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The Loch Ness Monster: Facts About Nessie By Benjamin Radford

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Juan Padilla
Katie Beberian
English 1 T/TH 10 am
3 October 2017
Still haven't come up for a good title...
The Loch Ness monster. Arguably, one of the most known cryptid animals of all time, is said to reside within Loch Ness. This is the biggest body of fresh water in the British Isles stretching about twenty-four miles in length and at one point is about a mile and a half wide. On average, it provides with a depth of about 500 feet of icy, dark, and gloomy water ("Nessie of loch Ness"). Naturally the perfect hiding spot for something that doesn’t exits right? This creature is said to be large in size almost like a living dinosaur. The beast has a horse-like head and a humped back with one or two humps. Its skin is said to resemble that …show more content…

Radford claims that the Nessie existence is most likely a hoax. He states that the way the beast even began to gain attention was by a local newspaper, The Inverness Courier. In that particular article, was not a story about how the creature exists, but rather, the opposite (Radford). Benjamin Radford is a renowned skeptic and writer who devotes a majority of his writing to cryptid and paranormal creatures, entities, and encounters (About Benjamin Radford). Thus, he probably carries a bias along with his ideas. However, this bias shouldn’t interfere with his writing on the Loch Ness Monster or any other mythical being because he first researches heavily to make obvious his reasoning. This opinion on the mysterious animal that is said to reside in the Loch was published not too long ago (2015) on Livescience.com where Radford serves as the 'bad science' columnist …show more content…

From political arguments to monsters like the Loch Ness monster; what causes this blind belief in ideas, actions, and myths? Specifically, monsters are quite interesting when analyzing what possible motive or outcome was being sought to achieve at the time of their creation. There had to be a point to be made other than trying to prove a silly made up beings' existence in my opinion. Also, I think that sometimes things like monsters could be stories that have been told within a society for a long time perhaps just a part of the particular society's folklore or even a biblical story. Both folklore and biblical stories for majority of people are means to conveying a lesson or recommendation. Perhaps this is what occurred in the case of the creature that resides in the Loch, given that the very first account in which this being is mentioned is a tale of a Cristian saint. However, Scottish folklore too, plays a big role. The section about the Loch Ness monster, in the Britannica encyclopedia by Amy Tikkanen claims that the evidence supporting the existence of a “Nessie” to be a hoax by bringing up the fact that Scottish folklore contains many skeptical water beings. The article provides a very specific and essential bit of information that can help disprove the existence of this monster. She mentions that the Loch Ness Monster is a probable fake by saying, “Many of these alleged

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