Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster, believed to live in the Scottish Loch Ness lake, is a large marine cryptid and is an infamous part of Scottish folklore. The story of the Loch Ness Monster, affectionately called Nessie, is an ancient one. Though Nessie sightings predate widespread writings, the Britannica website describes the first written account of Nessie as being found in St. Columba’s biography from 565 A.D. That specific biography noted that Nessie bit a swimmer and almost attacked another man before Columba intervened, telling Nessie to “go back.” It did so and only made a few appearances since then.
Nessie is widely known to be a giant beast, with many reports describing her as a “dragon or prehistoric monster,” according to the aforementioned Britannica article. A 1934 photograph captured Nessie’s head and long neck, leading to speculation that Nessie is actually a plesiosaur, a marine beast presumed to go extinct several millennia ago.
