What is this Loch Ness monster? What kind of animal is this? How did the legend begin? Let's talk about the most famous falsification and interesting facts about the Scottish monster.
The Loch Ness monster is an unknown animal that looks like a prehistoric plesiosaur. With a long neck, small head and massive body. The mythical creature received its name from the name of Loch Ness in Scotland. It is worth noting that the lake is huge - with an area of more than 50 km², relatively narrow (1.5 km) and long (36 km). The average depth is about 130 meters, and the maximum is 230; the water is muddy, which makes it even more difficult to explore.
The origin of the legend of the Loch Ness monster
The ancient Romans were the first to mention the Loch Ness monster. When they first arrived in Britain, they described the local flora and fauna and wrote about the stories of local residents about a strange, long-necked, gigantic seal. Local Celtic legends described the monster in different ways. Some are like a water horse, others are like a huge frog. They all have one thing in common - the monster has a long neck and a small head.
The first official documents mentioning the mysterious monster date back to the 18th century, when General Wade carried out blasting operations. The loud noise of the explosion, according to the general, scared away two huge monsters. Later, the monster was also mentioned, but in general the noise around it died down. A new round and the emergence of modern legends about the Loch Ness monster occurred at the end of the 19th century.
By this time, the world already knew dinosaurs, including sea creatures. In 1880, a tragedy occurred - a sailboat sank. The strange thing was that there was complete calm and a warm, sunny day, but not a single one of the sailors swam out and was subsequently discovered. Then they remembered the old stories and the strange monster named Nessie.
Falsifications, errors and controversial facts about the Loch Ness monster
Most of the evidence that the monster actually exists is not convincing enough, can be interpreted differently, or is generally deliberately fabricated.
Surgeon's photo
Often, people, trying to become famous or earn money, deliberately falsified videos and photographs. The most famous attempt is considered to be a photograph taken in 1934 by surgeon Kenneth Wilson; the fake monster was created by him and three accomplices. The photo gained worldwide fame; over time, two of the accomplices admitted to falsification.
Ultrasound scanning
Sound waves, reflected from solid objects, give a clear idea of their shape and location. The study was conducted in the 50s, the results were two-digit. On the one hand, significant changes in water temperature were discovered, which could create sharp and strong currents that lift and carry along giant logs from the bottom. On the other hand, several large ones were found rising independently and maneuvering in the depths of the water.
Fin by Robert Rines
A whole group of scientists was engaged in a new study. Various equipment was used during observations. Finally, in 1972, a photograph of a large diamond-shaped fin was obtained.
An independent examination established that the photo is genuine and not falsified, but its interpretation is different. Indeed, the object only looks like a fin, but it could be a log, an optical effect, or a large boulder at the bottom.
Photo from space
A satellite image taken in 2009 showed a strange creature with a long tail, four spade-shaped limbs and a massive body. The photo almost became a world sensation. However, it was discovered in time that the picture showed a boat with rowers, and the wave wake behind it was mistaken for its tail.
In the next article, we will look at what current arguments exist for and against the existence of the Loch Ness monster? How true are they?
Documentary about the Loch Ness Monster from National Geographic
Does Nessie exist? The search for this plesiosaur either subsides or begins with renewed vigor. This is a mythical creature that supposedly lives in a huge lake in Scotland. He is also affectionately called "Nessie". “You’ll never see Nessie in this weather,” the taxi driver tells me confidently, shaking his head. We are driving along a narrow road along the Scottish lake Loch Ness. - It's too hot for him now. He will sit in the depths, where it is cooler.”
Maybe so, but I nevertheless gaze long and intently into the still waters of the lake. Others say that it is on such days that the smooth surface of the water begins to move and the creature (he or she) - huge, with a curved back like an overturned boat - floats up for a short time, and again dives into the depths: this is Nessie, the most famous underwater creature in the world monster. So far, more than a thousand witnesses claim to have seen it - or at least the waves it left behind as it plunged into the dark depths...
But Nessie is just one of many water monsters. From the foggy shores of Scandinavia to the dense forests of the Congo and the North American prairies, almost every culture has its own Loch Ness monster. And in many cases, the prototypes of the legendary monsters are real fossils of marine reptiles that lived in the seas from two hundred and fifty to sixty-five million years ago.
