Hello Steemies,
Since I'm a big fan of crime stories, myths & conspiracy theories I decided to start a series about mysterious stories I want to share with you!
So the first one will be...
THE LEGEND OF LOCH NESS
So I guess everybody knows the story of Nessie - I heard of it the first time in elementary school and there is a lot of literature dealing with this creature living in the Loch Ness Lake in Scotland next to Inverness.
The first time somebody reported on an aquatic beast living in Scotland’s Loch Ness reaches about 1.500 years ago. The legend of Nessie, the modern Loch Ness Monster we know, is born in 1933 when a local couple reported to have witnessed an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the water surface. This story was widely spread by the media – external newspapers showed interest and send reporter to the lake while circuses offered a lot of money for anyone managing to capture this creature!
It is definitely worth to mention that stones have been found in which a large aquatic creature was carved by local Picts – referring to researches those carvings were made at about 500 A.D.!
The earliest written reference reaches into the 7th century. It deals with an Irish missionary called Saint Columba intending to spread Christianity to Scotland. On his way to visit the king of the northern Picts near Inverness he made a side trip to the Loch Ness due to rumours about a huge beast killing a lot of locals there. When he finally had the chance to confront the beast while he was about to kill another man, Columba commanded the creature in the name of God to retreat and never kill a human being again. According to this story the monster never killed another man after that!
Tell us your opinion in the comment section below!
There have been a hell lot of sightings of the Beast according to eyewitnesses [e.g. another couple claimed to have seen the beast on land] and in combination with the sensations-grabbing newspaper reports Nessie got international present – attracting more and more big game hunters and adventurists.
MONSTER OF LOCH NESS IS NOT LEGEND BUT A FACT!
... that was the heading of a newspaper article after a man found huge footprints of a large animal. The footprints have been analysed by the British Natural History Museum and according to the findings those footprints belong to a hippopotamus! What a hoax!
Is this Nessie? [1934]
In 1934 a famous photograph shows a dinosaur-like creature with a long neck sticking out of the water in the Loch Ness. Based on the visuals assumptions were made about Nessie being a survivor of the long-extinct plesiosaurus.
The plesiosaurus lived during the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous, so from about 209 to 66 M.Y.A.! So how could it survive the extinction of the dinosaurs?
Drawing of two plesiosaurus by Dmitry Bogdanov
People assume that Nessie was frozen solid during the most recent ice age, but still it would be nearly impossible for it to survive until today’s century. On the other hand Nessie could also be a primitive whale species with a long neck. The perception sceptics have is that the appearances of Nessie are just oscillations in the water surface caused by the inflow of cold river water into the slightly warmer loch.
In the 60s and 70s British universities started expeditions to Loch Ness by using sonar waves to search the deep. Even though nothing special was found, there was always a large, moving underwater object that is unexplained until today. In the 80s and 90s the technical advancements made it possible to make underwater photographs and one photo showed a giant flipper of a plesiosaur-like creature. Following expeditions provided even more mysteries results, but due to the revelation of the famous photo from 1934 being a hoax the enthusiasm towards Nessie faded rapidly.
What do you guys think? Did a dinosaur survive until today or does Nessie exist at all?
Don’t you guys think that “Nessie” could also be just a strange happenstance that has been used by opportunists to lure e.g. tourists to Loch Ness?
In my opinion, commercial benefits always play a role in such mysteries!
See you soon! #SteemOn