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The legend of the Loch Ness monster can be traced back to 565 AD when St. Columba, a
Christian missionary, banished the murderous water beast to the lake.
Murmurings about the monster in the loch continued throughout the centuries, but it was largely
considered to be an old wives’ tale used to prevent children from straying too close
to the deep lake.
In 1933 reported sightings of the monster & photographic evidence began to emerge, renewing
interest in the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.
Tensions between England and Scotland arose when an English institution, the Natural History
Museum, put a bounty on the monster's head in the hope that its carcass could be added
to its museum. The Royal Scottish Museum were shocked at the idea of the monster being taken
from Scotland, warning that ‘such a fate would surely outrage Scottish nationalism,
which at the moment is thriving greatly under the monster’s beneficent influence.’
Worried about the potential threat to the monster, members of the British government,
such as Inverness MP Murdoch MacDonald, requested that the government pass a Special Act of
Parliament to protect the monster from harm.
By the 1960s, searches for the Loch Ness Monster remained inconclusive, despite a constant
influx of visitors to the area keen to catch a glimpse of the beast. Even a member of the
royal family, Prince Philip, encouraged MP David James to enlist the navy to find the
Loch Ness Monster. It is not known whether the navy took on the prince's suggestion.
Still, navy or not, the hunt continued. Documents released under the Freedom of Information
Act reveal that in 1979 the British government under Margaret Thatcher secretly proposed
importing dolphins to the Loch and attaching high tech equipment to them, in order to hunt
for the Monster.
Just 2 years later, the civil service legislated to protect the Loch Ness Monster in the Wildlife
and Countryside Act. The Scottish Development Department outlined that 'the legislative
framework to protect the monster is available provided she is identified by scientists whose
reputation will carry weight with the British Museum'.
But why did the UK government put this legislation in place, 40 years after the myth was reignited?
After decades of searching, had the British government finally found the beast, and were
they now hiding it?
The plot thickened when, in 1985, the British Embassy in Sweden contacted the Scottish Office
for advice on how to protect their own lake dweller, known as the 'Swedish' version of
the Loch Ness Monster, the Storsjön Monster.
A few months later, Sweden passed their own legislation to 'prohibit the destruction,
injury or capture of the Storsj monster species'.
The official Loch Ness monster websites say this proves that the UK government has successfully
found and protected the Loch Ness monster. Unless the government confirms the motive
for its legislation, we will never know
for sure.