Whether you believe in Nessie or not, the Loch Ness Monster is one of the
most important tourist attractions.
The Loch Ness Monster, known affectionately as Nessie, is a legendary marine animal associated with Loch Ness, the largest and deepest lake in Scotland. Legends about the monster have been told for centuries. The first reported sighting was made in the A . D . 500S by St. Columba, an Irish missionary who had come to Scotland to spread Christianity. According to legend, Columba stopped the monster from attacking a man by making the sign of the cross and ordering the beast to leave.
The Loch Ness Monster is not just a beast from medieval mythology, however. A number of people have reported sighting it in modern times, describing the creature as about 30 feet in length with a long neck and flippers in the middle of its body. Such descriptions are similar to that of an extinct dinosaur called the plesiosaur. The head of the Loch Ness monster’s fan club has denied suggestions that the animal is dead following just one credible sighting last year.
A new documentary examines the possibility that the monster might be extinct as its reported appearances become increasingly rare.
Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel on 6th June, 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report.
And according to Mr Campbell such reports are increasingly rare. He said: “”That’s why were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.
“In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn’t been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.
“There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, ‘Had you had a drink?’
“Ten years ago we had a lot of good sightings, but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off.”
He added: “What we regard as a dependable sighting is very much down to the person who sees it.
For decades, large, hairy, manlike beasts called Bigfoot have occasionally been reported by eyewitnesses across America. Despite the thousands of Bigfoot that must exist for a breeding population, not a single body has been found. Not one has been killed by a hunter, struck dead by a speeding car, or even died of natural causes. In the absence of hard evidence like teeth or bones, support comes down to eyewitness sightings and ambiguous photos and films. Since it is logically impossible to prove a universal negative, science will never be able to prove that creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster do not exist, and it is possible that these mysterious beasts lurk far from prying eyes.