Loch Ness in Scotland is said to be home to probably the most famous of "modern monsters". Two to three kilometres wide and fourty kilometres long Loch Ness is said to be over 250 metres deep (800+ feet).Covered at the botom with thick silt it is easy to understand how such a creature could remain hidden. There are many claimed sightings and many claimed explanations as to what it is, or may be. In more recent times there have been many photo's proporting to be the monster,of which most have been discounted as fakes. Strangely in todays technological world a few photo's still manage to confound the experts for a satisfactory explanation.

Probably the first documentation of the existence of a "monster" was made in the 6th centuary by Saint Columba, an early missionary from Ireland who was there to convert Scotland. The story goes that Columba needed to cross the river Ness to travel north and on reaching the far side came across a burrial party.On making enquiries he was told that the deceased was a fisherman bitten to death by the monster of the Loch. Columba instructed one of his followers to swim out into the Loch to recover the dead mans boat, part way out on his swim a disturbance was noted in the water as once again the monster rose from the depths to attack a new victim. On seeing this Columba strode into the water shouting and waving the cross of his faith. This action was said to have so startled the monster that it swam back into the deep allowing the boat to be recovered.

In Scotland the Loch Ness monster is offen refered to as "Nessie",the "water horse", and the "Kelpie".There are other reports of deep water creatures in Scotish waters, sea borne and of the Loch's and are all usualy refered to as the "Kelpie".

Since the sixth centuary reports of sightings in and around Loch Ness have regularly surfaced but it wasnt until 1933 that the world started to take a keener interest.This was the year that a new road was built to aid the traffic from Inverness to Fost Augustus. This road travels the shore of the Loch. Even before the road was finished passing the shores of the Loch sightings were claimed by the road workers.Brought to national press a wake of monster hunters headded for Scotland. Bertram Mills a circus owner even offered £20,000 for the safe capture of it.

In 1934 a 12 man team of observers were sent to the Loch to keep watch and record events. They were places strategicaly around the Loch and were to keep watch form 9am until 6pm each day for 12 weeks.At the end of this time thier observations were co-related,from the notes,film,photo's and witness reports the official report stated that the Loch Ness monsters was most likely to be a Grey Seal! As to how it was to have got there was not explained.

In 1962 the first sonar expedition arived, sweeping the Loch with sonar they got some unusual readings just of Castle Urquhart on the 28th July. This object still unsatisfactorily explained was 30x the size of a full grown Salmon. Since the opening of the road many expeditions have visited the Loch, most have come away empty handed with just a few more stories from the local people. Occasionaly thought another piece of mystery is added to the telling, in 1972 one sonar expedition took a picture that still baffles the experts. probably the most famouse of all the "flipper pictures" taken it was shot on 8th august at a depth of 14 metres and shows a fin/flipper some 6 feet across, the body shown was about 9 metres in length with humps or projections down what is assumed to be its back.

In the midst of Abernathy Forest, Scotland lies Loch Garten. According to tradition this area was the haunt of a large flesh eating monster. the creature was a cross between a horse and a bull, had a jet black mane, vast head and burning eyes. Its spine chilling roar could be heard in the hills at night and satisfied its hunger on children and lambs.

Local legend says that a crofter set about capturing the beast and one day tied a long rope around the end of a boulder weighing many tonnes and put it on the shore of Loch Garten. To the other end he tied a large hook with a lamb on it. He rowed the baited end of the giant fishing line out into the middle of the loch, weighted it and dropped it over the side into the depths.

That night there was a tremendous storm, yet inspite of the gale rageing the frustrated screams of the monster could be heard over the din of the storm. The following morning the crofter went to the Loch to see if the trap had worked. At the waters edge all that could be found of the boulder was a deep groove in the sand leading into the loch. This Loch like many in Scotland is very deep, some say bottomless, needless to say that the monster has never been seen since.

MOLKE-MBEMBE...

PELUDA...

In the middle ages tales of a river monster grew in France. The creature was called PELUDA, Dragon like in apearance of its head it could breath fire and spit venom. Its body like some gigantic porcupine could fire poisonous quills into its unwary victims.For a few hundred years it was suposedly terrorising the local population. This went on until the fiancé of one of PELUDA's intended victims fought back. Its said that he managed to cut off its tail which was its only weak spot managing to kill it.

In 1981 it was decided to carry out a survey and document "sightings" of lake monsters in the provinces of Canada. Michael Meurger of the Institut Metapsychique International in Paris, and Claude Gagnon, proffessor of Philosophy at Montreal were the two men chosen to accrue testimony and eye witness reports. In an interview with the publication fortean times Meurger told that by 1983 thier work had already revealed the claims of obver 50 monsters in lakes .suprisingly they had so far only covered a small portion of the Canadian territory. He also went on to say that they were both unconvinced as the reports were so often inconsistent. One lake they visited boasted more than four"unexplained creatures". Given below is one Canada's monster's that does seem to have some mystery about it."Living" in Lake Champlain on the Canadian border is "Champ".

CHAMP...

In 1984 a book was published by Joseph Zarzynski that revitalised the legend of lake Champlain in the United States. It should also be noted that this was a year after the 50th aniversary of the opening of a road past Loch Ness in Scotland and a wave of interest had been recreated in lake monsters. The book was called Champ-Beyond the Legend. The author had colected over 200 eyewitness reports which alluded to something living in the lake. Lake Champlain certainly would have room for a monster, it is 109 miles long and runs from the Canadian border, through Vermont and into New York State.

In the book were also reports from the 19th century, such as the one from a Captain Crum. He claimed to have seen "champ" from his boat in Bulwagga bay on july 19th 1819. He described it as almost 200 feet long and held its head 15ft above the water.Another sighting was give as of August 1871 by a passenger on the Cerlew who was watching through a telescope of Berber Point.He described a mysterious creature ploughing through the water at the spped of a railroad engine. Ten years later Mr Warren Rockwell a steamboat pilot took a "pot shot" at an unknown creature from his ship near Swanton Vermont. In 1880 Dr Brigham of Bedford Quebec described a creature over 20ft long with a head as big as a flour barrel and green eyes while in Missisquoi bay.

World wide in the oceans the Kraken's image wasn't so peaceful, offen it was said that it would rise from the depths to terrorise the sea lanes taking ships to thier doom. Ships that never returned to thier ports were offen put down to being the victims of sea monsters, the Kraken being the foremost of them.

Asimilarity exists between the stories concerning mermaids and those told about the Sirens.

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