Nick Redfern - Nessie: Exploring the Supernatural Origins of the Loch Ness Monster

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Nessie: Exploring the Supernatural Origins of the Loch Ness Monster 2016 by Nick Redfern.

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First e-book edition 2016

E-book ISBN: 9780738750071

Cover design: Kevin R. Brown

Cover illustration: Dominick Finelle, The July Group

Interior photographs on pages are public domain

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Redfern, Nicholas.

Title: Nessie : exploring the supernatural origins of the Loch Ness Monster /

Nick Redfern.

Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,

[2016] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016017114 (print) | LCCN 2016018519 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738747101 | ISBN 9780738750071 ()

Subjects: LCSH: Loch Ness monster. | MonstersScotland.

Classification: LCC QL89.2.L6 R43 2016 (print) | LCC QL89.2.L6 (ebook) |

DDC 001.944dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017114

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

: Nessie: In the Beginning

: The Rise of the Kelpies

: Water-Horses of Loch Ness

: The Weird World of Willox the Warlock

: Further Reports of the Early Kind

: The Greatest Beast of All

: A New Century Dawns

: The Loch Ness Monster is Born

: Muddying the Waters

: Crowley and the Creature

: Hoaxing the Horror of Loch Ness

: From the 40s to the 50s

: The Dinsdale Affair

: A Holiday at Loch Ness

: Dragon Cults, Scorpion Men, and Dr. Dee

: UFOs, a Movie, a Conspiracy, and a Rock Star

: Plesiosaurs that Werent

: Exorcising the Monster

: A Confrontation with a Man in Black

: The Supernatural Nessie and Dr. Who

: Stonehenge to Loch Ness

: A Military Ghost and the Monsters

: A Wizard of the Waters

: Doc Shiels Returns

: Deep-Scanning and Calling Forth a Monster

: Human Sacrifice in the Twentieth Century

: The Other Monsters of Loch Ness

: Nessie and the White Witch

: A Controversy Caught on Camera

: The Loch Ness Aliensand a Hoax

: A Change of Mind and Monster-Fish

Acknowledgments

A very big thank you! goes out to all of the following: Everyone at Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd., and particularly Amy Glaser, Kat Sanborn, Sandy Sullivan, Kevin Brown, and Donna Burch-Brown; my literary agent, Lisa Hagan, for her hard work, enthusiasm, and friendship; and Colin Stott, for generously giving me permission to reproduce a number of his Loch Nessthemed photos in this book.

Introduction

The Loch Ness Monster: just about everyone has heard of it. A large number of people claim to have seen the long-necked, humped leviathan of the deep. Some have even photographed and filmed it. Nessie, as the beast is affectionately known, has been a staple part of the world of the unexplained since 1933, when the phenomenon of the monster exploded in spectacular, planet-wide fashion. Since then, millions of people have flocked to the shores of the 22.5 mile long and 744 foot deep loch, all in the hopes of seeing the elusive creature. Attempts have been made to seek out Nessie with sonar equipment, aircraft, balloons, and even submarines.

Theories abound as to what Nessie isor, far more likely and correctly, what the Nessies are. Certainly the most captivating theory, and the one that the Scottish Tourist Board, moviemakers, and the general public find most appealing, is that which suggests the monsters are surviving pockets of plesiosaurs. These are marine reptiles that the domain of zoology assures us became extinct tens of millions of years ago. The possibility that the monsters are actually giant-sized salamanders holds sway in more than a few quarters. As does the idea that perhaps massive eels are the culprits. Then there are scenarios involving sturgeon, oversized turtles, and catfish, and even crocodiles, giant frogs, and hippopotami!

Numerous Nessie enthusiasts, investigators, and authors have spent years decades , in some casespursuing their quarry. They have done so in a fashion that uncannily mirrors the obsessive actions of the fictional Captain Ahab, in Herman Melvilles acclaimed 1851 novel Moby-Dick; or, The Whale . But its all, and always , to no avail. No matter the number of days, hours, weeks, and years spent, and no matter just how advanced the technology utilized to find the animals might be, it forever ends in failure. After more than eighty years of intensive investigation, the Nessies still evade capture, discovery, or classification. Is this all down to sheer bad luck and inept investigations? Certainly not. Rather, its a case of people looking for the answers in the completely wrong direction.

Over the decades, numerous books have been written on Nessie. For the most part, they all follow the same path. Its a path that is becoming more and more weary, predictable, repetitive, and worn as the years go by. Those same books typically take a near-identical approach: they chronicle the most famous sightings, the chief players in the saga, and the theories that exist to explain the monsterand then they leave it at that. All of which brings me to the theme of the book you are now reading.

For me to simply regurgitate all the same old stories at length, and to uphold the same old theories for what the beasts of that massive loch might be, would be pointless. Such a thing has now been done to the point of utter tediousness. And doing so has achieved nothing meaningful, in any way whatsoever. Its time for a fresh approach to solving the mystery. Its an approach that takes us down terrifying, paranormal, and occult pathways and leads us into a dark realm inhabited by Nessies that are far removed from the flesh-and-blood creatures that so many people believe, want, or assume them to be. As my book shows, there is demonstrable evidence that the monsters of Loch Ness are of a definitively supernaturalrather than a flesh-and-bloodnature.