The infamous ‘Surgeon’s Photograph’
The Loch Ness Monster has been one of the most enduring myths of the last two centuries. In fact, the legend may be even older if you take into account the supposed sighting by St Columba in the 6th Century Ever since the first modern age sighting of a ‘log like’ object by D MacKenzie in 1871 speculations about what might be lurking in the depths of the 263 thousand million cubic feet of water that constitutes the largest body of water in the whole of the United Kingdom. Attempts to discover the truth of the matter have even extended so far as to an ambitious one million pound (~$1,524,674) project to scan the entire Loch using sonar called Operation Deepscan.
Now it appears that a group of Italian scientists may have a theory to explain the phenomena that have been attributed to a prehistoric creature. According to them, it is all down to geological faults. According to geologist Luigi Piccardi, sightings of the monster have been more frequent during times when the fault that runs under the Loch is known to be at its most active, citing the period between 1920 and 1930 as evidence of a time when seismic activity was high and sightings frequent. Despite not being an area known for its seismic activity (compared to such hard hitters as San Francisco and Japan) earthquakes of magnitude 3-4 have been recorded in Scotland on a number of occasions (yes, we Brits do get them occasionally 
). Phenomena such as trembling of the earth and mysterious bubbles which are often associated with sightings of the creature can easily be attributed to minor earthquakes such as these according to Piccardi.
George Edwards’ 2012 Photograph of ‘Nessie’
The evidence here is compelling, though it must be noted that the dates of recorded earthquakes do not seem to quite match up with dates of known sightings. For example, the earthquake recorded in 1888 is the closest to the 1871 sighting referenced above. Which might cast some doubts on the relevance of seismic activity. However, it is possible that the phenomena noted could be linked to even smaller, less detectable tremors. The theory also does not address the alleged visual sightings of the creature, though there is strong evidence that many of the famous photographs of the creature were in fact fakes, including the iconic “Surgeon’s Photograph” from 1934 which was the subject of controversy in the 1970s and 1980s when it was revealed to be a toy submarine bought from Woolworths. The most recent photograph, that by George Edwards taken in 2012, is largely considered to be a log or large fish.
So, is this the death of one of the most enduring paranormal legends? Has Nessie finally been laid to rest? What is your opinion on the evidence presented here? Prehistoric creature or bubbles or something else entirely?
D.A Lascelles is an authority on UK earthquakes because he slept through one in 2008 and only experienced the aftershocks because his wife woke him up to tell him the house was rattling. He contributed a short story to the Pirates and Swashbucklers Anthology and is also the writer of the Paranormal Romance novella, Transitions. He also writes fantasy wargames and about UK Cult TV as well as maintaining his own blog, Lurking Musings, in a haphazard fashion.
