Presented by group IV AafaqManindraRajathHarshasreelakshmi

THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

THE STORY OF NESSIE• Loch Ness, in the Scottish Highlands, is a relatively large and deep freshwater lake about 23 miles in length.  Sightings of its most famous resident, the Loch Ness Monster (affectionately referred to as “Nessie”), go back nearly 1500 years. In 565 A.D., an Irish monk named Saint Columba first reported encountering a “water beast” in the vicinity of Loch Ness … and the legend was born.

• The Loch Ness Monster is thought to be a cryptic that reputedly inhabits Loch Ness, a lake in the Scottish Highlands.

• It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next, with most describing it as large. Popular interest and belief in the creature’s existence has varied since it was first brought to the world’s attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings.

• The most common speculation among believers is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs. • About 10,000 years ago, a glacier pushed through the

Loch. That scotches the idea that Nessie is a plesiosaur left over from the Days Of The Dinosaurs. Fishy creatures don’t usually survive well in solid ice. And, the dinosaurs and their relatives died out about 65,000,000 years ago.• Much of the scientific community regards the Loch Ness

Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as misidentifications of more mundane objects, outright hoaxes, and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology.

• The legend of the Loch Ness monster goes back to the Middle Ages. There was a tale that the Loch had a mysterious creature called a “water horse” or a “kelpie”, that would supposedly lure travelers to their death.

• The earliest report of a monster associated with the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the 7th century. According to Adomnán, writing about a century after the events he described, the Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Pictswith his companions when he came across the locals burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man had been swimming in the river when he was attacked by a “water beast” that had mauled him and dragged him under. They tried to rescue him in a boat, but could only drag up his corpse. Hearing this, Columba stunned the Picts by sending his follower Luigne moccu Min to swim across the river. The beast came after him, but Columba made the sign of the Cross and commanded: “Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once.” The beast immediately halted as if it had been “pulled back with ropes” and fled in terror, and both Columba’s men and the pagan Picts praised God for the miracle.

• It wasn’t until early 1933 that the Nessie myth really took off, following the opening of a new road that ran along the side of the loch, making it more accessible to public.

• In April 1933, Mr. and Mrs. Mackay drove on this new road along the side of the loch. They were astonished to see the water surging and boiling in the centre of the loch for several minutes. The Inverness Courier reported on May 2 1933 that the Mackay couple saw “an enormous animal rolling and plunging”. The news of this modern viewing of “Nessie” rapidly spread around the world.

THERE HAS BEEN MANY SIGHTINGS LATELY…

Although Some Think Of It In A Different Way

WHAT DO YOU THINK????