What do you think?

Is the Water Horse real? In order to decide, we need to examine the evidence.

On 17 June 1993 Edna MacInnes and her boyfriend, David Mackay, say they watched a creature in Loch Ness for 10 minutes. Miss MacInnes said that the 40-foot-long beast waved its giraffe-like neck around. Then it disappeared! Later on the same day James Mackintosh and his son also spotted a brown thing with a neck like a giraffe break the surface of the loch.

Mr Mackintosh recalled:

'It was an eerie experience; it was swimming quite swiftly away from the shore.'

The Edna MacInnes story was grossly misreported. Nonetheless, stories like these are called ‘eyewitness reports’. They are told by people who claim to have seen the Water Horse with their own eyes. But are they telling the truth? Are they mistaken? How can we know? What is good evidence?

Evidence: Something that proves or disproves something else; something that makes plain or clear; in a court of law, data that is presented to a court or a jury in proof of facts. This may include eyewitness reports, records, documents, photographs or objects.

There are hundreds of reports by eyewitnesses. There are photographs taken by people who claim to have seen the Water Horse. But some of them are hoaxes. A hoax is a trick that is done to fool people - like the man who walked around the edge of the loch making ‘Nessie prints’ with a hippo-foot hunting trophy. One photograph shows the Loch Ness Monster curling its neck out of the water… but it is really a photograph of a lorry tyre!

In April 1934 a famous photograph of Nessie, known as the Surgeon’s Photograph, was taken. It is thought to be a hoax - a model of Nessie built on a toy submarine. The Surgeon’s Photograph has become one of the most famous images in the world. Many people still believe that it is a real picture of the Loch Ness Monster.

Scientists have used sonar as a way to track the monster’s movements. Sonar is a way to find objects underwater by using sound bouncing off the object, the way bats use sound to fly around in the dark. Scientists have also turned to nature. They study the water temperature, the depth of the loch, the climate of the area, and other forms of life found in the loch. They want to see if the loch could provide enough food to keep a large creature alive. 

Thousands of people visit Loch Ness. They take pictures. They ride boats across the loch. But most of all, they look. They say they would like to believe in the monster. If only ...

Adapted from the website Searching for Nessie 

©2007 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The official UK Water Horse film website