Loch Ness and an old legend
Nessie is a cryptid said to live in Loch Ness, a long, narrow freshwater lake in northern Scotland. A biography of Saint Columba written in the 7th century tells how the saint drove away a “water beast” that attacked a man in the River Ness, a story often presented as the origin of the Nessie legend.
The sighting boom of the 1930s
Around 1933, when a road was built along the shore and more people traveled past the loch, sighting reports rose sharply. In 1934 the so-called “Surgeon’s Photograph,” showing a long-necked creature rising from the water, was published in a newspaper and fixed the popular image of Nessie.
The truth about the photo, and investigations
In the 1990s, testimony from people involved revealed that the “Surgeon’s Photograph” was a hoax made with a model head and neck attached to a toy submarine. Sonar surveys and environmental DNA studies of the loch’s water have been carried out since, but no evidence of a large unknown animal has been found. The most likely explanations are driftwood, waves, and large fish or birds.
