1 00:00:00,289 --> 00:00:16,794 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:16,794 --> 00:00:23,696 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily 3 00:00:23,696 --> 00:00:30,699 the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 4 00:00:30,699 --> 00:00:41,702 The ruin of Castle Urquhart in the highlands of Northern Scotland dominates the shore of a lake shrouded by mystery. 5 00:00:41,702 --> 00:00:49,705 The murky waters have hidden a persistent and puzzling tale for 1400 years. 6 00:00:49,705 --> 00:00:53,706 The lake is called Loch Ness. 7 00:00:53,706 --> 00:01:14,712 It is said that here lives a monster that can make the surface of the lake boil with foam. 8 00:01:14,712 --> 00:01:18,714 What is beneath the surface of the lock? 9 00:01:18,714 --> 00:01:36,719 We will be closer to knowing the answer, closer for having discovered new evidence in search of the Loch Ness monster. 10 00:01:36,719 --> 00:01:38,720 Hello, I'm Leonard Nimoy. 11 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:47,723 Few of the great mysteries we will explore in this series are as compelling as the accounts of an unknown beast which lives in a picturesque Scottish lake. 12 00:01:47,723 --> 00:01:57,726 A compelling mystery because in spite of the many sightings over hundreds of years, there was little evidence until recently to support the possibility of the creature being real. 13 00:01:57,726 --> 00:02:02,727 Tonight, we'll take a hard look at the new evidence. 14 00:02:02,727 --> 00:02:14,731 Loch Ness is remarkable in many ways. The lake was created by a great movement of the Earth's crust. 15 00:02:14,731 --> 00:02:23,734 It is open to the sea at both ends through a series of lesser lakes, rivers, and in more recent times, large canals. 16 00:02:24,734 --> 00:02:33,737 Loch Ness is wedged between mountains only a mile wide but 24 miles long. 17 00:02:33,737 --> 00:02:42,740 Its depth may exceed 900 feet in some places, but no one to this day knows for sure how deep the lake is. 18 00:02:43,740 --> 00:02:55,744 People have made their lives by the lake for thousands of years. Others have come for just one reason, to glimpse a monster. 19 00:02:55,744 --> 00:03:14,750 Some are more serious about getting a look at the creature than others. Scientists by the expedition full roam the lake. 20 00:03:14,750 --> 00:03:20,752 From MIT and the Academy of Applied Science, they come. 21 00:03:20,752 --> 00:03:26,754 The National Geographic Society scours for underwater camera positions. 22 00:03:26,754 --> 00:03:32,756 Scientific associations in England are hard at work too. 23 00:03:32,756 --> 00:03:37,757 An old abbey by the shore of the lake is where the quest has its origins. 24 00:03:37,757 --> 00:03:43,759 St. Colombo came to Loch Ness in the 6th century to convert barbarians. 25 00:03:43,759 --> 00:03:48,761 He founded a Benedictine order that maintains the abbey today. 26 00:03:48,761 --> 00:03:53,762 And as Father Gregory recalls, St. Colombo also founded a legend. 27 00:03:53,762 --> 00:03:59,764 St. Colombo came up this way according to Saint Adam, who wrote his life in the next century. 28 00:03:59,764 --> 00:04:12,768 That's about the 4th century. He came up from Iona with a few of his monks and they came up the chain of lochs, locoi, lochloki. 29 00:04:12,768 --> 00:04:17,770 On his way to convert the northern Picts, King Brood, 30 00:04:17,770 --> 00:04:25,772 Adamnian recounts that at the end of Loch Ness, where the Ness flows into the sea, they just come up to the end. 31 00:04:25,772 --> 00:04:37,776 They were going to cross the Ness and a man was swimming across the river and this great serpent thing, a beast appeared. 32 00:04:37,776 --> 00:04:45,779 And St. Adam says, the holy man, the great sign of the cross and a loud voice, drove it off so they didn't do any harm to him. 33 00:04:45,779 --> 00:04:55,782 We don't know how much truth that is in that, but that's the first account we have of this strange thing that's in the Loch. 34 00:04:55,782 --> 00:05:02,784 Perhaps a modern camera caught a descendant of the great serpent described by St. Colombo in the 6th century. 