The Loch Ness Monster: 'Nessie'

Urquhart Castle is a fantastic example of a castle ruins, and many poeple arrive here every day to view these ruins, but more and more, people flock to Urquhart Castle to see if they can catch a glimpse of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. The sightings of this beast go as far back as the 6th century BC, but many still wonder if Nessie is a real water beast, or a mythical one. Modern sightings of the beast however, only go as far back as the 1930's, when the road that runs alongside of the loch was built- this opened up areas of the loch to public view. There are many stories of sightings, but one of the best to-date has to be by Anthony Shiels in May 1977 (above picture was taken by Shiels). He was apparently somewhere close to the castle when he saw a monster with a serpent-like head, long neck, and a large body, between 9 & 12 metres long. Who knows if there really is a Nessie out there! but if it brings hoards of people out every year to the castle, then why not believe in it?!

My son has a book written by Richard Brassey that has lots of interesting tid bits of info about Nessie. It's called Nessie- The Loch Ness Monster, and is especially for kids- here are a few bits of info for you that I find fascinating!

Loch Ness is so deep that...
1) you could stand 3 Big Bens on top of each other and they still wouldn't reach the top
2) The statue of Liberty could dive in happily and not worry about banging her head on the bottom
3) 5 jumbo jets could be placed wingtip to wingtip and still have room to loop the loop!!!

Since the building of the road alongside the Loch in 1933, people have been coming from near and far hoping to catch a glimpse of the 'monster'. People who claim to have seen nessie all seem to have different reports of what she looks like... some say she is serpent-like, some say she had a shaggy mane etc. The big question was this- why hasn't there been any sightings on these scientifc expeditions? Scientists with sonars on their boats have been out on the loch off and on for many years, but to no avail- not one spotting of Nessie. Some say that there has to be some sort of tunnel system deep in the loch that Nessie either lives in or travels through to escape. Who knows? Will we ever know? it is fun to wonder though!

Look Out!!!