The history of Nessie. Is there a Loch Ness monster known to the whole world? Fin by Robert Rines

Loch Ness (Gel. Loch Nis) is a large deep freshwater lake of glacial origin in Scotland, stretching 37 km southwest of Inverness. Maximum depth- 226 m. Loch Ness became known throughout the world thanks to the legend of the Loch Ness monster (“Nessie”).

Collection of N. Stepanova

According to legend, the first to tell the world about a mysterious creature in a distant Scottish lake were Roman legionnaires who came to Scotland at the dawn of the Christian era. 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, who converted the pagan Picts and Scots in a monastery off the west coast of Scotland, one day went out to Loch Ness and saw that local residents, armed with hooks, pull out of the water one of their people, killed in Lake Nisagom (the Gaelic name for the monster). 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.” Thus began the legend of the Loch Ness monster.

In the spring of 1933, the Inverness Courier newspaper published a story by the Mackay couple, who encountered Nessie firsthand. In August of the same year, three eyewitnesses noticed a disturbance on the usually quiet Loch Ness. Then, several humps began to appear on the surface of the water, arranged in a row, then floating to the surface, then again going under the water. They moved in waves, like a caterpillar.

Most supporters of the existence of the monster considered it a relict plesiosaur, but over 70 years of “observations” it was not possible to find a single corpse of the animal. Reports from the 6th century about sightings of the animal also raise doubts.

In addition to the hypothesis about plesiosaurs that have survived to this day, there are other versions of the origin of Nessie. So in 2005, Neil Clarke, curator of paleontology at the University of Glasgow Museum, compared the first reliable data on observations of the monster with the travel schedule of traveling circuses on the road to Iverness, and realized that local residents had not seen prehistoric dinosaurs, and bathing elephants from traveling circuses heading to Iverness. Clark believes that the first observations and photographs of Nessie were made from bathing and swimming elephants. After all, when an elephant swims, a trunk and two “humps” are visible on the surface of the water - the top of the head and the top of the elephant’s back. The picture is very similar to the descriptions and photos of Nessie. According to Clark, the Nessie legend was one of the best marketing moves of the 20th century. It’s not for nothing that the manager of the circus troupe (speaking of elephants!!!) Bertram Mills offered a large monetary reward (? 20 thousand, or? 1 million in modern money) to the one who caught this monster for him in 1933, after the first reports of a large animal appeared long neck. This is how Nessie became widely known.

There is also a version of the Italian seismologist Luigi Piccardi that the huge waves on the surface of the lake, as well as the huge bubbles rising from its bottom, are nothing more than the results of tectonic activity on the surface of the lake bottom. After all, a tectonic fault runs along the bottom of the lake. All this can be accompanied by the emission of flames, the emission of characteristic sounds reminiscent of a muffled roar, and also cause mild earthquakes, which are mistaken for a monster.

In 2007, reports appeared in the press that scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, examining the bottom of Loch Ness, saw on the monitor screen connected to a television camera lowered to a depth of almost 100 m, Living being, crawling out from under the silt. Upon closer examination, this creature turned out to be a TOAD (!!!) about the size of a palm. But there are deeper backwaters on the lake. Maybe someone bigger lives there? After all, if you believe the biography of St. Columba and the descriptions of eyewitnesses of the century before last, then the Loch Ness monster initially resembled a huge toad or frog. Only in the 20th century did they begin to believe that it looked like a 10-15-meter plesiosaur.

Material prepared by Natalya Stepanova

Sources: wikipedia.org, vseotmambo.nnm.ru, lenta.ru

From the depths of Celtic legends the first mention of these monsters came to us. And the 6th century AD became the time when a certain aquatic beast from the Nessus River appears in one of the chronicles. Then, strangely, all mentions of him disappear until the end of the 19th century!

First appearance

An avalanche of rumors instantly gained admirers and lovers, bringing the situation to the point of absurdity.

One married couple, in the wake of talk about the Loch Ness monster, published a story in the newspaper that they allegedly came face to face with the creature.

After which a road to the lake was built for the prying eyes of numerous tourists who wanted to see for themselves the reality of the reptile.

Someone very enterprising built several observation posts along the shore of the lake, after which the Loch Ness monster was spotted about 20 times a month.

Due to its popularity, the Scottish government decided to capture this creature.

But after science community did not officially confirm the existence of Nessie, this idea was abandoned.

