Scottish tourism officials are concerned that the falling number of Loch Ness monster sightings and scepticism are affecting the number of visitors to the region.
The Loch Ness Monster has been a key tourism draw to the Scottish Highlands, bringing an estimated $14 million.
But with only five sightings of the monster since 2006, compared to double figures a decade ago, locals are beginning to worry.
“It’s becoming a potential crisis,” said Mikko Takala, 39, a founding member of the Loch Ness Monster Fan Club who runs four webcams on the lake’s north shore.
Loch Ness, the largest and deepest inland expanse of water in Britain, has been clouded in myth and mystery ever since a surgeon vacationing at the lake in the 1930s released a photo allegedly capturing the legendary monster on film.
Since then, there have been more than 4,000 purported sightings of the creature, who is affectionately dubbed by locals as “Nessie”.
Supposed footage of the Loch Ness Monster was taken by British amateur scientist Gordon Holmes earlier this year, as it sped through the water.
Fans of the mysterious creature have speculated whether Nessie is the last surviving dinosaur, or even a sturgeon, even though they have not been native to Scotland’s waters for many years.
But even in the age of digital cameras, webcams and video recorders, sightings have dropped, leaving fans disillusioned.
“I think we live in a more pragmatic age, and that people are becoming more aware of the sort of illusions that can occur on water,” said Adrian Shine, 58, a naturalist who has investigated the mystery of the monster for 20 years.
By: BumbleBee - 27th April 2010 at 21:48
Nice to see that,in the good old British tradition,in 1938 a Mr. Peter Kent proposed having a special harpoon gun made to attack the monster –
I’m still intrigued. Why do people think it’s a female monster ?
By: J Boyle - 27th April 2010 at 20:20
What’s happened to Nessie?
She can be found at your favorite local…next to some chips.:eek:
By: Stuart H - 27th April 2010 at 19:58
I’m not a cynic.
I admired the guy who lived in a clapped out van and camped around Loch Ness for several years. He had an anemometer, some aerials, a sign saying ‘monster hunter’, and a few other high tech gadgets bolted to his van, along with a bucket for contributions. There was a rumour he had binoculars too, but this was never confirmed. He could camp pretty much anywhere because he was doing research, much of which involved talking to people in pubs.
I’m sure he was committed.
By: Blue_2 - 27th April 2010 at 13:15
I’ve also noticed that Nessie tends to become active in the spring, just before the tourist season…
Ooh you cynic you! 😉
By: Red Hunter - 27th April 2010 at 13:01
Scuba diving can be very disorientating. Sometimes you can feel like you’re in the middle of a ping pong ball, with an equal amount of light (or dark) from every direction so you lose your reference to up and down. I’ve had a touch of vertigo a couple of times, where I’ve felt like I was swimming in a washing machine. All you can do is trust your bubbles. Logic says they’re going upwards. A bit like instrument flying – ignore what your senses tell you and have faith in the instruments.
Al is right – Loch Ness is an eerie place to dive. I’ve also noticed that Nessie tends to become active in the spring, just before the tourist season…
I suppose her agent’s on a cut…………….
By: Bmused55 - 27th April 2010 at 12:59
What’s happened to Nessie?
Probably some unfit idiot in a suit and a flouresecent vest from the local council deemed Nessie a health and safety hazard to boating and had it and any others confined in their caves.
By: Stuart H - 27th April 2010 at 12:41
Scuba diving can be very disorientating. Sometimes you can feel like you’re in the middle of a ping pong ball, with an equal amount of light (or dark) from every direction so you lose your reference to up and down. I’ve had a touch of vertigo a couple of times, where I’ve felt like I was swimming in a washing machine. All you can do is trust your bubbles. Logic says they’re going upwards. A bit like instrument flying – ignore what your senses tell you and have faith in the instruments.
Al is right – Loch Ness is an eerie place to dive. I’ve also noticed that Nessie tends to become active in the spring, just before the tourist season…
By: Al - 27th April 2010 at 11:41
There is plenty of life in the loch, including salmon, sea trout and even the odd sturgeon, which might have given rise to some ‘sightings’. Shoals of fish are often spotted on sonar during ‘Nessie hunts’, but I’ve never actually seen anything to maybe 20 metres depth or so.
It’s a huge body of water though – 40 KM long, and up to 247 metres deep (deeper than the North Sea!), apparently with enough water volume to drown everyone on the planet…
By: Red Hunter - 27th April 2010 at 08:58
That was a good, read, Al. I don’t dive but I can imagine what you have described and the sensations your mate experienced. Presumably the Loch has been explored by submersibles at some time or another, has it? Is the chemistry of the water incompatible with freshwater life. No fish etc?
By: Al - 27th April 2010 at 08:34
Well, if I’m standing on the banks of Loch Ness, I’m the biggest Nessie sceptic ever… but scuba diving there is a totally different matter.
Visibility is good, as the water is very clear, but it is also stained with peat, so that it resembles Coca Cola. Outside a torch beam, everything is just solid black, and you can see the mud floor shelving off immediately to great depths.
