On 12 november 1933, scottish photographer hugh gray took a mysterious photograph of the loch ness monster, which became known as the first photograph of the loch ness monster and was headlined on the front page of the scottish daily chronicle with the headline "The mysterious loch ness the first photograph of the loch ness monster was headlined on the front page of the scottish daily chronicle with the headline "Mysterious loch ness monster photo". (the photo below is from that time, highly blurred)

In fact, rumours of the loch ness monster did not start in 1933, but originated in the 7th century ad, when the loch ness monster was first described in the book the life of st. Cullen (st. Cullen was an irish monk) written by aardman, who recorded the following story.

After a brief conversation, st cullen learned that the cause of his death was the drowning of a "Water beast" That had dragged him down while swimming in the lake. So st. Cullen ordered the religious to swim across the river to draw out the water beast, and when it appeared, st. Cullen made the sign of the cross and shouted "Do not go forward and do not hurt anyone, but go away quickly." The water beast is eventually driven away. (below is a screenshot from the loch ness monster film)

Of course, let's consider this story as watching a movie of uncle ying, after all, it is too outrageous to scare off the water beast with a cross. After that, there were many rumours about the loch ness monster, but it wasn't until 1933, when the first photos of the suspected "Monster" Broke, that it really got more attention, because in november 1933, after the photos were published in the press, the british officials acted, and the then navy lieutenant rupert gould was ordered to start a detailed investigation into the sightings.

By interviewing the witnesses, rupert discovered that the descriptions varied from one witness to another and that the water monster was described as a creature with only a small part of its body exposed to the water. However, although it is no wonder that rupert also wrote "The loch ness monster" Based on his own investigations and visits.

By april 1934, five people, including colonel robert wilson, a london gynaecologist, and marmaduke whitere, a journalist for the daily mail, were passing through loch ness when they took a clear picture of the 'water monster' with their cameras, the first clear picture of the monster ever taken, which was published on the front page of the then daily mail as follows.

Just when people thought they had seen the true face of the water monster, christian spaulding, who took the picture with robert at the time, publicly disproved and apologised a year before his death, after which the scientists involved in the study of the water monster visited marduk, the only journalist still alive among the five at the time, who slowly revealed the source of the picture.

It turned out that the picture was a toy he had bought for his son and strapped to a model submarine and pulled into the lake, then pulled close to the camera from a distance to take a picture with the aim of faking it for fame, the funny thing is that the above picture is still being taken today as a clear picture of the loch ness monster.

From the 1930s until the 21st century, sightings and suspected photos of the loch ness monster never ceased to appear, making the loch ness monster one of the many legendary creatures most believed to be real, and according to later eyewitness accounts, the loch ness monster had a long, pillar-like neck. Some say it was 1.5 metres, others 13.5 metres. So what exactly is the loch ness monster? Let's look at the research so far to find out.

The true face of the loch ness monster?

With so many sightings of the loch ness monster, it was bound to attract a lot of attention from scientists. In fact, back in the 1960s, the uk set up a survey consisting of a number of scientists, after which scientists placed a large number of infrared cameras around loch ness for filming the lake, but six consecutive years of field filming and examination saw the scientists come up empty-handed.

By the 1980s, scientists again used the then advanced sonar equipment to scan loch ness as a whole, but no suspicious creatures were found.

However, despite this, sightings of the loch ness monster continued to "Come and go" And in 2012, a large snake-like object measuring 1.52 metres in length was recorded by a sightseeing boat on loch ness with sonar equipment at 22.9 metres underwater, the first technological discovery of an unidentified creature in loch ness. This was the first time that an unidentified creature had been found in loch ness by technological means.

In 2014, a yacht detected an unknown aquatic creature with sonar equipment, but this time no details of length or depth were available. With these two sonar detections recorded, by 2018, a team of researchers organised by the university of otago in new zealand decided to use genetic testing to find the truth.

The team took 250 samples from different depths of the lake and analysed them and compared them with the dna of organisms already in the lake. None of the fragments belonged to unknown organisms, and most of them came from eels.

The team therefore concluded that the so-called water monster was most likely a giant eel.

Of course, this study does not qualify the water monster, so there are still many theories about the water monster, some think it is a shark, some think it is a whale, some think it is an otter, and some think it is a floating log, of course after so many fakes, many suspect it is a prank that some people are playing for fame.

There is never a shortage of legends where there are people, and loch ness, the third largest freshwater lake in the uk, is certainly no exception. And from current research, there is no sign of unknown creatures existing in loch ness, so it is highly likely that it is just a giant eel.

However, science is rigorous and no conclusions can be drawn until it is caught, so the legend of the loch ness monster continues, which is a very good marketing strategy, after all, it is hard to say whether the loch ness monster exists or not, but it does attract a large number of tourists every year.