The Loch Ness Monster is a creature from folklore that has appeared in popular culture in various genres since at least 1934. It is most often depicted as a relict dinosaur or similar, but other explanations for its existence such as being a shapeshifter or from outer space also appear. It is only occasionally portrayed as threatening, despite its name.
The monster has appeared in local folklore for centuries, and started receiving wider attention following a sighting in July 1933. [1] It has made appearances in fiction literature since at least the January 1934 short story "The Monster of the Loch" by William J. Makin, and in film since at least the May 1934 film The Secret of the Loch . [2] [3]
Two genres where it has featured particularly prominently are children's literature and cryptofiction. Some examples of the former are the 1977 picture book The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg where a child takes care of a creature that keeps growing larger, the 1992 novel Nessie the Mannerless Monster by Ted Hughes where the monster goes to London, and the 2007 novel Luck of the Loch Ness Monster: Tale of a Picky Eater by Alice Weaver Flaherty where the monster grows large by being inadvertently fed by a child discarding food. The latter genre includes works such as the 1982 novel Monster: A Tale of Loch Ness by Jeffrey Konvitz and the 2005 novel The Loch by Steve Alten. [1]
It has also made appearances in science fiction such as the 1960 short story "The Loch Ness Terror" by Lionel Fanthorpe, [2] comedy such as the 1961 film What a Whopper , [3] fantasy such as the 1986 novel The Serpent Mage by Greg Bear, [2] time-travel stories such as the 1997 Quantum Leap novel Loch Ness Leap by Sandy Schofield, [4] and horror such as the 2001 film Beneath Loch Ness . [4] An unusual mockumentary appearance is the 2004 film Incident at Loch Ness which depicts Zak Penn documenting Werner Herzog looking for the monster. [1] [3]
The most common explanation for the monster's existence is that it is a prehistoric creature such as a plesiosaur, as in the 1959 short story "The Convenient Monster" by Leslie Charteris. [2] [5] It is depicted as being of extraterrestrial origin in some stories such as the 1972 short story "The Monster of Loch Ness" by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle and the 1975 Doctor Who four-episode serial "Terror of the Zygons". [2] [4] [5] A wholly supernatural explanation appears in the 1981 short story "The Horses of Lir" by Roger Zelazny, where it is a steed used by the titular deity. [1] It is a shapeshifting creature stuck in its current form in the 1997 novel The Boggart and the Monster by Susan Cooper, [1] [2] and a dragon in both the 2008 novel Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur and the 2011 novel Dragon in the Mist by Nancy Lee Badger. [1] In the 1990 children's novel The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith and its 2007 film adaptation The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep , the Loch Ness Monster is a kelpie, another type of creature from Scottish folklore. [1] [3] The Loch Ness Monster is not always a living creature; for instance, in the 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes , it is a submarine. [2] [3] It is sometimes merely a hoax, as in the 2007 film Futurama: Bender's Big Score , [2] and it is common for its existence to be ambiguous until the end in stories such as the 2004 film Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster . [1]
The issue of Loch Ness not being a sufficiently large body of water for a breeding population of very large animals is occasionally addressed. In the 1964 film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao the monster leaves the loch for the ocean to breed, and in the aforementioned book and film versions of The Water Horse, it reproduces asexually. [1]
Despite being called a monster, it is benign in the majority of works wherein it appears. [1] Friendly versions of the creature appear in the 1996 films Loch Ness and Happy Ness: The Secret of the Loch , among others. [1] [3] The less common depiction of the monster as a threat appears in the 1981 film The Loch Ness Horror and the 2008 film Loch Ness Terror (a.k.a.Beyond Loch Ness). [1] Some versions do not fall into either of these categories; for instance, in the aforementioned 7 Faces of Dr. Lao the monster is a tiny fish that grows into the familiar shape when out of the water, but remains comparatively harmless in its larger serpentine form. [1] [2]
The Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.
A kelpie, or water kelpie, is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Irish and Scottish folklore. It is usually described as a grey or white horse-like creature, able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpie retains its hooves when appearing as a human, leading to its association with the Christian idea of Satan as alluded to by Robert Burns in his 1786 poem "Address to the Devil".
Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and are often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water. The definition of a "monster" is subjective; further, some sea monsters may have been based on scientifically accepted creatures, such as whales and types of giant and colossal squid.
A lake monster is a lake-dwelling entity in folklore. The most famous example is the Loch Ness Monster. Depictions of lake monsters are often similar to those of sea monsters.
Lake Tianchi Monster is the name given to what is said to be a lake monster that lives in Heaven Lake located in the peak of Baekdu Mountain within the Baekdu-daegan and Changbai mountain ranges encompassing Jilin Province of China and Ryanggang Province of North Korea. According to Beijing Youth Daily, an estimated 20 monsters were reported, however "scientists are skeptical that any large creature would be able to survive in the lake given its recent history of volcanic activity", and skeptics say "it's all in the imagination, or just a floating volcanic rock".