35 00:05:03,784 --> 00:05:11,787 Early in the morning of April 1st, 1934, a London surgeon of impeccable reputation snapped this picture. 36 00:05:11,787 --> 00:05:17,789 A lumberjack working near the lake took this picture in 1951. 37 00:05:17,789 --> 00:05:23,791 An American scientist produced a view of the creature with an underwater camera. 38 00:05:23,791 --> 00:05:27,792 The murkiness of Loch Ness obscures the shot, 39 00:05:27,792 --> 00:05:36,795 but even some of the most skeptical investigators consider the picture positive evidence that a large animal exists in the lake. 40 00:05:36,795 --> 00:05:42,796 Motion Picture Film was made in 1966 by another Loch Ness investigator. 41 00:05:42,796 --> 00:05:49,799 The film was examined by Royal Air Force photo intelligence experts and certified to be genuine. 42 00:05:50,799 --> 00:05:59,802 1400 years of recorded sightings that began with the experience of a Christian missionary in the 6th century. 43 00:05:59,802 --> 00:06:05,804 Father Gregory's own experience was not unlike that reported by the saint who founded his order. 44 00:06:05,804 --> 00:06:15,807 We had an organist friend up from London and we were standing on the edge of the Loch on the stone jetty looking across the bay on the right. 45 00:06:15,807 --> 00:06:20,808 And we were suddenly surprised. There were no boats visible at all. 46 00:06:20,808 --> 00:06:27,811 Suddenly noticed a tremendous commotion in the bay and we couldn't see what was causing this at first. 47 00:06:27,811 --> 00:06:32,812 And then we were fairly staggered to see a little further on, a huge neck emerge. 48 00:06:32,812 --> 00:06:40,815 We would both agreed about 7 feet at least above the water at a slight angle, moving along slowly. 49 00:06:40,815 --> 00:06:44,816 For about 17 seconds we estimated and then it went down. 50 00:06:44,816 --> 00:06:49,818 We didn't see any of the body, but this huge amount of this height out of the water was extraordinary. 51 00:06:49,818 --> 00:06:54,819 In fact this organist said to me, he said, if I hadn't been there it would have felt like running. 52 00:06:54,819 --> 00:06:57,820 It gave him such a queer feeling. 53 00:06:59,821 --> 00:07:05,823 Sergeant Henderson is one of the senior constables patrolling the little communities around Loch Ness. 54 00:07:05,823 --> 00:07:09,824 One patrol put him squarely at the heart of the mystery of the lake. 55 00:07:09,824 --> 00:07:15,826 About halfway between Fort Augustus and here we saw something in the water. 56 00:07:15,826 --> 00:07:20,827 We thought it was a boat in difficulties. We rushed down and we got there to the water. 57 00:07:20,827 --> 00:07:28,830 We saw these two fins about 20 feet apart, about 4 feet out of the water I would say, travelling towards St. Vomores. 58 00:07:28,830 --> 00:07:36,832 We stayed up for 5 or 6 seconds, submerged, came back up again, and stayed up for another 10 seconds. 59 00:07:36,832 --> 00:07:40,834 Then submerged finally and didn't come back up again. 60 00:07:40,834 --> 00:07:45,835 Now the water was quite calm at the time, but when things submerged finally, 61 00:07:45,835 --> 00:07:48,836 there was a terrific wash came onto the shore. 62 00:07:49,836 --> 00:07:55,838 Alex Campbell was a waterman on Loch Ness most of his working life. 63 00:07:55,838 --> 00:08:03,841 Well during my working life we were responsible for the preservation of the salmon stocks in these areas. 64 00:08:03,841 --> 00:08:09,843 Glenn Morrison, Glenn Gary, Loch Ness, and all the other adjacent adjoining rivers. 65 00:08:09,843 --> 00:08:16,845 It was a main job. Then there was the hatchery work. I was expecting a run of fresh salmon. 