Nessie now has her own museum

Press, 23 October 1980, Page 17

Nessie now has her own museum

The Loch Ness Monster has become one of Britain’s biggest tourist attractions and the British Tourist Authority expects it to continue to be a money spinner for years. The Scots have even opened a new Loch Ness Monster Exhibition at Drumnadrochit, Invernesshire. With records of more than 3000 reported sightings since "Nessie” hit the headlines more than 40 years ago. there is plenty of material. The first recorded sighting was way back in the 6th century when St Columba saw “a certain monster in the loch.” And in the 16th century, “a large animal came ashore, felling trees with a sweep of its tail, and killing three onlookers.” • At least so the story goes . . . Much of the evidence for the existence of a monster or monsters has been assembled in a museum in three sections. There is an historical hall, concentrating on famous pictures taken between 1933 and 1960; the scientific and technological hall, dealing with sonar, strobe lights and. other scientific techniques used in probing the depths, as well as statements by leading zoologists. The exhibition’s owner, Mr Ronald Bremner, an enthusiast himself, firmly believes that there is sufficient evidence to support the “Nessie” theory.. Experts believe the blasting of the road between Fort' Augustus and Inverness brought “Nesto the surface in the early 19305.

There were more than 80 reported sightings in August, 1933, alone. Then came Mr Alex Campbell’s description of "a huge animal with a small tapering head, a long neck and one hump.” In 1934 a London surgeon, Mr R. K. Wilson, came up with his famous photograph, reckoned by experts, to be one of the best, but lacking clarity nevertheless. The veteran “Nessie” researcher and author.

Tim Dinsdale, is convinced that evidence points to a family of monsters living in the murky depths of the loch. “Seeing is believing,” he says. “I used to think Nessie was a joke, the same as everyone else. Then I analysed all the eye-witness reports, and decided to see for myself.” Mr Dinsdale, whose cine film taken in 1960 stands as important photographic evidence, recalls a sighting in 1970 when he and two other witnesses saw the neck of a giant creature about half a mile from the shore. But unfortunately no-one had a camera at the time. “He was standing 10ft out of.the water, with a neck as thick as a telegraph pole,” Mr Dinsdale says. His film is of “a long oval creature with a humped back, zig-zagging across the loch.” The Royal Air Force’s Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre confirmed a similar sighting in 1966, but was suitably vague about exactly what it was. But unusual happenings in the loch' have been reported by thousands, including usually reliable people . such as monks, lawyers and housewives, as well as fishermen and holiday-makers. “Nessie” was lured with sex essences in 1970, pronounced dead by a leading scientist in the same year, and exorcised in 1973. He (or she) has been confused with shadows, tree trunks and swimming deer. But still visitors come to the wildly beautiful Loch Ness in the Great Glen. or Glen More,

hoping for a glimpse. The loch is 23 miles long and its waters are even deeper than the North Sea. Inverness is the centre of this area, in which are found four of the loveliest highland glens . — Glen Affric, Glen Garry, Glen Moriston and Glen Shiel. Cawdor, one of the last unspoiled villages with its fourteenth century castle, the home of the Thanes and Earls of Cawdor, also attracts many visitors.

From

KEN COATES

in London