Nessie has allegedly been photographed or spotted on sonar several times and most closely resembles a plesiosaur, a long-necked marine reptile that went extinct at the same time as land dinosaurs about sixty-five million years ago.
Scotland began to attract the attention of the public, especially people involved in unusual natural phenomena, as early as the sixth century AD. Having raised in the minds of its citizens a wondrous legend about an unprecedented beast living at the bottom of the lake, the country has secured a huge flow of researchers and ordinary tourists who want to touch or at least look at this miracle of nature. Until now, it is not known for certain whether the monster actually exists.
The abbot of the Scottish monastery of Iona told the world about the terrible murder of a man. If you believe his “life”, then the unfortunate man was killed by the wondrous river monster Nisag (as the Celts call their monster). The Abbot of Columba noticed that his students were interested in the incident, and decided to go down the river by boat to see if the killer was really Nisag. The boat sailed from the shore, and a few moments later a beast floated out in front of the students, which put them in a stupor and made everyone who saw it horrified.
In order for the beast to disappear into the abyss of water, Columba read a prayer and thereby saved everyone. Then they remembered about the unprecedented creation in 1932. This is already official documentation. “A crocodile-like creature with a very small head and a long neck,” a Miss MacDonald described Nessie, thereby starting an unofficial series of observations of the lake. After the publication of this material, more and more eyewitnesses almost immediately appeared who described the creature in almost the same way as Miss MacDonald. The news, which instantly spread not only to Scotland, but also to other countries, led to a real stir and a mass pilgrimage of tourists to the conditional place of residence of the monster .
Scientists approached this issue from a different angle, and in 1975, a group of enthusiasts used sonar and photographic devices to study the bottom. As a result of the latter, scientists received a picture in which there is something similar to the fin of a huge fish. And already in 2003, researchers from the international BBC survey used sound sonars to explore the bottom of the lake (600 instruments), but never found anything. A 2016 study also found nothing. Of course, the scientific world is full of mysteries, but many believe that all the data was simply classified, and in fact, Nessie, an amazing monster with a small head and a huge body, exists.
The first mentions of this monster date back to the era of Roman legionnaires. On paper, a case of meeting with a creature is described already in the 6th century AD. In his writings, the Irish monk described a strange creature that attacked local residents. After this, people encountered the monster for several centuries. Either an animal whose head resembles a horse lured lonely travelers into the abyss, or a giant salamander overturned a ship with people in the lake...
Nessie's popularity peaked in the last century. In the 1930s, a newspaper published a story of eyewitnesses who allegedly saw in the waters of the lake a huge black something with two humps and a small head. For several years, the editors were simply inundated with messages about meetings with Nessie. Only in 1933, dozens of tourists and local residents allegedly saw him. It is noteworthy that none of them came face to face with the creature, no one saw it up close.
The essence of the testimony can be boiled down to the following: someone from the shore observed movement on the lake, saw a head or humps, heard loud splashes. And one married couple even saw how a sluggish animal of gigantic size crawled from the nearest undergrowth to the water (this was almost the only meeting with Nessie on the shore; no one else noticed that he left the lake).
In 1933, the very first known photograph of a strange animal was also taken. The quality of the image left much to be desired: everything was “smeared” and unclear. In the water there was a large figure in the shape of the Latin letter “S”. The photo was recognized by experts as authentic. However, it is impossible to say with certainty whether the captured object is alive, or whether it is just a large snag.
In 1934, the idea of capturing Nessie literally captured naturalists. At that time, parliament was even asked for subsidies for research, but the request was rejected. And in the 60s, a certain Mr. Dinsdale filmed the movement of an unusually large object on the surface of the lake. For comparison, he also filmed the footprint of his boat on the water - they were two completely different footprints. In subsequent years, this video recording was considered the only material evidence of the existence of the Loch Ness monster. But already in the 20s, a group of experts established that the waves on the water were still left by a certain boat (possibly different in size from Dinsdale’s vessel).
Thus, we can conclude that at the moment there is not a single photo, video or audio material that clearly demonstrates the existence of Nessie. All images are blurry, unclear or unreliable (take, for example, the very first photo of the creature - it shows just a black hook made of water, which could be a simple piece of driftwood).