The first written mention is considered to be in the 6th century AD. Biography of Saint Columba.

Written by the abbot of Iona Monastery in Scotland, it tells how the saint defeated a water beast in the River Ness.

The abbot at that time was converting pagans off the west coast of Scotland.

Based on his life, Columba went out to the lake and noticed that the locals were burying someone: the man was maimed and killed while swimming.

The residents were sure that Nisag had destroyed him, that was the name of the monster in Celtic.

People decided to catch and punish the killer.

Armed with hooks, they began to wait.

One of Columba's students decided to become bait and summon the monster.

When the man swam away from the shore, the water opened up and scary beast, looking like a frog, appeared from the water.

Columba was able to drive away the monster only with the help of prayer.

Loch Ness monster in the 20-21st centuries.

Further mentions are associated with the English military pilot Farrel. In 1943, he was flying over the island and noticed an object resembling the Loch Ness monster.

There was a war, history was forgotten. But in 1951, a local forester, then his friend, and a year later another resident saw a water dinosaur with their own eyes.

In 1957, the book “This is More than a Legend” was published, combining all the stories of eyewitnesses.

Numerous reports were received that residents of different cities and countries saw the monster. However

The famous "Surgeon's Photo". The video recording of Tim Dinsdale can be found in the publication “Loch Ness” on our website

There is only a small amount of “real” evidence.

• Kenneth Wilson and his "Surgeon's Photograph". But later it was found out that this was a fake, which was confirmed by the authors themselves.

• Tim Dinsdale. Being an aeronaut, he captured a footprint while filming, presumably belonging to a huge monster. For a long period of time, this trace was considered the only real evidence of the existence of Nessie, but later it was found out that it was a trace from a boat.

Further research was carried out using various experiments and methods, but they did not come to anything, but only confused scientists with new inexplicable facts.

Whatever it was, the aquatic animal could not be found.

• The latest evidence is considered snapshot Google satellite Earth, which captured a large spot believed to be similar to Nessie.

The main argument against the existence of the Loch Ness monster is the poor flora and fauna in the lake, and therefore the monster simply could not feed there.

Photo from 1972

However, using sound scanning, it was revealed that the lake contains 20 tons of biomass. This means that the giant would definitely have something to profit from.

Endriant Shine is sure that a whole colony of creatures lives in the waters of the lake - 15-30 individuals.

• Frank Serle. Since a reward was announced for the capture of the monster, there was a significant increase in those interested. A demobilized soldier, Frank, armed with a camera, sat on the shore for 20 hours a day. After long observations, in 1972 the monster appeared 230 m from the boat.

Appearance description

According to available data and assumptions, the description of the appearance of the Loch Ness monster is very modest. Most likely it is a plesiosaur.

It has a long neck and its body is shaped like a barrel. In addition, it has flippers and a tail. The body dimensions are approximately 6.5-7 meters, and the tail length is 3 m.

The head is small, but the neck is very long - about 3 meters. The mouth is filled with sharp teeth, which is an excellent device for killing fish.

Distinctive feature Nessie are humps. Their exact number is unknown, but it is assumed 1-3. Scientists believe these could be signs of sexual dimorphism, an anatomical difference between females and males, or a sign of adulthood. The skin is smooth, the color is not precisely defined: descriptions range from brown to gray.

Based on eyewitness accounts, Nessie likes to rise from the water in the morning. The diet is very meager - lake vegetation, sometimes fish. It is possible that it is for this reason that the monster does not see the need to go ashore.

Vision is weak, but the sense of smell more than compensates for this. Gills are aids in breathing.
Researchers interested in this topic believe that Nessie refers to reptiles that existed during the period from the Triassic to the Cretaceous era - 199.6-65.5 million years ago.

It formed in a huge depression earth's crust.

The lake is located in the mountains of Scotland, surrounded by cliffs up to 610 meters high.

It has always been considered dark, mysterious and frightening.

The period of appearance of the lake is the end ice age, about 10 thousand years ago.

The depth is 300 meters, the length is 39 km, and the color of the water is black. The bottom area is 57 km2.

Loch Ness is considered one of the three large lakes of the Great Valley.

It is a giant fault that separates the northern part of Scotland and the other part of the British Isle.

Loch Ness is Britain's largest source fresh water, and the third largest in Europe.