66 00:08:16,845 --> 00:08:21,846 Suddenly there was a most terrific upsurge of water. 67 00:08:21,846 --> 00:08:30,849 Then the long tapering neck, small head which was turning very raw, I should say scared. 68 00:08:30,849 --> 00:08:37,851 Looking on the huge, humped body which I estimated at 30 feet long. 69 00:08:37,851 --> 00:08:44,854 I just shut my eyes three times to make quite sure I wasn't seeing something that didn't exist. 70 00:08:44,854 --> 00:08:48,855 However, then I heard the noise of the salmon. 71 00:08:48,855 --> 00:08:51,856 I was very scared. 72 00:08:51,856 --> 00:08:54,857 I was very scared. 73 00:08:54,857 --> 00:08:58,858 I was seeing something that I didn't exist. 74 00:08:58,858 --> 00:09:08,861 However, then I heard the noise of the engine of two fishing trawlers that had just come out from the canal locks 75 00:09:08,861 --> 00:09:11,862 and were heading for Loch Ness. 76 00:09:11,862 --> 00:09:14,863 I said to myself, oh this is going to be interesting. 77 00:09:14,863 --> 00:09:19,865 And meanwhile the head was even more excited. You see the animal. 78 00:09:19,865 --> 00:09:26,867 I said to myself, this is going to be very exciting because as soon as the bow of the first trawler comes within my line of vision, 79 00:09:26,867 --> 00:09:30,868 it will also come within the animal's line of vision. 80 00:09:30,868 --> 00:09:36,870 Well, that duly happened. And as soon as the bow of the first trawler appeared, 81 00:09:36,870 --> 00:09:41,871 oh, a terrific plunge into the depths. 82 00:09:41,871 --> 00:09:44,872 The upsurge was fantastic. 83 00:09:45,873 --> 00:09:51,875 Could this be Alex Campbell's monster? 84 00:09:51,875 --> 00:09:57,877 Some theorize that such creatures could have been trapped in Loch Ness during its primordial past, 85 00:09:57,877 --> 00:10:00,877 living relics of a lost world. 86 00:10:00,877 --> 00:10:07,880 The notion that creatures from the dawn of life on this planet still live among us is irresistible to many. 87 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,881 It is proof they seek. 88 00:10:11,881 --> 00:10:18,883 For Ted Hongaday, proof would be film of the monster, close up and in sharp focus. 89 00:10:21,884 --> 00:10:25,885 I'd been up that particular morning about five o'clock watching the lock. 90 00:10:25,885 --> 00:10:28,886 When Mrs. Pickett finally came out to wash breakfast dishes about nine o'clock, 91 00:10:28,886 --> 00:10:30,887 I strolled over to have a word with her. 92 00:10:30,887 --> 00:10:34,888 I left my camera behind me and I walked about 50 yards to Chapman. 93 00:10:34,888 --> 00:10:36,889 I turned and looked across the lock. 94 00:10:36,889 --> 00:10:43,891 Well, actually, I looked over Mrs. Pickett's shoulder to a point about a quarter of a mile to the left of the Klantner Natel across that side. 95 00:10:43,891 --> 00:10:49,893 And I saw this huge black mass undulated into three humps, proceeding from right to left. 96 00:10:49,893 --> 00:10:55,895 It was going at a fair speed and the water was swelling up from the front of it in a big white wash. 97 00:10:55,895 --> 00:10:58,896 And I said to Mrs. Pickett, can you see that? She said she could. 98 00:10:58,896 --> 00:11:01,897 I said, well, watch it while I get the camera. 99 00:11:01,897 --> 00:11:06,898 And I rushed and grabbed the camera and immediately a voice shouted after me, oh, it's gone down. 100 00:11:06,898 --> 00:11:12,900 Well, I put binoculars on the spot and there was a huge whirlpool as though something had submerged into the lock. 101 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:15,901 A huge patch about 50 yards across. 102 00:11:16,901 --> 00:11:20,903 Hundreds of cameras would be trained on the lock this summer. 103 00:11:20,903 --> 00:11:26,904 The in search of camera would be among them and would capture a most remarkable event. 