Scientists present several arguments according to which the Loch Ness monster simply cannot exist:
- The bottom of the lake was scanned several times. According to supporters of the existence of Nessie, there may be a huge crevice at the bottom of the lake, or maybe even a whole network of caves, where the creature is hiding to this day. But this year (2016), with the help of the most modern equipment, experts completely studied the topography of the reservoir and refuted the fact of the existence of caves or crevices - the bottom of the lake is flat. The waters themselves were also studied several times, but nothing was found. That is, Nessie has absolutely nowhere to hide;
- The reservoir is of glacial origin and was completely covered with ice for a long time. No living creature of sufficient size has yet been found that can survive without oxygen for several years;
- The lake does not have the necessary biomass to feed such a large animal as the Loch Ness monster (regardless of whether it is a herbivore or a carnivore). Nessie, according to eyewitnesses, reaches a length of more than 15 meters. Moreover, it must weigh more than 20 tons, and there would be enough food in the lake only for someone weighing no more than 2000 kg. Thus, the unfortunate monster would simply starve to death;
- By the way, not a single fragment of the creature’s body was found - no teeth, no remains, no scales, no claws;
- Loch Ness is one of the favorite tourist destinations: there are a dozen hotels and campsites on its shores, and the reservoir is navigable. Over such a huge period of time, at least someone should have captured a rare wonder (after all, the monster needs to surface to take in air). And animals are generally not attracted to places busy with people. (with the exception of small animals that eat food thrown away by humans, but Nessie is unlikely to be able to crawl onto land to feast on an apple core forgotten by a careless tourist);
- An interesting fact is that in the 30s of the last century a circus group actively toured in Scotland. It included several elephants who really enjoy bathing. When the elephant swims, only its trunk, head and back part are visible above the water (the neck with the head and two humps of Nessie captured in his first photo, respectively);
- The first mentions of the lake wonder date back to the end of the last millennium. The monster could very well be an ancient sea dinosaur. But according to scientists’ calculations, such people lived on average for a maximum of 300 years. And Nessie has already exceeded 2000 (provided that the animal in the waters of the lake was the same, although, as indicated above, even one creature cannot feed itself there, not to mention a possible group);
Despite all the above points, there are still quite a lot of supporters of the existence of the Loch Ness monster in the world. But really, any technology can fail, any specialists make mistakes...
And at the bottom of the reservoir there may be caves and crevices. Perhaps even leading to the ocean. And Nessie managed to get out of the hungry and cold captivity of the lake outside. It is likely that the monster might not live permanently in Scotland, but only swam there for some purpose.
The video is a story about Nessie.
Loch Ness monster
All essays and books mentioning Nessie - an unusual creature, a threat to the entire population of Scotland. According to legend, the monster lives in Loch Ness and regularly scares local residents with its terrible appearance. Eyewitnesses stated that they saw a huge monster with a long neck sticking its small head out of the water. Despite its size, the monster is distinguished by its relative good nature: during its entire existence, it has not strangled, drowned or harmed anyone.
The Loch Ness monster was described by eyewitnesses as a snake stretched through the body of a turtle.
Judging by the description, this monster belongs to a species of plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that lived approximately 160 million years ago. The length of their neck was about 2 meters - the same length as their body and tail combined. Why they needed such a long neck has long been a mystery, but Leslie Noe of the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, UK, suggests: "Plesiosaurs used their long necks to reach the bottom and get food," Noe said on International meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Ottawa, Canada. He examined the remains of a plesiosaur called Muraenosaurus and, by studying the articulation of the neck bones, concluded that the neck was flexible and could move easily. The small skulls of plesiosaurs did not allow them to cope with prey in a hard shell.
Edinburgh. Scottish scientists have denied the existence of the Loch Ness monster. According to the Yoread portal, a satellite navigation system and 600 sonars helped them in this.
It has been suggested that the Loch Ness monster may have been a marine reptile that went extinct along with the dinosaurs. Researchers did not exclude the possibility that the animal could survive in the harsh waters of Loch Ness, despite the fact that such creatures usually prefer a subtropical climate.
They explored the entire Loch Ness lake in Scotland, where, according to legend, the prehistoric monster Nessie lives, attracting hundreds of tourists from all over the world to these places every year. As a result of the study, no traces of the lake monster were found.
In most cases, tourists confuse the Loch Ness monster with logs sticking out of the water, accumulations of algae and other objects that figuratively resemble the silhouette of the monster.
