The search for the Loch Ness monster now stretches beyond 1,000 years, as the largest search in five decades happened on Saturday and Sunday in Scotland.
Hundreds of people gathered in person and joined a livestream to search for Nessie — the name of the legendary monster rumored to be lurking in Loch Ness. In 1972, the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau carried out a search for the monster, and this weekend’s search was the largest since that one was held, BBC reported.
For decades, boats and submarines have scanned the lake floor, searching for the monster to no avail. In 2019, researchers from New Zealand catalogued all species in the lake and “no evidence of a prehistoric marine reptile called a plesiosaur or a large fish such as a sturgeon were found,” per BBC.
As the recent search for the monster has drummed up interest in Nessie, here’s a look at how the legend got started and similar legends in other places.
What is the Loch Ness monster?
The Loch Ness monster is a legendary monster from Scottish folklore. Legend has it the monster inhabits the lake called Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.
The Loch Ness monster is generally considered mythological or legendary. Some people have claimed to see the monster, but there hasn’t been any physical evidence found.
“In modern times, more than 1,000 people claim they’ve seen ‘Nessie,’ the name locals gave to the creature decades ago. Descriptions vary. Some say the creature resembles a salamander; others say a whale, or a seal,” Michael A. Little wrote for The Conversation.
What’s the origin of the Loch Ness monster?
Legends say that the Loch Ness monster “was created in anger by the Celtic Winter Queen, the goddess Dark Beira, or Cailleach Bheur,” according to the Visit Loch Ness website.
The Pict, a group of ancient people who lived in the area now called Scotland, carved “a mysterious beast with flippers” into stone, per Britannica. It’s possible this is an early depiction of Nessie.
Romans arrived in the area and described the monster as a “strange beast with an elongated beak or muzzle, a head locket or spout, and flippers instead of feet,” per Time magazine. Ancient Romans inherited legends of sea monsters like Cetus from the Greeks, so they had a legendary concept similar to Nessie.
Nessie is first mentioned (not by that name) in the biography of St. Columba (an Irish missionary who evangelized Christianity in the area), per the History Channel website. The exact date of the biography is disputed, but it was written sometime around 600 C.E., give or take 100 years.
St. Columba was said to have encountered Nessie attempting to attack someone and so he intervened. He commanded the monster to “go back with all speed” and the monster dissipated, according to the History Channel website.
Six centuries passed before there was another mention of a monster in the area. An English cleric, Walter of Bingham, drew a picture of the Loch Ness monster, which he depicted as a giant bear with a peculiar snout, per The New York Times.
While the Loch Ness monster became the stuff of legends, it wasn’t until 1933 that the legend boomed and a slew of sightings were reported.
Loch Ness monster sightings
“In April 1933, a couple saw an enormous animal — which they compared to a ‘dragon or prehistoric monster’ — and after it crossed their car’s path, it disappeared into the water. The incident was reported in a Scottish newspaper, and numerous sightings followed,” The Scottish Maritime Museum reported.
Then, later that year, Marmaduke Wetherell was commissioned by the Daily Mail to search for the Loch Ness Monster, per The Scottish Maritime Museum. He found footprints, but these were determined to be “made with an umbrella stand or ashtray that had a hippopotamus leg as a base.”
The monster’s fate was solidified as an internationally-known legend when physician Robert Wilson took a picture that appeared to be Nessie, per NPR. While a participant in the events leading up to the photograph confessed that it was staged, the Loch Ness monster became known around the world.
Research fellow Charles Paxton wrote for The Conversation that there’s been 1,452 different sightings of the Loch Ness monster.
What does the Loch Ness monster look like?
Generally, sightings report the Loch Ness monster looks like a plesiosaur with an elongated neck and flippers.
Monsters like the Loch Ness monster
There are a number of legends of lake monsters similar to the Loch Mess monster.
- The Bear Lake Monster in Bear Lake.
- Mishipeshu in Lake Superior.
- Champ in Lake Champlain.
- Bessie in Lake Erie.
- Tahoe Tessie in Lake Tahoe.