The Dragon Stone

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Location:
Loch Ness, Scotland, Europe

Images:

Description:
Nessie is the Loch Ness Monster, one of the most famous lake monsters. The sightings and history of Nessie spread over a long time period. The earliest recorded sighting was back in 565. Saint Columba of Iona had been sent to Scotland to spread Christianity. Columba had come across people burying their friend, who they claimed had died to a lake monster. He ordered one of his companions to swim into the water. As the monster arrived to eat the man, Columba told the monster to leave in the name of God and it fled.

Obviously there needs to be some caution with this tale. It may have been created to help with Columba's conversion of the Scots. It also may be based on true events, either witnesses by Columba or from older Loch Ness Monster tales. It was such an early sighting that it is hard to know, especially as a detailed description of Nessie was not included. It is interesting to compare it to modern sightings, where Nessie has not been known for hunting down humans. Possibly the monster was there, but the events were exaggerated.

Nessie sightings either tend to describe her as looking like a plesiosaur or like a classic sea serpent. Nessie sightings occur both in the water and on the land around the loch. Obviously it is not a single animal that is being seen over this time period. Suggestions have been that it may be lone individuals getting stuck in the loch or that it may be a small colony of Nessies. The latter suggestion has the issue of whether there is enough food in the loch to support a colony.

In modern times, people have tried to get photographs. The most famous photographs were allegedly taken by R. K. Wilson in 1934. They are often called the surgeon's photographs as Wilson worked as a doctor at the time. It was later claimed that they were taken by Marmaduke Wetherell. The confession came from his step-son, Christian Spurling, who claimed to have made the model (a head and neck stuck on a toy submarine). The photographs were then passed to Wilson to give them credibility. The hoax story is not believed by everyone and remains a contentious issue.

As well as the hoaxes, other photographs have been shown to not be a Loch Ness Monster. These are not purposeful hoaxes, but simply because familiar objects can be misidentified. A process is used where the angle of the picture is recreated and boats of known sizes are placed where Nessie was thought to be. From this, photographs can often be shown to be things like local boats at strange angles. This is an issue with Nessie investigations... people are hoping to see Nessie to the point they can persuade themselves they have. Sightings have to be filtered for the ones that have a chance of being true.

Scientists have also taken an interest in Nessie, using sonar to try and track her down and making attempts to catch one for DNA samples. So far this has not led to anything conclusive, though there have been some sonar results that may be a creature.

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