Page 111 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Mysterious Creatures 91

o monster in history has been pursued
as actively as the creature that is said to
inhabit the depths of Loch Ness in Scot-
Nland. Since 1936, there have been 27
recorded films taken of “Nessie” and hundreds of offi-
cially recorded sightings.
Although hundreds of photographs of the Loch Nessie on Film
Ness Monster have been taken and alleged to be
authentic, all but a very few have been easily
Sources:
explained by scientists as ripples in the lake’s surface, Fraser, Stephen. “New Nessie Pictures Spark Debate.” Scotland
floating debris, or deliberate hoaxes. on Sunday, September 8, 2002. [Online] http://www.news.
scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1000212002.
A new controversy regarding the authenticity of a
Milne, Meg. “Unearthed: The 1936 Film That First Launched
series of photographs of Nessie arose in September
Nessie Mania.” Scotland on Sunday, November 25, 2001.
2002 when Roy Johnston, a retired printer, released
[Online] http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/text_only.
four photographs to the media that showed a large
cfm?id=SS01045931.
snakelike creature arching out of the water and with-
Watson-Smyth, Kate. “Heritage Panel Rules on How to Hunt for
drawing beneath the surface of the lake with a splash. Nessie.” Independent, January 5, 2001. [Online] http://
While some photographic experts declared the pic- www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/2001-01/
tures to be genuine, others scoffed and argued that nessieo50101.shtml.
the images were not taken in sequence, as Johnston
had said they were.
In 2001 Janet McBain, curator of the Scottish
Screen Archive, found the original 16mm film that first
launched the Nessie craze. Made on September 22,
1936, by Glasgow filmmaker Macolm Irvine for the
Scottish Film Productions Company, the film had
become nearly as legendary as the lake monster that
it depicted. McBain said that while the existence of
the Irvine newsreel was well documented, it was
thought to have been destroyed and lost.
According to eyewitness accounts, Irvine had
first sighted the creature in 1933, but his camera
jammed. Three years later, Irvine and his film crew
spent three weeks at the lakeside before he got the
footage he wanted. On the footage, which lasts about
one minute, the creature’s head and neck appear
above the surface of the water, then its two humps,
one behind the other, and finally what appears to be a
tail, thrashing behind from side to side.

The area near the ruins of Urquhart Castle at
Drumnadrochit is still the most common vantage point
for Nessie sightings and is said to attract more than
200,000 visitors per year.

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