104 00:11:29,905 --> 00:11:39,909 The summer of 1976 was to be the beginning of the big push to find conclusive evidence that huge creatures live in Loch Ness. 105 00:11:39,909 --> 00:11:43,910 Three major expeditions would prowl the lake. 106 00:11:47,911 --> 00:11:53,913 Some men, like Robert Rhines of the Academy of Applied Sciences, were veterans of the chase. 107 00:11:54,913 --> 00:12:03,916 A veteran who could recall being hooked by a tantalizing glimpse of something big and unexplained, moving serenely just out of his reach. 108 00:12:03,916 --> 00:12:10,918 Well, the first and only time was in, I believe, 1972 in June, near the summer solstice. 109 00:12:10,918 --> 00:12:15,920 We were with Wing Commander Carrie and his wife, my wife. 110 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:19,921 I think we were having coffee at their house. Nothing stronger. 111 00:12:19,921 --> 00:12:25,923 And indeed, Basil Carrie said, I say that. That doesn't look like an upturned boat. 112 00:12:25,923 --> 00:12:31,925 We rushed to the embankment near their house and we looked down in the middle of Irkhaad Bay. 113 00:12:31,925 --> 00:12:35,926 And there, though it was 0101030 in the evening, it was still quite light. 114 00:12:35,926 --> 00:12:45,929 There was a slight rain, but we unmistakably saw a giant hump in the water, moved slowly out in the bay, turned around and come back, and then submerged. 115 00:12:46,930 --> 00:12:55,932 We had some telescopes and we took turns, not talking to each other, but looking through the telescopes and deliberately taking measurements with a 53-foot fishing vessel that was there. 116 00:12:55,932 --> 00:13:01,934 After all this was over, I went into the Carrie's kitchen and taped what I had seen, the dimensions I thought I had seen. 117 00:13:01,934 --> 00:13:10,937 And then I individually taped them and we were in unanimous view that we had seen some 22 feet of back of something that intellectually, to each of us, 118 00:13:10,937 --> 00:13:16,939 that couldn't be anything other than a big animal, and about 4-6 feet out of the water at the apex. 119 00:13:16,939 --> 00:13:18,940 How long will you keep searching? 120 00:13:18,940 --> 00:13:28,943 Well, we're certainly going to stay here until we do find out one way or another by photographic and sonar evidence what these things may be this year, maybe next year. 121 00:13:28,943 --> 00:13:31,944 Goodness knows how long, but we're going to stick it out. 122 00:13:32,944 --> 00:13:40,947 Adrian Shine is another veteran of the hunt, but he has chosen to track his quarry at Loch Morar, just above Loch Ness. 123 00:13:40,947 --> 00:13:48,949 Monsters have been seen here too, and the relative clarity of the water in Morar may give Shine an advantage. 124 00:13:49,949 --> 00:14:00,953 We are laying out this year cameras, television cameras, beneath the surface in order to carry out a constant surveillance over some three months. 125 00:14:00,953 --> 00:14:06,955 We can lay the cameras down to 60 feet beneath the water and hope to get a silhouette of the creature passing over the top. 126 00:14:06,955 --> 00:14:10,956 We can get ranges underwater of nearly 100 feet. 127 00:14:10,956 --> 00:14:22,960 We have some conventional cameras as well, conventional 35mm cameras, but the video technique in my opinion is better because we have an immediate record. 128 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,961 We don't have to process film, and of course we get a moving record as well. 129 00:14:27,961 --> 00:14:37,964 This tape was taken with the camera at 60 feet below the surface, and there is a diver at 20 feet from the camera. 130 00:14:37,964 --> 00:14:49,968 This is followed by a further tape with the same setup, and the diver at 40 feet from the camera and going up to the surface. 131 00:14:49,968 --> 00:15:00,972 You can see that therefore that we have at the surface at least 60 to 70 feet across the surface under surveillance. 