All language subtitles for Historys+Greatest+Mysteries+S04E01+-+ENG

Tonight, the world's most enduring deep
sea monster mystery.

I saw the head, the neck, and the huge
body, which I'd say was about 50 feet

long. We are talking about thousands of
sightings, and that's a conservative

estimate. It could be tens of thousands
over the course of 1 ,500 years.

Despite so many sightings, the beast
remains unidentified.

There are millions of species that we
haven't found or classified yet. There's

stuff out there that we don't know
anything about. As far as we can tell,

has ever captured a Loch Ness Monster.

Now we'll explore the top theories
surrounding this elusive creature.

Hey, maybe it's a plesiosaur. What about
the thing that washed up in Stransay or

the similar lake monster in Sweden?

There are tons of eels in Loch Ness. Is
it possible that there is a gigantic

eel?

Many people still believe it's real.
Does the Loch Ness monster exist? And if

so, what is it?

Northern Scotland, August, 564 A .D.

According to legend, an Irish monk named
Columba is attempting to cross the

river Ness with a group when they
stumble upon two men burying a friend.

This man had just been swimming when he
was attacked by an enormous water beast.

You would think that after that
exchange, the monks would try to find a

different river crossing, but Columba
stayed.

Maybe he didn't believe the locals, or
he just thought that his faith will

protect him.

He orders another monk to swim across
and retrieve a small boat.

As this monk gets about halfway across,
this creature suddenly appears out of

the water and gives a giant, bellowing
roar.

Everyone panics, with the exception of
Columba.

He steps right up to the edge of the
bank, makes the sign of the cross, and

demands the monster leave the man alone.

The creature supposedly obeys.

To the witnesses on shore, it is nothing
short of a miracle.

Columba eventually achieves sainthood,
and this tale is supporting evidence for

his faith and ability.

And this story is retold for years to
come.

Debate continues for centuries.

What could this mysterious creature
actually be?

In Columba's time, and continuing for
several centuries after, through the

Middle Ages, dragons are still believed
to be real.

And so many people think this is some
sort of sea dragon.

But nobody has any concrete evidence of
what it is, or if it even truly exists.

It remains an essentially local legend
for quite some time.

Then, in the 20th century...

New visitors flock to the highlands
thanks to one remarkable invention, the

automobile.

By the early 1930s, there's a road built
along the shore of Loch Ness.

One afternoon in 1931, a local couple
were driving along there when they

a large animal. It was rolling and
plunging on the surface of Loch Ness.

Immediately, they report their
experience to the local papers.

When published, their story uses the now
-famous keyword monster.

The Loch Ness Monster, a name that soon
spreads far and wide.

Now, all of a sudden, the tourists are
not coming to see the beautiful lake and

the rolling hills. They are coming to
see the monster who is soon lovingly

called Nessie.

And guess what? They are spotting it all
right. They are spotting it in droves.

Soon, there are more eyewitness accounts
of Nessie, and they seem convincing.

I saw a large object that came right out
of the water in front of me. I was

wading in the river fishing with fly
fishing.

The best view I ever had was the very
first in 1934. I saw the head, the neck,

and the huge body, which I'd say was
about 50 feet long.

Each new glimpse brings fresh secrets,
all with the latest technology.

We shouldn't have to wait long before
somebody captures it on film, and then

we're bound to know what it is.

In April of 1934, that finally happened,
and it becomes front -page news.

A gynecologist from London named Robert
Kenneth Wilson went on a fishing trip

over there to northern Scotland when he
decided to go for a walk.

During his stroll, that's when he
spotted something unusual in the water.

Luckily, he had his camera, and he
snapped a picture. And there we have it,

probably the first photograph of Nessie.

Known as the surgeon's photo, the image
causes quite a stir.

Shows a silhouetted creature with a
long, slender neck, a small head, and a

large body emerging slightly above the
waterline.

This is amazing. We finally have some
visual evidence to back up these

eyewitness accounts.

And not only that... Some experts think
they can identify this animal.

The creature's shape also strikes a
chord with British paleontologists.

So what particular species do you think
it is?

The evidence, as I interpret it, all
fits, and I know this is a fantastic

statement, but this all fits plethysaur.

Klesiosaurs are a marine reptile dating
back millions of years.

