The Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is an alleged plesiosaur-like creature that is supposed to live in Loch Ness, a long deep lake near Inverness, Scotland. The water gets deep right near the edges. There are no shallow places. For this reason, there is not much plant or animal life in the Loch. But, according to the legend, it has one famous inhabitant: ‘Nessie’, the Monster.Nessie is said to be 12-15m long and have a long snake-like neck.
Many sightings of the "monster" have been recorded since the 6th century. At that time, St. Columba, the Irish monk who converted most of Scotland to Christianity, claimed he saw Niseag (the Celtic name for Nessie) when he attended a burial for a man who had been bitten to death by the monster.
The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster started in 1933. The newspaper Inverness Courier reported that a local couple claimed to have seen "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface. Nessie became an international phenomena.
There have been many expeditions to Loch Ness ever since. A famous 1934 photograph seemed to show a dinosaur-like creature with a long neck emerging out of the dark waters. In 1960s several British universities launched expeditions to Loch Ness, using sonar to search the deep. Nothing conclusive was found, but in each expedition the sonar operators detected large, moving underwater objects they could not explain. In 1975, Boston's Academy of Applied Science combined sonar and underwater photography in an expedition to Loch Ness. A photo resulted that appeared to show the giant flipper of a plesiosaur-like creature. There were further sonar expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s which resulted in inconclusive readings. In 1994 it was discovered that the famous 1934 photo was a hoax. However, Loch Ness is still visited by thousands of tourists every year and professional and amateur investigators keep on with their research about the legend of the Loch Ness Monster.
Nessie's Story
Black Pudding and the Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster's Song - A Poem by Edwin Morgan
Loch Ness Monster Poses for Video.pdf (135,8 kB)
Loch Ness Monster Poses for Video - Reading Comprehension
Loch Ness Monster - Multiple Choice