132 00:15:01,972 --> 00:15:06,973 The National Geographic Society has decided to focus its efforts on Loch Ness. 133 00:15:07,974 --> 00:15:18,977 By carefully charting the lake bottom with sonar, and positioning cameras at strategic points beneath the surface, the geographic scientists hope to overcome the handicap of poor visibility. 134 00:15:19,978 --> 00:15:25,979 The task is to guess where the monster is most likely to be, then lure it to the camera. 135 00:15:27,980 --> 00:15:37,983 The geographic team knows that Loch Ness was formed by an upheaval of the Earth's crust, and that the trench created by that upheaval was enlarged by glaciers. 136 00:15:38,984 --> 00:15:46,986 The glaciers created a U-shaped bottom to the lake, but they did not completely obliterate the deep valleys which are characteristic of the region. 137 00:15:47,986 --> 00:15:53,988 So there are hidden depths to Loch Ness, depths capable of sheltering huge animals. 138 00:15:56,989 --> 00:16:01,991 National Geographic's Dr. Bob Ballard thinks these deep channels are his best bet. 139 00:16:02,991 --> 00:16:08,993 We're making the assumption that the monster would come into the bay using these deep channels. 140 00:16:08,993 --> 00:16:17,996 They would like to stay on the bottom as deep a water as it can to get in near the river where there must be a lot of biological activity because of the river outflow. 141 00:16:18,996 --> 00:16:23,998 So we wanted to pick a spot where we could set up the camera close to a deep channel. 142 00:16:24,998 --> 00:16:25,998 Well, to do that we had to survey it. 143 00:16:26,999 --> 00:16:37,002 So we went around the bay and put a series of reference points, and then sitting on the castle we shot in with a compass and positioned these reference points. 144 00:16:37,002 --> 00:16:44,004 And then we used those reference points to run back and forth across the bay with a ship, measuring the echo sounding. 145 00:16:45,004 --> 00:16:52,006 We figured that if we put our camera rig in about 120 feet of water, we're going to be within 500 feet of one of these deep channels. 146 00:16:54,007 --> 00:16:58,008 You take the rope into your boat and you worry about keeping slack. 147 00:16:58,008 --> 00:17:11,012 National Geographic will position its cameras beneath the surface of the lake, suspended from sea anchors. 148 00:17:21,016 --> 00:17:26,017 The likelihood that the animals can be successfully photographed from the surface is being discounted. 149 00:17:29,018 --> 00:17:33,019 Emory Kristoff is the expedition's chief photographer. 150 00:17:34,020 --> 00:17:37,021 We've discounted pretty much that would be a mammal. 151 00:17:38,021 --> 00:17:43,022 We figured if it was a mammal and we air-breathing there would be more sightings of the creature. 152 00:17:44,023 --> 00:17:57,027 We feel then if we are dealing with an amphibian or reptile or something of the fish nature, we have a creature that hunts by listening, picks up vibrations in the water. 153 00:17:58,027 --> 00:18:00,028 We've tailored our program really to this. 154 00:18:02,028 --> 00:18:06,030 The scientists are listening too, with sensitive underwater microphones. 155 00:18:07,030 --> 00:18:15,033 Recordings have been made of the normal sounds of the lock at rest, at night or during the day, when boat traffic is at a minimum. 156 00:18:16,033 --> 00:18:17,033 They are tranquil sounds. 157 00:18:21,034 --> 00:18:24,035 Another recording was made late in the afternoon of July 5th. 158 00:18:25,036 --> 00:18:27,036 It was anything but tranquil. 159 00:18:29,037 --> 00:18:33,038 There was no way to tell for sure what the underwater microphones were picking up. 160 00:18:34,038 --> 00:18:43,041 But at about the same time the recording was made, and in about the same location, the in-search of cameras recorded something even more remarkable. 161 00:18:44,042 --> 00:18:48,043 A long trail of bubbles breaking on the surface of the lock. 162 00:18:49,043 --> 00:18:51,044 There were no boats nearby. 