According to legend, the first to tell the world about a mysterious creature in a distant Scottish lake were Roman legionnaires who, with sword in hand, mastered the Celtic expanses at the dawn of the Christian era.
Local residents immortalized in stone all representatives of the Scottish fauna - from deer to mice. The only stone sculpture that the Romans could not identify was a strange image of a long-necked seal of gigantic proportions.
In the spring of 1933, the Inverness Courier newspaper first published a detailed story of the Mackay couple, who first encountered Nessie. That same year, a road was built along the northern shore of the lake and trees and bushes were cut down to provide a better view of Britain's largest freshwater body of water.
In August of the same year, three eyewitnesses noticed a disturbance on the usually quiet Loch Ness. Then, first floating to the surface, then going under the water again, several humps began to appear, arranged in a row. They moved in waves, like a caterpillar.
Gradually, based on these descriptions, the image of a certain prehistoric creature living in the depths of a reservoir began to emerge in the public imagination. A year later, this image was brought to life thanks to the so-called “Surgeon photo”.
Its author, London physician R. Kenneth Wilson, claimed that he photographed the monster by accident while traveling in the area, bird watching.
In 1994 it was determined that it was a fake, manufactured by Wilson and three accomplices. Two of Wilson's accomplices voluntarily confessed to their crime, and the first confession (in 1975) remained unnoticed by the public, since faith in the honesty of Dr. Wilson, who seemingly had no motive to deceive, was unshakable.
With a snake head and neck, living in the Scottish lake Loch Ness. According to legend, Roman legionnaires were the first to tell the world about the mysterious monster. For a long time, nothing was known about the existence of the lake monster, until in the spring of 1933 the McKay couple first reported to the newspaper about a meeting with an unknown animal. Driving along a road running close to the lake, they observed how an unknown object of enormous size, resembling a cross between a lizard and a fish, appeared from the depths of the lake. The monster remained on the surface of the lake for no more than twenty seconds, after which it sank under the water and did not appear again.
Since the construction of this road, which runs along the coast of Loch Ness, people have noted almost five thousand appearances of the Loch Ness monster. After the Mackay couple reported their encounter with the monster, local newspapers seized on the sensation, which became known to the masses. After this, the revival of the ancient legend about the water monster began, which began to be called the Loch Ness monster or Nessie. The Loch Ness monster made itself known again a few years later, when new alarming reports of a huge monster began to appear. Numerous witnesses claimed to have observed “the movements of a huge lizard” in the water column; several times traces were found on the coast, which could have been left behind by a crawling animal.
Scientists became interested in the Loch Ness monster and began to regularly explore the lake using visual methods. But soon the effectiveness of visual research did not bear fruit, and scientists took a different route - they began to listen to Loch Ness using sound scanning. The first operation of this kind was carried out in the mid-twentieth century, and since then work in this area has continued continuously. The use of sonar scanning of water allowed scientists to learn many important things about Loch Ness, for example, they were able to calculate the total amount of biomass in the lake - a very important circumstance that is directly related to the possibility of the existence of the Loch Ness monster. In addition, sound study revealed the presence of a seiche effect in the water, which causes optical illusion. This is the sudden occurrence of strong short-term flows of water resulting from a sharp change in atmospheric pressure. Such currents, carrying large objects along with them, create the illusion of the object moving according to “its own will.” But sound scanning also revealed inexplicable facts in the lake. Scientists have recognized that at great depths there are objects of enormous size that independently fall and rise, moving under water. There is still no exact answer to the question of what these objects are. Confidence in the existence of the Loch Ness monster still raises many questions. In fact, the Loch Ness monster will not be able to live at the bottom of the lake alone. Some kind of offspring must live there, otherwise the giant would have died of old age long ago. But on the other hand, if, for example, a dozen such monsters live in the water, why do people see them so rarely?