I’ve never seen any form of life during my Loch Ness dives, but that only adds to the eeriness, and your mind starts playing tricks on you. As I shone my torch down into the depths, I can remember thinking “Anything could be living down there!”, and “Am I just about to become lunch?”.
One diving buddy got disorientated in the material at the bottom of the Loch (he described it as like swimming in tea leaves), and pretty soon didn’t know which way was up, as he could’t see his bubbles. It seemed like no matter which direction he swam in, he couldn’t get out of it. After a while, he decided to inflate his life jacket a little, and immediately thought that something had grabbed him by the ankles, and was pulling him down further into the ‘tea leaves’.
He emerged vertically out of the goo feet first – he had been unintentionally swimming head down into the stuff, then when he adjusted his bouyancy he thought he was being pulled in the wrong direction!
By: Red Hunter - 27th April 2010 at 08:27
Think the date is wrong – it should have read 1st April 2010.:D
By: steve rowell - 27th April 2010 at 08:00
http://www.theage.com.au/world/loch-ness-monster-beyond-doubt-archives-show-20100427-tp04.html
By: steve rowell - 21st September 2009 at 04:41
The Natural History Museum in London will put the Loch Ness Monnster on display in a deal negotiated with bookmaker William Hill.
The London museum secured rights to showcase Nessie’s remains in return for verifying her existence according to documents from its archive.
In a deal struck in 1987, the bookmaker paid the museum a yearly stipend of £1,000 to guarantee that its experts would provide ‘positive identification’ should Nessie be found. The agreement also covered the Yeti.
In the event of their discovery, William Hill would take possession of the creatures in return for paying out on bets on their existence.
It offers odds of 500/1 on the existence of the Loch Ness monster being proved within a year and 200/1 on the Yeti.
A clause in the deal, revealed in previously unpublished documents from the museum’s archive, stipulates that it could exhibit the creatures or the parts of them that were used to prove their existence.
A letter from Graham Sharpe, William Hill’s media manager, to the museum’s Press office sets out the terms of the arrangement.
Dr Ian Bishop, from the museum’s zoological department, replied: ‘We will make every effort to provide a positive identification of tangible adequate specimens.
‘A small retainer of, say, £1,000 per annum would seem a reasonable sum for the use of our name to compensate for the resulting increase in inquiries from the public.
‘Could we agree that the museum be granted the option to exhibit any significant finds that come into your possession?’
Mr Sharpe has confirmed William Hill continues to pay the retainer, which will have netted the institution at least £22,000 and counting.
Mr Sharpe said: ‘We have maintained our relationship with the Natural History Museum and are delighted to do so.
‘As we rely on the Met Office to rule on white Christmases, we are dependent on the museum to tell us whether any carcass that may emerge from the loch is a haddock, or a previously unknown creature from the deep.’
The documents also reveal that in 1961, a group of monster hunters wrote to say that they intended to capture the ‘remarkable beast’ and present it to the museum so it could be preserved for posterity.
The museum’s secretary wrote back suggesting that they might want to give it to the Royal Scottish Museum, now the National Museum of Scotland, instead.
A previous letter sent to museum staff in 1959 warned against taking part in monster hunts in case it ‘damaged the institution’s reputation’.
The letter read: ‘The trustees wish it to be known that they do not approve of the spending of official time or leave on the so-called Loch Ness phenomenon.
‘If, as a result of the activities of members of staff, the museum is involved in undesirable publicity, they will be gravely displeased.’
The newly uncovered files also detail how the museum’s most senior official appealed to government scientists in a bid to solve the mystery.
Dr Terence Morrison-Scott, the museum’s director, wrote to the National Physical Laboratory in 1961 asking it to investigate whether monster sightings could be explained by the ‘formation of large bubbles of marsh gas’.
A spokeswoman for the museum claimed: ‘I have spoken to some senior figures in the museum and they know nothing about a deal with William Hill.’
By: JasonR - 28th August 2009 at 23:58
It’s a boat. :rolleyes:
Wasn’t “Nessie” (A.K.A. Robert) salvaged and placed on display at the Brooklands Museum? 😀
Jason
By: bazv - 28th August 2009 at 23:55
I always thought that a sassanach was a scot (prob lowland) who worked with or sided with the damn english !!
I am a jock maself and indeed at work am sometimes described as a ‘Sweaty Sock’ or ‘Porage Wog’ 😀
By: BumbleBee - 28th August 2009 at 23:40
She Lives???
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25988016-5017320,00.html
Surely that’s just the image of a boat ?
The wake certainly looks odd though.
By: steve rowell - 28th August 2009 at 04:22
She Lives???
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25988016-5017320,00.html
By: Spitfire Pilot - 27th May 2009 at 13:58
How come all of a sudden Nessie’s female ?
No-one knows where she is (not even her) and she never c*mes when you want her to 😀 😀 😀
:diablo: :diablo: :diablo:
By: steve rowell - 24th May 2009 at 02:58
Hmmm.Shame there’s no emoticon for a snort of derision .
No offence Anne…but you did stick your chin out!!!
By: BumbleBee - 23rd May 2009 at 00:41
Hmmm.Shame there’s no emoticon for a snort of derision .
Sign In
May 16, 2009 at 1:50 am