163 00:18:52,044 --> 00:18:53,044 There were no divers. 164 00:18:54,045 --> 00:18:59,046 But something beneath the surface of the lock was creating a large disturbance. 165 00:19:00,047 --> 00:19:06,049 And it provides the most convincing photographic evidence gathered this year that the monster may in fact be real. 166 00:19:07,049 --> 00:19:14,051 That something big and alive was moving in front of our camera just beneath the surface of Loch Ness. 167 00:19:15,051 --> 00:19:23,054 Monster sightings have been reported in other lakes, in Ireland, Canada, the Scandinavian countries and elsewhere. 168 00:19:24,054 --> 00:19:29,056 All of these sightings occurred in roughly the same northern latitude occupied by Loch Ness. 169 00:19:30,056 --> 00:19:39,059 Dr. Nicholas Hutton of the Smithsonian Institution is a preeminent paleontologist on intimate terms with our world's dim past. 170 00:19:40,059 --> 00:19:45,061 If there is something living in Loch Ness, what could it possibly be? 171 00:19:46,061 --> 00:19:49,062 From my own point of view, I just don't think there is anything in Loch Ness. 172 00:19:50,062 --> 00:20:01,066 But there is an interesting theory put forth by Dr. Roy Mackle of the University of Chicago who argues that there may in fact be a population of giant eels. 173 00:20:02,066 --> 00:20:07,068 The point being that we know that Loch Ness supports a good population of salmon and eels. 174 00:20:08,068 --> 00:20:12,069 And eels, for example, live most of their lives in freshwater, but they go out to sea to reproduce. 175 00:20:13,070 --> 00:20:15,070 And then the young come back to the parent waters. 176 00:20:16,070 --> 00:20:20,072 Certain individuals will fail to mature sexually and in consequence don't go to sea. 177 00:20:21,072 --> 00:20:24,073 They just live on in the freshwater and they get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. 178 00:20:25,073 --> 00:20:37,077 And Mackle thinks that this might have happened, might be what's happening in Loch Ness, in which you have a few resident eels which have grown to enormous size. 179 00:20:38,077 --> 00:20:47,080 He suggests 20 feet, but he also admits that size is extremely difficult to estimate and maybe 12 or 15 feet. 180 00:20:48,081 --> 00:20:49,081 And it might be more like it. 181 00:20:49,081 --> 00:20:57,083 If there is anything in Loch Ness that we don't know about in ordinary scientific terms, it's got to be something like Mackle's eels. 182 00:20:58,084 --> 00:21:01,085 We now have volumes of data on the Loch Ness monsters. 183 00:21:02,085 --> 00:21:07,086 And none of the investigators involved disputes the probability that a creature lives in Loch Ness. 184 00:21:08,087 --> 00:21:13,088 And all of them agree that the intensive effort may soon turn up the monster of the lake. 185 00:21:20,091 --> 00:21:34,095 Lost civilizations, extraterrestrials, myths and monsters, missing persons, magic and witchcraft, unexplained phenomena. 186 00:21:35,095 --> 00:21:39,097 In search of cameras are traveling the world seeking out these great mysteries. 187 00:21:40,097 --> 00:21:46,099 This program was the result of the work of scientists, researchers and a group of highly skilled technicians. 188 00:21:47,099 --> 00:21:52,101 He has a huge gap in price, family opposition and seven days to close the deal. 189 00:21:53,101 --> 00:21:56,102 Seagram Circles MCA, big deals tonight at 9 on the History Channel. 190 00:21:58,103 --> 00:22:00,103 Men and cars, a classic combination. 191 00:22:01,103 --> 00:22:03,104 But sometimes they want a little more fun to the hood. 192 00:22:04,104 --> 00:22:07,105 About 400 horsepower or 330 miles an hour. 193 00:22:08,106 --> 00:22:12,107 Start to finish, these machines really rip the asphalt off the streets. 194 00:22:12,107 --> 00:22:17,108 Turbo Charge, on Modern Marvels, tonight at 10 on the History Channel.