When thinking about the most famous cryptids of all time, aside from Bigfoot the Loch Ness sea monster, or Nessie, is likely the one with the most tourist appeal. First sighted in the seventh century when Saint Colombia was told the tale of a man who was dragged under by a monstrous sea creature. Since then Nessie has earned a much more friendly reputation. But as sightings of the Loch Ness Sea monster decline, many are wondering if the creature could have made its last photographic appearance.
Many Nessie experts are wondering if it’s the end of an era as new documentaries are appearing on television and movies bearing titles like, “The Death of Nessie?” What could have happened to the unknown creature of the deep? Some who claim the vast majority of supernatural entities including cryptids are trans-dimensional entities would say Nessie simply “went home” to whatever dimension it originated from. Still others are saying Nessie has simply gotten more clever as more attention is being paid to it. There is another theory that posits that a massive secret network of caves exists beneath the Loch, and Nessie has utilized it to gain access to a massive underworld where it can remain until it is forgotten or needs to return to the surface for whatever reason. Still others think Nessie migrates seasonally or semiannually. Of course this theory has run into a roadblock as Nessie would have to swim in waters no deeper than a few inches in order to get over a manmade structure dividing the Loch, or it would have to use the same mechanism used to move boats in and out of the Loch.
Of course given the span of time Nessie is suspected to have been around, the fact that in one year there was only one sighting that really seemed like it could have been something, isn’t all that very devastating to the legend. The Loch Ness Sea monster has an empire of followers and believers, and its alleged death or disappearance seems more like a publicity stunt than a verified observation.
Perhaps it is time to return to the Loch and seek out Nessie one last time. But if there’s one thing we can conclusively learn from the hundreds of well funded expeditions, Nessie will not show up if you’re equipped with hundreds of sensors, radar, radios, video cameras, and biologists. Nessie only appears when you don’t expect it. When you’re out on the Loch looking for a calm outing free from any strangeness and certainly not monster hunting. Part of the legend of Loch Ness is that the creature somehow seems to know when it is being documented, and avoids it at all costs. Perhaps it’s all the high tech observation going on that is frightening the aquatic creature away.
Or maybe there is something more to this. Maybe Nessie really is leaving the tourist business for a while. But if so, will legends from the 21st century reach the future and spark a whole new generation of Nessie hunters? Perhaps by that time technology will be such that a concrete explanation will be finally discovered.