Theories of origin

There are several main versions that can reveal the secret of the Loch Ness monster:

Interested scientists explored the lake up and down. They used sonars, radars and echo sounders.

It was assumed that if you startle the animal, it will float up. For this reason, they even staged explosions and lowered the submarine.

But all attempts were in vain.

A modern underwater drone goes in search of the Loch Ness monster

Later, spotlights equipped with cameras and microphones were installed in the waters. The researchers calculated that if the microphone picks up noise, the spotlight instantly lights up and the cameras begin to work.

The first such photographs appeared in 1972. But they did not bring joy: the images were blurry and unclear.

Analysis of the data obtained led to the conclusion that the monster moves silently, most likely, and therefore the microphone could not work correctly.

It was decided to change the filming plan. Every 75 seconds, a photo was taken of everything that fell into the frame. And this yielded results: sensational photographs of Nessie’s head and body were taken, which became the basis for convening a symposium on this phenomenon.

On December 10, 1975, the resulting photographs were presented to the public. They depict a monster with an oval body, the head was completed with two horns, and the rear fin was diamond-shaped.

Scottish folklore is replete with various legends and stories about the Loch Ness monster. Is it real? It is still not known. Even when using modern systems and technologies fail to obtain reliable evidence.

But eyewitness accounts are coming in daily, without stopping. Photos, videos, sound recordings - everything that is more or less related to Nessie. Despite the absence positive results, research continues.

Perhaps we will soon get an answer to the question that interests everyone: does the Loch Ness monster really exist?

Scientists are finally closer to the solution to nature legendary monster from Loch Ness. DNA analysis of 250 water and sediment samples shows for the first time which fauna live in the lake and which do not. No traces of a primitive reptile were found in these waters; there are also no sharks or sturgeon in the lake. But numerous traces of eel DNA are noticeable. According to researchers, Nessie may be a giant eel.

Nessie has been surfacing for over 1,500 years. It was then that the first information about observations of some mysterious creatures in Scottish Loch Ness. For the most part, this monster was described as a snake or long-necked creature. The same can be said about the few very controversial photographs of this aquatic monster.

The favorite among many hypotheses for decades has been the plesiosaur, a primitive reptile. Further in a kind of popularity rating appeared large fish, such as sturgeon, catfish or Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus).

However, despite intensive searches using underwater cameras, sonars and other modern means, no traces of any unusual or primitive creature were found in the lake.

At the current stage of the search for Nessie, modern genetics was used. Neil Gemmell from the University of Otago and his team collected 250 samples of water and sediment from various locations in Loch Ness. The resulting DNA analyzes were compared with the nucleotide sequence of known organisms whose genomes are stored in large genetic databases.

The results showed that Loch Ness contains DNA from eleven species of fish, three representatives of amphibians (Amphibia), 22 species of birds and 19 species of mammals. There are absolutely no genetic traces of the presence of a plesiosaur or any other primitive reptile.

“We cannot find any evidence of a creature even remotely related to them,” says Gemmell. “I think our data does not support the plesiosaur hypothesis. Based on our DNA analysis, there are no sharks in Loch Ness. We also "We haven't found any traces of sturgeon or catfish DNA."

Nevertheless, Nessie is not a figment of idle imagination. Researchers, when analyzing DNA, discovered unusual feature: Loch Ness is infested with eels. Their DNA was found at almost every point where samples were taken. This indicates that the lake may have a population of unusually large eels. The scientific name of the eel is Anguilla, derived from the Latin word anguis, which means "snake".

“Although we cannot determine their size from our data, the sheer volume of genetic material suggests that we cannot rule out the possibility that there are giant eels in Loch Ness,” says Gemmell.

This is not a sensation. Back in the 1930s, scientists speculated that Nessie might be a giant eel. The elongated body, thin “neck” and partially winding swim path of the aquatic monster were quite suitable for such a fish. Some divers have seen eels in the lake that were as thick as a human thigh. Other divers have encountered a creature four meters long.

Biologists do not know whether their stories are exaggerated or not, but there is a possibility that Loch Ness actually contains large acne. This is facilitated by mutation and the isolation of Loch Ness, where a population of giant eels could well grow.

Interestingly, DNA analysis revealed the presence of temporary “visitors” to Loch Ness. In addition to many bacteria, fish and other waterfowl, a surprising number of DNA signatures from land animals have been discovered. "We have found a significant amount of human DNA, as well as dogs, sheep and large cattle", Gemmell admits. Along with this, genetic material was discovered wild representatives fauna: deer, badgers, foxes, rabbits and many species of birds.