Their fossils were first discovered in
1823 during a dig in England.

Fossil hunter Mary Anning actually
uncovered a nearly complete skeleton

of a previously unknown species.

It is given the name Plesiosaurus,
meaning near to reptile.

Plesiosaur fossils have been found
around the world, but a major cluster of

comes from here in Scotland.

We're talking about hundreds of
specimens.

This was, at least at one time, this
creature's main habitat.

These fossils show that the plesiosaur
was an enormous water -dwelling

over 20 feet long.

They had broad, flat bodies with short
tails.

Their limbs had evolved into four long
flippers that... propelled them through

the water in a flying motion.

They breathe air, and so they would
constantly have to come to the surface

oxygen. Most notably, they have long,
thin necks.

The surgeon's photograph happens to fit
that to AT.

And coincidentally, so do most of the
witness statements.

Though some believe Nessie could be a
plesiosaur, the theory has one major

Scientists believe that a mass
extinction event, about 65 and a half

years ago, killed about 75 % of all
species on Earth, including dinosaurs

plesiosaurs. A plesiosaur should not be
inhabiting these waters today, in St.

Columbus time, or any time during human
existence.

They're supposed to be extinct.

But is it possible the plesiosaurs
somehow survived?

When we say that 75 % of the creatures
did not survive the last mass extinction

event, that means that 25 % did survive.
So platypuses, turtles,

crocodiles, all kinds of animals
actually did survive that event.

Scientists point to a fish long thought
to be extinct as an example.

The coelacanth, discovered alive in 1938
in South Africa.

The entire scientific community believes
that the coelacanth dies off 66 million

years ago. There are no fossils after
that. It's the same time as the

plesiosaur.

If the coelacanth can still be swimming
around out there, what's to say that a

small number of plesiosaurs couldn't
have somehow avoided extinction too?

But to many, the plesiosaur theory
remains too far -fetched. The fact that

breathe air could account for the animal
being sighted at the surface, but I

actually think that's evidence against
Nessie being a plesiosaur. Because it

would have to surface all the time, if
that were the case, we'd have so many

more photos and videos.

One would have probably already been
caught and put in a zoo by now.

Plus, a creature as big as a 20 -foot
-long plesiosaurus would need a lot of

food to sustain itself.

There's just not enough of a food source
for a massive beast, let alone a

community of them, which there would
have to be in order for this species to

survive this long.

And honestly, the plesiosaur theory only
hangs on the one photograph.

Before the surgeon's photo is published,
absolutely nobody thinks it's a

plesiosaur.

1934. The first photo of the supposed
Loch Ness Monster incites public frenzy

and a torrent of tourists looking for
Nessie. But not everyone believes the

image known as the surgeon's photo is
authentic.

Dr. R. Kenneth Wilson.

who submits this photo to the Daily
Mail, claims that it's real. But others

hold on, this is an elephant's trunk
rising out of the water, or maybe it's a

dolphin's fin, or something else.

What we do know is that the photo that's
published is substantially cropped and

zoomed in, which blurs the shape of the
creature a bit and skews any sense of

scale or perspective.

But when some experts go back and
examine the original uncropped photo,

something entirely different.

Seeing the uncropped version changes
their perspective completely.

They believe that whatever this beast is
in the water isn't anywhere near 20

feet long.

It's maybe three feet long at the most.

Is it possible that the most famous
photo of Nessie is somehow doctored?

People question the authenticity the
moment this photo comes out in 1934.

But many people still believe.

This thing is real. And there is no
definitive proof otherwise.

Then in 1994, the photo's whole
provenance comes into question, thanks

deathbed confession by a man named
Christian Sperling.

He claims that in 1933, his stepfather
was hired by the Daily Mail to find

evidence of the Loch Ness Monster.

Sperling is the stepson of a big game
hunter and filmmaker named Marmaduke

Weatherall. So Duke goes on this
expedition to Scotland, and it doesn't

long to find these really large animal
tracks near the banks of the Loch.

Judging from the size of the footprints,
Duke estimates the animal to be at

least 20 feet long.

Wetherill sends plaster casts of the
tracks to a London museum.

When the results came back, they find
that the tracks didn't come from a

monster, but they came from a hippo.

It sounds unusual because we all know
that hippos do not come from that area.

