By: Catalina Ortiz
The waters of the world are shrouded in mystery, but what about the things in the water? Maybe a certain lake with a certain monster? Gather ‘round and let me tell you about the tale of the infamous Loch Ness monster.
First, what did the Loch Ness monster (a.k.a. Nessie) look like? Well most eyewitness accounts tell of a creature with a small head attached to a long neck and plump, round body with four flippers. The first recorded sighting was around 565 AD. when the beast bit a swimmer and was advancing towards another person before St. Columba appeared and commanded the monster to ‘go back’. Somehow the creature understood and, even more astonishing, Nessie obeyed him and left. Fast forward to 1933 when a road built along the lake had cleared the view to the water, and apparently to the beast of aquatic mystery as well. More and more reports came in for Nessie sightings but popularity can also lead to some false evidence. Many “real” pictures taken as evidence were actually fakes, such as the famous ‘Surgeon's photograph’, which turned out to be a fake head fashioned out of trash attached to a toy submarine. This doesn’t mean the monster isn’t real though.
Next up, here are some theories as to what the “monster” might be. First is the plesiosaur theory. Many people speculate the Nessie might be the prehistoric dinosaur called a plesiosaur. Not only does this water dino match the descriptions of eyewitness accounts, it could easily still be alive since scientists thought the ancient fish coelacanth was also extinct. But that changed when one was caught off the coast of South Africa. The same could be possible with the plesiosaur. One other possible, yet less exciting theory, is the giant eel theory. There are many eels already living in the loch ness, and there are traces of their DNA in the lake. The eels could simply have been out of the water for some reason when there were sightings. But it begs the question, what about the descriptions of a plump, round body?
There are also reasons why this is a good mystery. For example, the evidence we have may sway to the eel theory, but there is also evidence for the plesiosaur theory. This means we don't know if the monster is truly real or not. Some sources point out that boats equipped with sonar have found large masses in the lakes. The stories also detail the lake’s murky waters and forested area which could hinder the ability to see the supposed monster. The creature itself also piques your interest as in its first sighting it attacked a swimmer and doesn’t look like any living animal we know now. St. Columba was one of the first witnesses, and he points to the fact that the legend could be real. The fact that there could be a real monster in Loch Ness, something bigger, and possibly older than us, is pretty scary considering it could be hostile.
The Loch Ness Monster is truly a mystery with speculations ranging from ancient beast to a common eel. The hindrance trees and murky waters pose to recorded sightings help sustain the mystery factor. Now that's what I call a monstrous mystery!