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A good bank is all about people. "Modulbank" is the flagship bank for entrepreneurs. The Loch Ness Monster is one of the most famous mysterious creatures on the planet, a so-called cryptid – a being no one has seen but is said to exist.
Explore the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, its history, sightings, and scientific investigations into this famous cryptid in Scotland's Loch Ness.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
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Key Takeaways
- The Loch Ness Monster legend has deep historical roots but lacks scientific proof.
- Many sightings and photos have been debunked or remain inconclusive.
- The lake's environment makes it an ideal setting for myths and hoaxes.
- Despite extensive searches, no evidence confirms the monster’s existence.
- The story remains a significant cultural and cryptozoological phenomenon.
What the video covers
- The Loch Ness Monster is a famous cryptid said to inhabit Scotland's Loch Ness, known for its deep, murky waters.
- The legend dates back to the 6th century with Saint Columba's encounter with a water creature near the lake.
- Sightings increased notably in the 1930s, with reports describing a large creature resembling a dinosaur or whale.
- Photographs and footprints were often inconclusive or proven to be hoaxes, including a famous blurry photo and fake hippopotamus footprints.
- Efforts to capture or systematically observe the monster, including hiring watchers and professional expeditions, yielded no concrete evidence.
- The monster became a pop culture icon, appearing in films and media, despite skepticism from scientists.
- A popular hypothesis suggested the monster could be a surviving plesiosaur, but this was widely doubted due to ecological and biological reasons.
- Modern investigations with advanced technology failed to find evidence of such a creature in the lake.
- Some famous photos, such as Wilson’s, were later revealed to be fabrications.
- The legend persists largely due to human perception, folklore, and the lake’s unique environment that fosters mystery.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to the Loch Ness Monster
- 00:52Geography and Features of Loch Ness
- 01:44Saint Columba and Early Legend
- 02:491933 Sightings and Newspaper Reports
- 03:34Hugh Gray’s Photograph
- 04:15Marmaduke Wetherell’s Footprint Hoax
- 05:17Failed Systematic Searches and Hoaxes
- 06:16Nessie in Popular Culture
- 07:18Plesiosaur Hypothesis and Scientific Expeditions
- 10:01Modern Investigations and Photo Debunking
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
As its name suggests, it resides (or could reside) in Scotland's picturesque Loch Ness lake.
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People have been trying to catch the monster for centuries, but so far, without success. Let’s delve into where the legend came from, whether it has any basis, and where to actually look for the Loch Ness Monster.
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Loch Ness is located in the far north of Scotland. Just a few dozen kilometers from the lake lies the coastline and the North Sea, while Glasgow and Edinburgh are 150 kilometers to the south. The lake has certain features that are significant
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when it comes to searching for the monster. First, it is quite deep; its average depth is 132 meters, which is greater than, for example, the Baltic Sea.
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Additionally, the water is extremely murky. The surrounding soil contains a lot of peat, making visibility in Loch Ness virtually nonexistent. This is quite convenient – the monster has a great hiding place, and hunters have plenty of places to search. The story of the monster dates back to the 6th century. According to legend, Saint Columba,
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who baptized the Picts and Scots in the region, encountered locals conducting a burial. This took place near the point where the River Ness flows out of the lake and eventually into the sea. The locals explained to the saint that their friend had been attacked
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and torn apart by a water creature. Saint Columba took the matter very seriously. There was nothing particularly unusual about the situation – according to Scottish mythology, nearly every lake was thought to harbor some sort of monster, and Scotland has no shortage of lakes. Saint Columba instructed one of his companions
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to swim across the river to lure out the troublesome creature. When it emerged and attempted to attack, the saint made the sign of the cross over it and commanded it to leave. The creature retreated, presumably to reflect on its behavior. Thus, a miracle was performed – but as we’ll see later, the problem wasn’t resolved forever.
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It must be noted, however, that the issue was settled for quite some time: after this event, the Loch Ness Monster disappeared from legend for the next thirteen centuries. In the 19th century, a few strange sightings were reported along the shores of Loch Ness,
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though details were scarce. One Scotsman claimed to have seen something in the water resembling a living log, while another swore he encountered something akin to a salamander. These accounts didn’t lead to any solid theories – until 1933, when the Inverness Courier, a local newspaper in the nearest town, published an article about a “whale-like fish.”
