The legend of the Loch Ness Monster nicknamed "Nessie" is believed to have started when the Romans met the Scottish Picts in the first century A.D.
In 1934 an English surgeon named Kenneth Wilson took what is the most recognized photo of "Nessie". Some call it the "Surgeon's Photo" and just like the famous Zapruder film of the JFK controversy, everyone that sees it has a different interpretation. "It's a bird, it's a plane," blah blah blah...
No, what it really was: a toy submarine outfitted with a sea-serpent head. Not a monster as such.
The Infamous Loch Ness Hoaxes
In 1933 a newspaper taking advantage of the Nessie Craze hired Marmaduke Wethrell, a big game hunter, to investigate sightings of the Monster. He didn't find Nessie, but he did find some really big footprints on the shores of Loch Ness.
The press went into a feeding frenzy with speculation on what made the footprints. The common consent: "Well, Nessie of course. What else could it be?" Some guessed the prints could be from a hippo's foot, but how would a hippo get to Scotland, with the tradewinds blowing and all?
It turns out: an entire hippo was not in Scotland, but a hippo's dried foot was, in the form of an umbrella stand. Red-faced and embarrased, Wetherell went into seclusion. It was never known if the tracks were made by Wetherell or pranksters.
[Writer's Aside: My money is on the pranksters; those frat boys in Scotland can be a funny bunch.]
The Surgeon's Photo
A few months later the Loch Ness monster was in the news again when the surgeon, Dr. Wilson, took his infamous photo. Wilson himself never publicized the image and refused to have his name associated with it. Therefore it came to be known simply as "The Surgeon's Photo."
For years skeptics were sure the photo was a hoax but no one person could offer up evidence supporting that theory. The best anyone could come up with was that it was an otter or marine bird.
Then in 1994, Christian Spurling, age 90 and the stepson of Marmaduke Wetherell, confessed his involvement in the plot to create the Famous photo. Spurling tells of helping his stepfather make a "lifelike" serpent model. The model was then hauled out to Loch Ness, photographed and the pictures given to Dr. Wilson whom Wetherell felt would be taken more seriously than he was since there was the whole hippo scandal still hanging over his head. Spurling indicated that Wetherell was so humiliated by the press, that he concocted this elaborate plot for revenge...he recounts his stepfather saying, "We'll give them their monster".
The Search for The Loch Ness Monster Continues Today
Since then people from all walks of life have staked out the shores of Loch Ness in hope of getting just one good photo of the elusive lady. Some estimate that more than 4000 witnesses have described a large creature with one or more humps, long neck and flippers skimming the surface of the lake, but none were lucky enough to get even a snapshot.
Do I believe there is a Loch Ness Monster? Yes I do. I also believe there is a Big Foot, Sasquatch, and Abominable Snowman. Why? Because I want to...
This article is part of the Historic Travel series on The Scotland Traveler.