One of the most common and plausible assumptions is the theory that the Loch Ness Monster may be a living plesiosaur. It is one of the marine reptiles that existed during the era of dinosaurs, which ended about 63 million years ago. Plesiosaurs were very similar to dolphins or sharks, and a scientific expedition to the lake in 1987 may well have supported this hypothesis. But the fact is that approximately ten thousand years ago, a huge glacier stood on the site of Loch Ness for a long time, and it is unlikely that any animals could survive in subglacial water. According to John Grant in one of his books, the Loch Ness Monster does not belong to the younger generation of settlers. The family of the largest marine animals that arrived in Loch Ness several decades or centuries ago is in no way related to the family of whales or dolphins, otherwise their appearance would often be observed on the surface of Loch Ness. Most likely, we are talking about, which is rarely shown on the surface; In addition, eyewitnesses could observe different parts of his gigantic body, which can explain the contradictory descriptions of the monster by many witnesses.
Over the years, the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster has become overgrown with an incredible amount of detail: over the decades, a lot of documentary evidence has been provided, photographs of varying reliability, echo sounder recordings and underwater video footage, but at the same time there is a huge number of fakes. Research will continue, and perhaps the mystery of the mysterious monster will be solved.
Labynkyr devil
In the east of Yakutia in the Oymyakon region there is a small lake Labynkyr, about which there are many rumors and legends. In accordance with numerous observations, including filming from a helicopter, a huge animal, presumably of relict origin, lives in the reservoir. In the nearby village of Tomtor, local residents claim that the lake is inhabited by strange creatures. Old-timers answer questions about the new “Nessie” with eagerness, saying that there is some kind of “devil” in the reservoir that has been living there for quite some time. In all nearby districts the creature was nicknamed “Labynkyr devil”. Since Lake Labynkyr is located in the northern part of Russia, famous for its low temperatures, the surface of the lake is covered with ice most of the year. Researchers have found that every winter several large polynyas (called local “devil’s windows”) always appear on the surface of the lake, and next to the polynyas there are traces of some large animal. Officially, science believes that the inhabitants of the deep waters have been studied quite well, but practice shows the opposite. The topic of “northern monsters” was first raised by the newspaper “Youth of Yakutia” in December 1958. And two years later, the diaries of the head of the geological party V.I. Tverdokhlebov, where the existence of a large animal of unknown origin in Yakutia was also confirmed. Many reacted to this message with criticism. One of the researchers at the Institute of Permafrost Studies suggested that eyewitnesses observed nothing more than a large catfish measuring about five meters, weighing up to 300 kg. However, this version soon turned out to be refuted - it turned out that catfish had never been found in Labynkyr. In any case, according to current scientific practice, such reports are certainly considered documentary evidence.
Scientists were interested in Tverdokhlebov’s reports, and as a result, several expeditions were sent to the lake, which, however, did not bring any convincing results. Cryptozoologists, in turn, put forward their assumptions regarding the natural origin of the “Labynkyr devil”: a giant mutant pike, an amphibian or a relict reptile. In 2005, a well-known television program organized its own expedition to Labynkyr, during which it carried out a number of measurements and studies. Using an echo sounder, it was possible to identify an anomalous crack at the bottom of the lake. A deep-sea teleprobe allowed the expedition to discover the remains of animal jaws and vertebrae at the bottom. We also managed to record unusual sounds coming from the side of the lake, similar to the roar of an underwater monster. The acoustics laboratory of the Research Institute of Oceanology came to the conclusion that the recorded sound is unlike any other known to science.
It was also reported about the appearance of a “devil” in the neighboring Lake Vorota, but the expedition that went to this lake completely denied the existence of any monsters in it. Among local residents there are very unusual stories about the monster. For example, one day a monster climbed out of the depths onto the shore and chased a Yakut fisherman, who died while running from severe fright. Another time, the creature swallowed an adult dog swimming after an abandoned stick. But most often the Yakuts name deer as their hunting object, of which there are many. They tell a terrible story about how a local reindeer herder tied a team of reindeer to a tusk sticking out of thin ice. While he was making a fire, a loud crash was heard on the shore - the tusk fell into the broken ice, and something huge carried the deer to the bottom. Neither the team nor the animals themselves were ever found. The existence of the monster is partly confirmed by the fact that different eyewitnesses have the same opinions in their descriptions of the monster. They describe it almost identically - a huge dark gray body, a large head. According to available evidence, the distance between the eyes of the huge creature is more than a meter. Such dimensions seem incredible, but the discovery of a local resident helped. A man accidentally discovered on the shore the jaw of an unknown animal with teeth, which was so large that a horseman could easily ride under it standing in an upright position. To date, all data about Labynkyrsky, as in the case of "Nessie", have not found direct and indisputable evidence.
