The myth of the Loch Ness monster, caricatured in this 1934 postcard, has drawn generations of adventurers to a Scottish lake where they have searched, without success, for proof of the creature's existence.ullstein bild via Getty Images
The Loch Ness monster has captivated explorers, curiosity seekers and lovers of tall tales for nearly a century. Now a group of Nessie enthusiasts hopes to finally unlock the mystery this month when they launch the biggest search for the elusive creature in 50 years.
The Quest Weekend, which runs from Aug. 26 to 27, has drawn interest from around the world and it’s being billed as a chance for “a new generation of monster hunters to help uncover the truth.”
Organizers plan to use thermal drones equipped with infrared cameras at night to scan the surface of the lake in the Scottish Highlands, and to submerge a hydrophone to listen for any “Nessie-like calls” under water. They’ll also be relying on more than 100 volunteers who will stand along the shore and watch for any inexplicable movements.
“I’ve never experienced this amount of attention,” said Alan McKenna, 37, who is a member of Loch Ness Exploration, a small volunteer group that has organized the event. “I didn’t realize it was going to be reaching America, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve enjoyed every moment of it, just to share my passion with other people.”
Mr. McKenna has been a Nessie fanatic – he views it as a calling – ever since he read a book about the monster when he was eight years old. He makes regular trips to the loch from his home in Edinburgh, about 270 kilometres south, and keeps a healthy perspective on his unusual hobby.
“Regardless if you believe there’s something there or not,” he said, “it’s a beautiful place.”
Visitors look out at Loch Ness this past July, when its water levels sank dramatically. The lake feeds into a river of the same name that exits into the sea at Inverness, the largest city of the Scottish Highlands.ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
Tales of a beast inhabiting the narrow loch – which is 37 kilometres long and up to 240 metres deep – date back to 565 AD when an Irish missionary, who became St. Columba, managed to ward off a creature that was bearing down on a fellow monk as he frantically swam to shore in the River Ness, which flows out of the loch. Columba made a sign of the cross and shouted: “You will go no further.”
There were reports of giant sea serpents in the 1850s, but the modern-day Loch Ness monster mystery started in 1933 with a story in the Inverness Courier about Aldie Mackay, the manager of a local hotel. Ms. Mackay claimed to have seen a “water beast” in the loch while driving in her car. The story was picked up globally and monster hunters have descended on the loch in droves ever since.
Over the past decades there have been reported sightings of dragons, serpents and a plesiosaur, a type of long-necked reptile that plied the Earth’s oceans more than 60 million years ago. Some diligent monster seekers have tried to lure the creature by sprinkling breadcrumbs on the water or playing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. One group submerged a cage filled with pike and others have employed the powers of a psychic.
There have also been plenty of hoaxes including a bizarre claim in 1934 by big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell that he’d found footprints of the beast. It turned out he’d used an umbrella stand fashioned from a hippopotamus’s foot to make the imprints.
The 'surgeon's photograph,' published by the Daily Mail in 1934, would turn out to be one of many hoaxes connected with Loch Ness.The Associated Press
Today Gary Campbell diligently records every monster sighting and does his best to establish which ones are truly unexplained.
“My lovely title is keeper of the register of sightings at Loch Ness,” Mr. Campbell, 58, said from his home in Inverness.
He’s an accountant by profession and had no interest in the monster until 1996 when he spotted a small black hump in the water. Mr. Campbell wanted to report his finding but quickly discovered that there was no formal record keeper. So he created the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.
Mr. Campbell and his team – his wife and a few friends – receive about 30 reports a year and they check each one.
Any sighting that doesn’t turn out to be something explainable, such as a stick, a rock or a paddle boarder, is posted on their website, which has 1,148 entries and includes historic reports dating back to Columba’s time.
“I suppose in many respects, I’m really still looking for an answer to what I saw back in 1996,” he said.
The 'Nessieland' attraction in Drumnadrochit, Scotland, features some of the varied ways artists have imagined the monster, as either a plesiosaur-like creature or a giant serpent.ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
In 1987, this flotilla of motorboats spent six hours sweeping the lake with sonar, but found nothing.John Redman/The Associated Press
There have been more scientific approaches to solving the mystery, although so far none have provided a definitive answer.
David James, a British MP and naturalist, created the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau in 1961 and spent a decade exploring the loch with the latest technology.
Mr. James enlisted zoologists and military officials to examine his findings but failed to turn up a monster.
In 1987, Adrian Shine organized a sonar sweep of the loch by 24 boats. The expedition picked up three contacts that indicated the presence of something big, which Mr. Shine said could have been seals, schools of fish or something else.
The most recent scientific effort came in 2019 when Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from New Zealand, conducted DNA tests on 250 water samples. Dr. Gemmell concluded that amid the roughly 3,000 species he identified – including micro-organisms and humans – there were no signs of a “giant scaly reptile.” However, there were indications of very large eels.
Nonetheless, Nessie believers clung to Dr. Gemmell’s comment that 20 per cent of the DNA came back as “unidentified.”
Researcher Neil Gemmell holds one of his water samples from Loch Ness. His analysis found plenty of eel genes, but no proof of a giant reptile.ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
Roland Watson, 60, is among the faithful. He’s been fascinated by the creature for 40 years and writes about various theories on the Loch Ness Monster Mystery blog.
“Even today as a man with two mature kids who think I’m immature, I still think there’s something big, exotic and unknown at the bottom of that loch which continues to defy science and to this point investigations,” he said from his home in Edinburgh. “We always like to think there is something bigger and nastier than ourselves, but at a safe distance.”
There are plenty of people who hope the monster is never found. Mr. Campbell estimates that the mystery is worth about £45-million annually, or $76.7-million, to the region’s tourism business.
Others have a more sentimental attachment to the legend.
“Part of me never wants to find it,” said Mr. McKenna. “There’s such a romantic thought behind it all. But if I do find something – god, man, that would be fantastic.”