recurrent figure in modern literature, television movies and games presented in chapter 6.

In conclusion it is presented my opinion against the existence of the Loch Ness monster due to the fact that most of the sightings may be simply an example of the human fascination of mystery and intrigue.