In Canadian folklore, the Ogopogo is a lake monster said to inhabit Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Some scholars have charted the entity's development from First Nations folklore and widespread water monster folklore motifs. The Ogopogo now plays a role in the commercial symbolism and media representation of the region.
The Zygons are an extraterrestrial race in the long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The Zygons have shape-shifting abilities, allowing them to replicate the appearance of another being. Limited by the small size of their force, they rely on shape-shifting and their organic space craft to conceal their numbers and seize power on Earth. The Zygons were conceived by writer Robert Banks Stewart, and designed by James Acheson as part of a collaboration with John Friedlander. Then director Douglas Camfield also influenced the final appearance. They were designed to resemble "oversized embryos."
Frederick "Ted" William Holiday (1921–1979) was an English journalist, who wrote books about angling and also the Loch Ness monster, developing a hypothesis about its nature.
Incident at Loch Ness is a 2004 mockumentary starring, produced by and written by Werner Herzog and Zak Penn, while also serving as the latter's directorial debut. The small cast film follows Herzog and his crew while working on the production of a movie project on the Loch Ness Monster titled Enigma of Loch Ness. Incident at Loch Ness won the New American Cinema Award at the 2004 Seattle International Film Festival.
The Family-Ness is a cartoon series from Scotland first produced in 1983. It was originally broadcast on BBC One from late 1984 to early 1985, with repeats airing throughout most of the 1990s and early 2000s, eventually ending with a short run on CBeebies on BBC Two between 11 and 22 February 2002. It was created by Peter Maddocks of Maddocks Cartoon Productions. Maddocks later went on to produce Penny Crayon and Jimbo and the Jet Set in a similar style. Family-Ness was about the adventures of a family of Loch Ness Monsters and the MacToot family, particularly siblings Elspeth and Angus. The 'Nessies' could be called from the loch by the two children by means of their "thistle whistles".
Terror of the Zygons is the first serial of the thirteenth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 30 August to 20 September 1975. The serial was written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield.
Scottish mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Scotland, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives.
In Irish folklore, Muckie is the name given to the reported mysterious creature said to inhabit the Lakes of Killarney in Ireland.
Loch Ness Terror is a 2008 horror television film directed by Paul Ziller and written by Ziller and Jason Bourque.
Tahoe Tessie is a cryptid said to inhabit the depths of Lake Tahoe, a lake that straddles the border between California and Nevada. Reports of Tessie date back to the mid-1800s, and over time, the creature has become a well-known part of local folklore.
The Ballad of Nessie is a 2011 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was directed by Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters, and produced by the team behind Disney's 2007 animated short film How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.
A water horse is a mythical creature, such as the Ceffyl Dŵr, Capaill Uisce, the bäckahäst and kelpie.
The Loch is a science fiction novel and legal thriller by Steve Alten, and was first published in 2005. The novel is the story of marine biologist Zachary Wallace. A crossover sequel with Alten's Meg series, Vostok, was released in 2015, with a further crossover occurring in Meg: Nightstalkers in 2016. A third book, The Loch: Heaven's Lake is currently unreleased.
Genies or djinns are supernatural creatures from pre-Islamic and Islamic mythology. They are associated with shapeshifting, possession and madness. In later Western popular representation, they became associated with wish-granting and often live in magic lamps or bottles. They appear in One Thousand and One Nights and its adaptations, among other stories. The wish-granting djinns from One Thousand and One Nights, however, are the divs of Persian origin, not the Arabian djinns.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is a 2007 fantasy drama film directed by Jay Russell and written by Robert Nelson Jacobs, based on Dick King-Smith's children's novel The Water Horse. It stars Alex Etel as a young boy who discovers a mysterious egg and cares for what hatches out of it: a "water horse" which later becomes the fabled Loch Ness Monster. The film also stars Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and David Morrissey.
Scotland's Loch Ness Monster figures in some stories, including Fred Hoyle and Geoffrey Hoyle's novella "The Monster of Loch Ness" (1971), wherein the "monster" is a vehicle used by the lake's intelligent inhabitants to scrutinize the surface world; the Doctor Who episode "Terror of the Zygons" (1975), which reinterprets the monster as an alien on Earth; Sandy Schofield's Quantum Leap novel Loch Ness Leap (1997), in which the time traveler becomes a scientist searching for the Loch Ness Monster (see Time Travel); and the film Beneath Loch Ness (2001), a routine horror movie.
One of the most popular of these animals is Scotland's Loch Ness Monster, described as a large reptile from the age of the dinosaurs in stories like Leslie Charteris's (1907–1993) "The Convenient Monster" (1959) and Lionel Fanthorpe's (1935–) "The Loch Ness Terror" (1960). Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) and Geoffrey Hoyle (1941–) more ingeniously suggest that it is really an alien in "The Monster of Loch Ness" (1972).