<p>I would like to think I narrowly missed seeing Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, on a recent trip. After all, I had travelled thousands of miles to be within a “drive-and-dive” distance of the beast—variously imagined as a serpent, a dragon or a lone dinosaur that somehow escaped extinction. Of unknown gender, the legendary creature said to prowl the expansive waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands had loomed large in my childhood imagination. Given this nostalgic pull, I scheduled my visit to Loch Ness in 2023 to coincide with a two-day global hunt for Nessie. </p>.<p>According to folklore, Nessie was first spotted by an Irish priest, St Columba, in 565 AD. The story goes that the creature had killed a swimmer and was preparing to attack another when the priest intervened. Making a sign of the cross, he admonished the mammoth beast and commanded it to retreat into the loch (Scottish for ‘lake’) and remain there. Nessie complied, slipping back under the waters without further ado.</p>.<p>Since then, the monster has been sighted from time to time, usually in fragments, by visitors to the eponymous lake. Reported glimpses have included a slender neck, a green tail and twin humps. Curiously, the pieced-together descriptions make Nessie sound like a hybrid — somewhere between the long-extinct Plesiosaur and an over-sized eel. Evidence of the Loch Ness monster’s existence, however, has remained anecdotal, resting largely on sightings and disputed photographs. </p>.Did you know? First proof of mosasaur living in freshwaters.<p>Against this backdrop, the global hunt organised by the Loch Ness Centre of Scotland in late August 2023—with volunteer researchers, including naturalists and zoologists from several countries—was billed as the most systematic search for the aquatic mystery sine 1972. Boats, thermal-imaging drones and other high-tech gadgets, including sonar and hydrophones, were deployed across the loch. Webcams trained on the waters provided live streams to viewers worldwide, inviting them to spot the elusive monster if it made a fleeting appearance. </p>.<p>Nessie, however, did not oblige and its mystery remained “loch-ed” in the 22-mile-long and 760- feet-deep waters. Earlier, a submarine crew reported sighting unusually large eels that roughly matched the monster’s supposed profile— albeit on a smaller scale. With the odd eel reportedly touching three metres in length, the theory that Nessie might simply be a gigantic eel has gained some traction.</p>.<p>Perhaps, as someone remarked, the only foolproof way to establish Nessie’s existence would be to empty the 7,500 million cubic metres of water in Loch Ness. But since that would mean draining more water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined, it is easier said than done. Till a more viable way emerges to unravel the mystery, it makes economic sense to keep the myth alive. The annual influx of thousands of visitors from around the world brings significant revenue to the local economy.</p>.<p>The brand of Loch Ness, besides promoting tourism and allied industries, also has a multiplier effect. Garments, toys and handicrafts featuring Nessie fill shop shelves, eagerly lapped up by tourists hoping to take home a little bit of Nessie.</p>.<p>(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)</p>
<p>I would like to think I narrowly missed seeing Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, on a recent trip. After all, I had travelled thousands of miles to be within a “drive-and-dive” distance of the beast—variously imagined as a serpent, a dragon or a lone dinosaur that somehow escaped extinction. Of unknown gender, the legendary creature said to prowl the expansive waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands had loomed large in my childhood imagination. Given this nostalgic pull, I scheduled my visit to Loch Ness in 2023 to coincide with a two-day global hunt for Nessie. </p>.<p>According to folklore, Nessie was first spotted by an Irish priest, St Columba, in 565 AD. The story goes that the creature had killed a swimmer and was preparing to attack another when the priest intervened. Making a sign of the cross, he admonished the mammoth beast and commanded it to retreat into the loch (Scottish for ‘lake’) and remain there. Nessie complied, slipping back under the waters without further ado.</p>.<p>Since then, the monster has been sighted from time to time, usually in fragments, by visitors to the eponymous lake. Reported glimpses have included a slender neck, a green tail and twin humps. Curiously, the pieced-together descriptions make Nessie sound like a hybrid — somewhere between the long-extinct Plesiosaur and an over-sized eel. Evidence of the Loch Ness monster’s existence, however, has remained anecdotal, resting largely on sightings and disputed photographs. </p>.Did you know? First proof of mosasaur living in freshwaters.<p>Against this backdrop, the global hunt organised by the Loch Ness Centre of Scotland in late August 2023—with volunteer researchers, including naturalists and zoologists from several countries—was billed as the most systematic search for the aquatic mystery sine 1972. Boats, thermal-imaging drones and other high-tech gadgets, including sonar and hydrophones, were deployed across the loch. Webcams trained on the waters provided live streams to viewers worldwide, inviting them to spot the elusive monster if it made a fleeting appearance. </p>.<p>Nessie, however, did not oblige and its mystery remained “loch-ed” in the 22-mile-long and 760- feet-deep waters. Earlier, a submarine crew reported sighting unusually large eels that roughly matched the monster’s supposed profile— albeit on a smaller scale. With the odd eel reportedly touching three metres in length, the theory that Nessie might simply be a gigantic eel has gained some traction.</p>.<p>Perhaps, as someone remarked, the only foolproof way to establish Nessie’s existence would be to empty the 7,500 million cubic metres of water in Loch Ness. But since that would mean draining more water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined, it is easier said than done. Till a more viable way emerges to unravel the mystery, it makes economic sense to keep the myth alive. The annual influx of thousands of visitors from around the world brings significant revenue to the local economy.</p>.<p>The brand of Loch Ness, besides promoting tourism and allied industries, also has a multiplier effect. Garments, toys and handicrafts featuring Nessie fill shop shelves, eagerly lapped up by tourists hoping to take home a little bit of Nessie.</p>.<p>(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)</p>