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According to the journalists, a married couple was driving along a newly constructed road on the northern shore of the lake when they spotted a massive creature that looked like a whale. The creature was frolicking in the water –
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diving into the depths and then resurfacing. The newspaper reported that, above all, the creature most closely resembled a whale.
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A few weeks after the first article, the editorial office was flooded with letters from readers.
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Some claimed to have seen the monster itself, while others reported underwater caves or mysterious currents in the murky waters of Loch Ness. On a couple of occasions, people even described the monster dashing across the road in front of cars
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at an uncharacteristically high speed for its size. Descriptions of the creature were fairly consistent: a large body, a long neck – in short, something resembling a dinosaur. Before 1933 ended, a man named Hugh Gray, who happened to visit the lake with a camera, spotted something unusual in the water
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and took a photograph immediately. The monster didn’t seem to make much of an impression on Gray, as he didn’t bother developing the film until a month later. The photograph turned out to be extremely blurry – there was definitely something in it, but what exactly? It was so unclear that one newspaper
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even printed the image upside down. Theories abounded: some suggested it was a swan, an otter, or even Mr. Gray’s dog jumping out of the lake. And, of course, there was the possibility of it being the monster. The public frenzy was unstoppable.
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A reward was announced for the capture of the Loch Ness Monster. A big-game hunter named Marmaduke Wetherell set out to catch the creature.
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He didn’t manage to capture anything, but he did find tracks of an unknown animal near the shore.
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The tracks indicated a massive creature with four clawed toes, and judging by their size, the animal must have been several meters long. Unfortunately for Wetherell, plaster casts of the footprints ended up in the hands of zoologists.
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After careful examination, they reached a conclusion. First, the tracks belonged to a hippopotamus. Second, all the prints were from the right hind foot. The explanation turned out to be quite simple. At the time, dried hippopotamus feet were a trendy accessory, often used as umbrella stands.
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Someone had taken one as a prank, walked along the shore with it, and left fake footprints. A furious Wetherell left empty-handed, to the mocking laughter of newspaper reporters. Along the way, he came up with a brilliant idea –
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one we’ll discuss a bit later. Meanwhile, a businessman named Edward Mountain decided to take a more systematic approach. Mountain hired two dozen sturdy Scottish lads, equipped each of them with binoculars and a camera, and sent them to keep watch around the lake. Naturally, they also had flasks with something to drink.
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Unfortunately, nothing concrete came of this effort. The ominous legend of the Loch Ness Monster turned into a farce, a running joke. The flood of reports claiming someone had seen the monster showed no signs of slowing down. But every time, something got in the way of capturing it in a photograph. Either the photo was so poor
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that nothing could be made out, or when it was clear what had been photographed, it only led to disappointment. Metal barrels, inflated bags, motorboats – resourceful photographers regularly created makeshift versions of the Loch Ness Monster from whatever was at hand,
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then tried to sell these fabricated images to newspapers, often with success. After the photo published in the newspaper in 1933, the Loch Ness Monster became not just a trophy for cryptozoologists but also a pop culture icon. Within six months,
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the first story about Nessie was released, followed by David Lean's film The Secret of Loch Ness.
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Over time, the monster appeared repeatedly in science fiction and movies, though it was depicted differently every time.
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As for the Loch Ness Monster, it’s unlikely that all the sightings were pure fabrications.
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The nature of human perception and psychology is such that we unconsciously align what we see with what we expect to see. Plus, we’
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(like an otter, a dog, or a boat) glimpsed at dusk or in the fog – sometimes just seeing something out of the corner of your eye is enough for the brain to fill in the blanks. Moreover, the observers weren’t always in a sober state of mind.
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Local jokers weren’t shy about writing to the newspapers: “Dear hunters, please clean up your whiskey bottles after yourselves. Love, Nessie.” Incidentally, one whiskey producer even offered a reward of one million pounds for capturing the monster – a staggering sum, especially back then.
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But it was all in vain. There was, however, one exception. In 1934, a London doctor named Robert Wilson published a stunning photograph. It appeared to show an actual monster, really in Loch Ness.
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Wilson’s photo became iconic. If you’ve seen an image of Nessie, it was likely his – a creature with a long neck and small head swimming among the waves. The photo was purchased by the Daily Mail, which reprinted it, and it has been republished countless times since. No evidence of retouching was ever found,
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and for a long time, this photo remained the only reliable proof of Nessie’s existence. After World War II, stories about the Loch Ness Monster were revisited using modern technology.