Story
According to legend, the first to tell the world about a mysterious creature in a distant Scottish lake were Roman legionnaires who, with sword in hand, mastered the Celtic expanses at the dawn of the Christian era. Local residents immortalized in stone all representatives of the Scottish fauna - from deer to mice. The only stone sculpture that the Romans could not identify was a strange image of a long-necked seal of gigantic proportions. The first written mention of a mysterious creature living in the waters of Loch Ness dates back to 565 AD. In the life of Saint Columba, Abbot Jonah spoke of the saint's triumph over the "water beast" in the River Ness. The abbot of Columbus was then busy converting the pagan Picts and Scots in his new monastery off the west coast of Scotland. One day he went out to Loch Ness and saw that the locals were burying one of their people. He was maimed and killed while swimming in the lake. He was killed by Nisag (the Gaelic name for the monster). Local residents, armed with hooks to ward off the monster, dragged the body of the deceased to the shore. One of the saint’s disciples frivolously threw himself into the water and swam across a narrow strait to bring in a boat. When he sailed away from the shore, “a strange-looking animal rose from the water, like a giant frog, only it was not a frog.” Columba drove the monster away with prayer. A geographical atlas from 1325 refers to a "large fish with a serpentine neck and head" in Loch Ness. The next mention dates back to 1527, when an angry dragon destroyed oak trees on the shore and maimed people. Then it seemed to calm down for a long time, but suddenly in 1880, with complete calm and clear skies on the lake, a small sailboat capsized and sank along with the people. They immediately remembered the monster, fortunately there were people who saw it. This is the beginning of the legend of the Loch Ness monster. In the spring of 1933, the Inverness Courier newspaper first published a detailed story of the Mackay couple, who first encountered Nessie. In the same year, construction of a road began along the northern shore of the lake. Many people and cars appear on the deserted shores, and the surrounding area is filled with explosions and the roar of engines. It is not known what controlled the dragon more: irritation or curiosity, but it was at this time that he was seen especially often. A certain E. Mounter organized a network of observation posts around the lake. Over the course of 5 weeks, the monster appeared 15 times. In 1943, military pilot B. Farrell reported to his superiors that while flying over the lake at an altitude of 250 yards, he clearly saw Nessie. But in those years the British had no time for dragons. In 1951, the monster was seen by a local forester and his friend. The next year, Mrs. Greta Finely and her son observed Nessie in the water near the shore. In 1957, Mrs. Constance White, who lived for many years on the shore of the lake, published the book “This is More than a Legend,” which collected 117 eyewitness accounts of Nessie. In all the stories, the appearance of the animal was described approximately the same: a thick massive body, a long neck, a small head.
"Surgeon's Photograph"
Gradually, based on these descriptions, the image of a certain prehistoric creature living in the depths of a reservoir began to emerge in the public imagination. A year later, this image was brought to life thanks to the so-called “Surgeon photo”. Its author, London physician R. Kenneth Wilson, claimed that he photographed the monster by accident while traveling in the area, bird watching. It was determined that it was a fake, manufactured by Wilson and three accomplices. Two of Wilson's accomplices voluntarily confessed to their crime, and the first confession (in 1975) remained unnoticed by the public, since faith in the honesty of Dr. Wilson, who seemingly had no motive to deceive, was unshakable.
Shooting Dinsdale
The progress of the boat, filmed by Dinsdale himself for comparison, numerous computer studies, additional verification by Kodak specialists, and the initial JARIC conclusion itself serve as convincing evidence that there could be no question of a trace left by the boat here. - Professor Henry Bauer, Virginia Polytechnic, USA.
Sound scanning
Disillusioned with the effectiveness of visual research, scientists turned to alternative search methods, in particular, sound scanning. The first session of this kind was conducted in the mid-50s and since then work in this area has continued continuously. Thus, scientists learned a lot about Loch Ness, in particular, they calculated the total amount of biomass in the lake - a key factor that is directly related to the possibility of a large creature existing here.
In addition, sound testing revealed the existence of a strange effect (known as seich) in the lake, which can cause optical illusion. We are talking about the sudden appearance of powerful short-term flows of water, provoked by sudden changes in atmospheric pressure. Such currents can carry large objects with them, which, moving against the wind, can create the illusion of moving forward “of their own free will.”
