Rick Steve's Take

Recently I came across an article titled "US Travel Writer Brands Loch Ness 'Waste of Space' and says Monster has Never Existed." In the article writer, Rick Steve's and photographer Cameron Hewitt detail their displeasure during their time at the Loch. According to Rick "It's simply a long, narrow lake with a string of cheesy roadside attractions, and a not-very-dramatic mountains on the far side." He believes the Loch is nothing more than a tourist attraction, and that no monster has ever lived there. Well, maybe he is right. No one has ever found solid proof of Nessie in the Loch's waters, and except for a few thousand sightings and obscure photos, nothing has ever stuck.

    It's not a preposterous to think that Nessie is the fabrication of myth, hoaxes, and mistaken identity. In fact, a good majority of sightings could be dismissed as just that, illusions or mirages that play on the mind. I've never been to Loch Ness, but when I do go, I may be hesitant to enter the peat laden waters. Not because I have some irrational fear of drowning, but because of the legends that surround the cold depths. So I have to give it to Rick, the Loch could simply be the result of a wealth generating scheme to attract unsuspecting travel writers to a place that "doesn't even crack the top 25 list of prettiest Scottish lochs."

    I however like to believe that reality is never that abstract, meaning the idea that some poor highland citizens concocted the idea of a water beast (which has been in Scottish legend for thousands of years) and used it to drum up some business. There have certainly been a handful of witnesses that have capitalized on fakes and hoaxes, but as a community at large this is not the case. A town may capitalize on a cryptozoological animal in their waters, it doesn't mean they invented the creature itself. Were the citizens of Loch Ness so burdened and poor that they rang everyone to the Town Hall in 1933 and devised one of the greatest mysteries of all time? 

Thousands of sightings from reputable members of society speak to something greater going on beneath those waters. The lack of physical proof could point to other theories about what Nessie is. Invertebrates for instance, leave little to no physical matter after their deaths and consumption. Could it be some species of giant worm that rarely surfaces and upon expiration is dissolved by natural processes? A worm that spends most of its time scouring the bottom of the loch for plants and small fishes? Perhaps a large eel, that when seen by fishermen isn't given a second look because of the familiarity of the animal? 

One trip to Loch Ness and a souvenir is not enough evidence for me to dismiss the existence of Nessie. I'll happily scour the Loch for proof, even if that means from the perch of the local gift store.

-T

Link to the Article Here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/travel-writer-brands-loch-ness-24236121 

Murphy, S., & Broomhead, M. (2022, June 15). US travel writer brands Loch Ness “waste of space” and says monster has “never existed.” WalesOnline. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/travel-writer-brands-loch-ness-24236121