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A hypothesis emerged that Nessie might be a plesiosaur miraculously preserved through the ages. As the name suggests, this group of reptiles existed during the Mesozoic Era and went extinct around the same time. The theory appeared pseudoscientific, and experts were skeptical from the start. Nonetheless, efforts were made to locate the monster
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using underwater sound detectors, sonar, and underwater cameras. Had the water been clearer, the lake – despite its size – could have been thoroughly searched relatively quickly. However, the water was so murky that only one conclusion could be drawn with certainty: if nothing was found, it simply meant the search hadn’t been thorough enough. In 1975, an underwater camera captured an image
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of something resembling a body with diamond-shaped fins. The photographs were convincing enough to be published in Nature and even discussed in parliament.
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Skeptics grumbled that it could just as easily have been an ordinary log, but once again, no one paid them any attention.
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It seemed the mystery was close to being solved, prompting an expedition to Scotland equipped with automatic underwater video cameras, sonars, and motorboats. A team of forty professionals, including underwater photographers, set up operations at the lake. No plesiosaur could have gone unnoticed.
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In the end, they found a few fish, a lot of bottles, boots, fragments of boats, and, most remarkably, a Wellington bomber – one of only two surviving examples of this aircraft. The rare bomber had crashed into the lake in 1940 due to engine failure. Museum curators were thrilled, as the plane was remarkably well-preserved.
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The Wellington was restored and remains on display in a museum in Surrey to this day. As for the monster, the outcome was the same as always – absolutely nothing. The "body" photographed in 1975 was finally identified in 1987, when a diver discovered it was actually a tree trunk. All that remained was the photograph
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taken by Dr. Wilson in 1934. There was no widely accepted theory about what the Loch Ness Monster could be.
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The plesiosaur idea was certainly appealing, but it was clear that a single creature of its kind couldn’t survive on its own – a population would be necessary. And a population could hardly remain hidden: the lake is large and deep,
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but it’s not boundless. Moreover, such a large creature would need something to eat – let alone an entire group of them. Real plesiosaurs lived in oceans and were quite massive. On top of that, Loch Ness has no endemic species – neither plants nor animals. So how could a single ancient species survive there?
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One theory suggested it wasn’t a plesiosaur at all but a giant catfish. The most plausible assumption was that it could have been a large eel. Eels are indeed found in the River Ness, and an abnormally large one could have sparked the legend.
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In 2019, a New Zealand university conducted a comprehensive cataloging of all living organisms in the lake by taking numerous water samples. No plesiosaurs, catfish, or sharks were found in the lake. However, eels could theoretically have spooked people. It’s certainly a more mundane explanation, but the giant eel theory does make a lot of sense –
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someone might have seen a large specimen, and fear tends to exaggerate what we see. Finally, it’s important to remember that the lake has some unique characteristics. Fallen pine trees from the surrounding slopes end up in the water.
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Due to the high resin content of Scottish pines, the decomposition process underwater is unusual.
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The logs rise abruptly and noisily to the surface, and their shape is such that, in poor visibility, they could easily be mistaken for a monster. That’s exactly what happened in the 1970s, when a submerged tree was mistaken for Nessie.
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Add to this the ripples on the water, the wind, and the observers’ strong desire to see the famous cryptid, and you have a recipe for illusions.
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But what about Wilson’s photograph? That turned out to be an entire story in itself. In the 1990s, it was revealed – much to everyone’s disappointment – that the photo was fake. Skeptics had raised a valid question from the start:
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was the photo even showing a living creature? Later, the size of the ripples in the water was compared to the size of the object, and it turned out to be something quite small – no more than a meter, possibly even less.
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However, these were only indirect clues suggesting a forgery. Then, a sensational revelation came from the 90-year-old stepson of the long-deceased Marmaduke Wetherell. After the debacle with the fake hippopotamus footprints, Wetherell was furious and decided to mock the public in retaliation. He enlisted his stepson, who, as luck would have it,
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was a skilled craftsman. Together, they created a Loch Ness Monster for the prank. The base was a toy submarine, to which they added a lead keel for stability and constructed a neck and head using putty. Dr. Wilson loved the hoax idea, photographed the fake monster floating in the lake,
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and afterward, the conspirators sank their creation right where the picture was taken. So now we can say for sure – the Loch Ness Monster does exist and really is at the bottom of the lake. It’s just small and made of toy parts.
Topics:Loch Ness MonstercryptidLoch NessNessieScottish folkloremonster sightingsplesiosaur hypothesishoaxescryptozoologymystery