This is one of the largest and most mysterious bodies of water in Europe! It is hidden in the Scottish plateaus, surrounded on all sides by mountains and cliffs. Loch Ness is about 40 km long and no more than 1 km wide. The depth of the lake - more than 300 m - makes it the third largest lake in Europe by volume. Legend says that in its icy depths, opaque and dark as night, lives... the Loch Ness monster! Let's talk about him.

Whatever they call it: water kelpie, sea horse, lake bull, gloomy spirit. Be that as it may, parents from century to century forbid their children to be or play near this body of water. Some superstitious people still believe that the Loch Ness monster (photo 1, 2, 3) may well turn into a galloping horse, grab a child and put him on his back, and then plunge into the abyss with a small and helpless rider!

Who saw the Loch Ness monster?

One of the first and most vivid observations dates back to 1880. It was then that boatman Duncan MacDonald, who later became famous, was looking for a boat that had sunk in the lake. But something happened under water, and he emerged from the lake like a bullet! His face was contorted with fear. When he was brought to his senses, MacDonald said quite clearly that he had seen the Loch Ness monster. He especially remembered his eye - small, angry, gray... Since then, more than 3 thousand various eyewitness accounts have been accumulated who, under certain circumstances, allegedly observed the Loch Ness monster from the shore and from a boat. According to them, it appeared during the day. Today scientists are confident that the size and appearance of this uncaught creature depend on the imagination of one person or another.

Everyone saw the monster!

Nessie (as he was nicknamed) was seen by people of different professions: from farmers to clergy. Fishermen, lawyers, police officers, politicians and even... the laureate - Englishman Richard Synge - spoke about him! Allegedly, he observed the monster back in 1938.

Useless research

Expensive expeditions were organized. They studied Loch Ness for months, conducted research and experiments, examined its surface with binoculars, and also hired special mini-submarines to scan the lake depths, using the most modern electronic instruments.

Search results

Hundreds of hours of intense work spent on the lake searching for the monster, a whole library of books and articles written on the topic of the Loch Ness monster, a bunch of photographs that supposedly depict a real Loch Ness lizard, several festivals called "Nessie", dozens of high-profile revelations and... nothing one real proof of value! So far, no ancient bones or piece of skin of this plesiosaur have been found.

Not caught means not a thief!

In general, not a single obvious evidence of the existence of some ancient lizard in a Scottish lake has been presented to experts and scientists. But, be that as it may, the most mysterious lake in the world - Loch Ness - still keeps its most main secret. Who knows, maybe Nessie is waiting in the wings, and soon we will all open our mouths in surprise?

The “best” photograph of the Loch Ness monster was taken by 60-year-old George Edwards - the picture has already been studied by the US military experts and recognized it as genuine . The Nessie hunter has spent 60 hours a week capturing the monster for the past 26 years. The author of the photo believes that there are several similar monsters in the lake.

"It was moving slowly up the lake towards Urquhart Castle, it was something dark gray in color. It was quite far from the boat - about half a mile," Edwards told The Sun tabloid. He did not want to publish the photo he received until he received confirmation from experts - the photo was taken back in November last year.

The photo taken by Edwards shows a strange hump sticking out of the water. Experts concluded that the image shows a moving object. According to Edwards, he watched Nessie for about 10 minutes, after which it sank under the water and disappeared.

Loch Ness is a large, deep freshwater lake in Scotland, stretching 37 km southwest of Inverness.

It's interesting that modern technology I have spotted the Loch Ness monster more than once. In April, Captain Martin Atkinson said that the echo sounder on his ship discovered a snake-like creature one and a half meters long at the depths of the famous lake. He provided evidence of this. His photograph won the "Best Recent Nessie Sighting" award, presented by bookmaker William Hill.

The first mention of the Loch Ness Monster dates back to 565 AD, when in the life of Saint Columba, Abbot Jonah spoke of the saint's triumph over the "water beast" in the River Ness. Since then, the world has been divided into those who believed in the existence of the monster and those who considered it impossible.

Maybe there really is some kind of hefty fish swimming there?

Well, in general, on the Internet you can collect such photographs of this monster, although I won’t vouch for the authenticity :-)