As scary as it might be, there’s always this one thing that attracts us to the unknown – curiosity. Thanks to that drive to discover, we now have access to numerous information regarding the world we live in. Even to this day, despite already having enough investment money to explore the far corners of space, there are still plenty of things we don’t know about our blue planet. Well, one such subject worth noting would be the creatures that once roamed the Earth – or, perhaps in secret, still do.
For this article, we will be looking at one of history’s greatest mysteries: the Loch Ness monster. A creature reportedly residing in the freshwaters of Scotland’s Loch Ness, the Loch Ness monster continues to be a topic many researchers tackle to this day. Although there’s still insufficient evidence to credit its existence, that hasn’t stopped any interested tourists from visiting the Loch Ness area so they can check it out for themselves. Well, with that out of the way, let’s talk about this famous myth, shall we?
A Story Told Throughout History
Despite research still coming up with little to no conclusive evidence of its existence, studies have found that the story of the Loch Ness monster is actually older than we initially thought. One of the earliest accounts referring to a sighting of a monster coming from the Loch Ness area took place around 565 AD, when St. Columba went to visit the king of the North Picts. Along the way, Columba witnessed the now-famed monster killing people near the lake. Of course, like a hero in many of our favorite stories, Columba couldn’t help but intervene and save the day. To some degree, you could say this was a case of divine intervention. After commanding the creature to leave and never come back, the Loch Ness monster did as it was told and never harmed another person ever since.
A Sudden Resurgence
After centuries of lying dormant, sightings and stories regarding the Loch Ness monster found a resurgence during the 1930s. In 1933, investments were made in developing a new road near the Loch Ness area. Of course, besides providing a more convenient route, it also allowed any people driving by an unfiltered view of the now-famed lake. Not long after, history found a way to repeat itself, but this time, instead of a saint like Columba, it was a couple.
After the couple reported that they saw “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface,” the Loch Ness monster instantly became quite a celebrity of sorts in the local community. In fact, a circus even offered a hefty fortune to whoever can bring them the mythical creature! Well, despite the fact that no one ever captured it in the end, that hasn’t stopped people from claiming they have proof that it’s real – even if said proof turned out to be a fake.
Then Came The Hoaxes
The Loch Ness monster eventually garnered a high degree of recognition, so much so that even London’s Daily Mail sent at-the-time well-known hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to Scotland to capture it. After a few days of searching around the lake area, Wetherell claimed he found footprints of a large four-legged animal. In response to this supposed breakthrough, the Daily Mail published an issue with the headline: “MONSTER OF LOCH NESS IS NOT LEGEND BUT A FACT.” Well, as it turns out, these weren’t the creature’s footprints, but that of a hippopotamus’.
Because of this hoax, Wetherell was publicly ridiculed by the Daily Mail. With his reputation dirtied, the hunter decided to even things out with the publishing company. This eventually led to the now-infamous photo of the supposed Loch Ness monster, showing its head and long neck poking out of the waters. Although Robert Kenneth Wilson often takes the credit for taking the picture, the image was actually taken by Wetherell and his friends, with Wilson eventually joining in on the “practical joke.” The creature on the shot was just a toy submarine floating on the lake, with its head and neck made with wood putty.
To this day, many investments have been made in proving the Loch Ness monster’s existence. Many propositions were made regarding the creature through the years, some suggesting that it could be a large eel, while others claim it to be a sole survivor of an extinct animal that once roamed the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Although they’ve since been debunked and disproven, that hasn’t hindered people’s search for it. In the meantime, though, Nessie remains a myth, and perhaps that’s for the better. After all, we wouldn’t want a real-life scenario akin to Jurassic Park now, do we?
