On Sunday, May 16th, 1940, a teacher and his wife were driving by Loch Ness, a large Scottish lake. It looked cold and gray in the evening light. Suddenly, the man shouted, “What’s that?” and pointed to the lake. About two kilometers away a gray object similar in size and shape to a whale was moving in the water. In fact, it looked more like a prehistoric monster than a whale. Then it disappeared. The surprised couple immediately reported the incident to the authorities.

The next day their story appeared in the British and International press and the Loch Ness monster became famous overnight. In subsequent years, other people saw something that looked like a prehistoric monster in the lake, but no one has managed to catch it, so the monster still remains a mystery today.

Why is the monster so elusive? Probably because of Loch Ness itself. In shape the loch is long and narrow (36 kilometers by approximately 1,500 meters). It is also very deep –up to 300 meters in some places. Nobody knows what its water contains as visibility under water is extremely poor. In fact, there is only one meter of clear of water and the rest is murky.

Several photographs exist of the monster, but most of these are of inferior quality. They seem to show something with a long neck, a short body and a small head. Is it a plesiosaur, a creature from the distant past?

Thousands of tourists visit Loch Ness every year, hoping to see the monster and decide what it is for themselves. These visitors buy everything from “monster” T-shirts to key-rings. But there are scientists from all over the world who wait patiently to discover more about the monster. They come with sophisticated instruments, powerful telescopes and underwater photographic equipment. Perhaps one day “Nessie”, as the local people call the monster, will show her face to the world. In the meantime, real or imaginary, Nessie has become an industry and has brought prosperity to the area.