But the same sonar scan revealed other, inexplicable facts. It was recognized that in the lake at great depth there are gigantic objects capable of independently rising, falling and maneuvering in the waters. The answer to the question of what these objects could be has not yet been received.
Nessiteras rhombopteryx
Gordon Holmes film
Pros and cons
The main argument of skeptics remains the indisputable fact that the amount of biomass in the lake is not enough to support the life of a creature of the size attributed to the Loch Ness monster. Despite its enormous size and abundance of water (brought here by seven rivers), Loch Ness has sparse flora and fauna. During research conducted by the Loch Ness Project, dozens of species of living creatures were identified. However, sound scanning showed that the lake contains only 20 tons of biomass, which is enough to support the life of one living creature weighing no more than 2 tons. Calculations based on the study of fossil remains of a plesiosaur show that a 15-meter lizard would weigh 25 tons. Adrian Shine believes that one should look not for one creature, but for “a colony that would number from 15 to 30 individuals.” In this case, all of them, in order to feed themselves, should be no more than 1.5 meters in length.
Professor Bauer, one of the main proponents of the reality of Nessie, was not convinced by this argument.
Dinsdale's filming convincingly proves that the lake - at least in the 60s - was indeed inhabited by a giant living creature. Moreover, I am convinced that it exists here - or existed - in the singular. Something else remains unclear. Everything indicates that this creature requires oxygen to maintain life. But it hardly appears on the surface. If we summarize the testimony of eyewitnesses who described a massive body with a hump, fins and a long neck, then the appearance of a modern plesiosaur emerges. But the creatures that live in Loch Ness do not come to the surface and spend part of their lives at the bottom. This suggests that we are already dealing with a descendant of a plesiosaur, which over time developed the ability to remain without air for a very long time." - Professor Henry Bauer, Virginia Polytechnic.
Supporters of the reality of "Nessie" refer to ancient legends, according to which at the bottom of the lake there is a network of caves and tunnels that allow the monster to swim out to sea and return back. However, studies of the bottom and shores indicate that the existence of such tunnels here is unlikely.
Versions
Most supporters of the monster's existence considered it a relict plesiosaur, but over 70 years of observation it was not possible to find a single corpse of the animal. 6th century reports of sightings of the animal also raise doubts. In addition, plesiosaurs were inhabitants of warm tropical seas, and the possibility of their existence in the cold waters of Loch Ness is highly doubtful. Hypotheses were also expressed about cryptids - animals unknown to science (huge fish, long-necked seal, giant clam). Other versions of the origin of Nessie have been proposed, which do not require a hypothesis about relict or unknown creatures to science.
Version 1
The scientist concluded that most reports about Nessie date back to subsequent years. It was at this time that traveling circuses stopped in the lake area on the way to Iverness. Clark believes that the first observations and photographs of Nessie were made from bathing and swimming elephants. When an elephant swims, it exposes its trunk to the surface. Also visible on the surface of the water are two “humps” - the top of the elephant’s head and the top of the back. The picture is very similar to the descriptions and photos of Nessie. And only then, as Clark believes, the manager of the circus group Bertram Mills (obviously understanding what was behind the sightings of the monster) offered a large monetary reward (₤20 thousand, or ₤1 million in modern money) to anyone who caught Nessie for him . However, this version does not explain all cases of observation.
Version 2
According to Italian seismologist Luigi Piccardi, a huge tectonic fault called Great Glen runs along the bottom of the lake. Huge waves on the surface of the lake, as well as huge bubbles rising from its bottom, according to the Italian, are nothing more than the results of tectonic activity at the bottom of the lake. All this, according to Piccardi, can be accompanied by emissions of flames, characteristic sounds reminiscent of a muffled roar, and also cause mild earthquakes, which are mistaken for a monster.
Version 3
One alternative explanation for this phenomenon is that the owners of hotels and other establishments located near the lake used the ancient legend of the monster to attract tourists. For this purpose, “eyewitness accounts” and photographs were published in local newspapers, allegedly confirming their statements, and even Nessie dummies were made.
Notes
see also
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Synonyms:See what the “Loch Ness Monster” is in other dictionaries:
Noun, number of synonyms: 1 fictional creature (334) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary
