UILEBHEIST LOCH NIS, SCOTTISH FOLKLORE & LEGENDS

Today, The Grandma has visited Loch Ness to spend a good time with Nessie, an old friend, that has become a great legend.

The Loch Ness Monster, in Scottish Gaelic Uilebheist Loch Nis, affectionately known as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.

The scientific community explains alleged sightings of the Loch Ness Monster as hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects. The pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology has placed particular emphasis on the creature.

In August 1933, the Courier published the account of George Spicer's alleged sighting. Public interest skyrocketed, with countless letters being sent in detailing different sightings describing a monster fish, sea serpent, or dragon, with the final name ultimately settling on Loch Ness monster. Since the 1940s, the creature has been affectionately called Nessie, in Scottish Gaelic Niseag.

A number of explanations have been suggested to account for sightings of the creature. According to Ronald Binns, a former member of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau, there is probably no single explanation of the monster. Binns wrote two sceptical books, the 1983 The Loch Ness Mystery Solved, and his 2017 The Loch Ness Mystery Reloaded. In these he contends that an aspect of human psychology is the ability of the eye to see what it wants, and expects, to see.

They may be categorised as misidentifications of known animals, misidentifications of inanimate objects or effects, reinterpretations of Scottish folklore, hoaxes, and exotic species of large animals. A reviewer wrote that Binns had evolved into the author of the definitive, skeptical book on the subject. Binns does not call the sightings a hoax, but a myth in the true sense of the term and states that the monster is a sociological phenomenon. After 1983 the search (for the) possibility that there just might be continues to enthrall a small number for whom eye-witness evidence outweighs all other considerations".

In 1980 Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren wrote that present beliefs in lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster are associated with kelpie legends. According to Sjögren, accounts of loch monsters have changed over time; originally describing horse-like creatures, they were intended to keep children away from the loch. Sjögren wrote that the kelpie legends have developed into descriptions reflecting a modern awareness of plesiosaurs.

The kelpie as a water horse in Loch Ness was mentioned in an 1879 Scottish newspaper, and inspired Tim Dinsdale's Project Water Horse. A study of pre-1933 Highland folklore references to kelpies, water horses and water bulls indicated that Ness was the loch most frequently cited.

More information: The Loch Ness Centre

 Whatever is the truth, 

there is no denying that Nessie
will continue to intrigue 

the world for years to come.

Jonathan Bright