But back then, hippos' feet were used as
umbrella holders and ashtrays, so it

wasn't that uncommon.

So one of two things is happening here.
Either Duke faked the track or someone

was fooling him.

The Daily Mail is not happy about either
of these options, so the paper publicly

ridicules them.

According to Sperling's confession...

Wetherell concocts a scheme to save his
reputation.

Duke goes to his stepson, who happens to
be a model maker, and asks him to

fabricate something that looks like the
eyewitness descriptions of the beast.

They're using plastic, wood, and a toy
submarine that create this model of a

creature with a long neck and a small
head.

And then Duke goes to the lock with his
other son and creates that iconic

photograph. But in reality, it's just a
picture of the model.

floating in the water.

Now Wetherill just needs a way to make
the photo public.

The perfect solution, the surgeon, Dr.
R. Kenneth Wilson.

Duke realizes the best way he could pull
this off is if he finds someone

trustworthy who can claim the photo as
their own. So he passes the photo on to

Wilson, the very same surgeon who
publicizes the infamous photo.

The surgeon's photo is really a game
changer.

Still is going on to this day.

Over the years, there are more fake
photos of Nessie, all of them eventually

debunked.

Then in 2016, there's suddenly new
evidence that suggests the monster could

real.

Researchers from Kongsberg Maritime send
an underwater drone deep into the loch

to search for any evidence of the
monster.

And surprisingly, the sonar returns
images of something that has the shape

the monster's head and neck.

At first, this is big news.

Until it's determined to be a prop from
a movie.

In 1969, a Sherlock Holmes movie was
shot at the Loch.

In the movie, there's a scene where the
Loch Ness monster attacks the heroes.

But during the filming, director Billy
Wilder takes a look at the monster prop

and decides he does not like the humps
on the back.

So they removed the hump and
accidentally caused the prop to sink to

of the lock.

There's a lot of fakery surrounding the
Loch Ness Monster.

People love getting their 15 minutes of
fame from this.

Every Nessie sighting gets attention.

And people love getting attention.

But the sheer volume of sightings
throughout time convince many that

real. We are talking about thousands of
sightings.

And that's a conservative estimate. It
could be tens of thousands over the

course of 1 ,500 years.

Before cameras, before Photoshop, before
robotic toy submarines.

Sure, a few dozen sightings may be fake,
but all of them?

No way.

A key piece of evidence for believers.

A discovery in 1808 on the Scottish
island of Stronsay, just 120 miles from

Ness.

According to eyewitnesses, the corpse of
a strange animal washes up on the beach

and a crowd gathers to see it.

It's the rotting carcass of an enormous
unidentified sea beast, and the locals

have never seen anything like this.

Eyewitnesses call it the strontae beast
and describe it as having a serpentine

-like body with a long neck and six
limbs that resemble paws.

They say its head is small like a sheep
and its eyes are similar to a seal, but

bigger. It has some short hairs around
its head and neck, and skin that is

to the touch and grayish in color. The
measurements they take show how gigantic

this thing actually is. It's 55 feet
long, with its neck alone measuring 10

feet.

Authorities document the creature and
take sworn witness statements.

This is the early 19th century, so they
can't photograph it. But they also know

the story won't be believed, so they
need to prove it somehow.

So they bring all the eyewitnesses to
the Capitol, where they can swear before

magistrate that what they saw is the
truth.

We still have these records, along with
drawings that they made. The carcass is

quickly decomposing, and they lack the
right equipment to transport or preserve

this massive animal. But they do take
samples of the specimen.

The skull is saved and sent to London
for further examination.

But unfortunately, it's destroyed during
the Blitz in World War II.

The vertebrae, on the other hand, are
sent to leading anatomist John Barclay

from Edinburgh's most successful school
of anatomy.

He concludes that this is unlike any
other creature he's ever seen, opening

door to the possibility that this is a
newfound species.

The connection isn't initially made to
the Loch Ness Monster because it's not

the 1930s yet, so Nessie Fever has not
swept the nation. The legendary creature

is not famous yet.

But once it becomes famous, theorists
realize, hold on.

This might be the same animal.

The fact that Stronsay is just 120 miles
from Loch Ness earns extra attention.

And the physical description of the two
creatures is strikingly similar.

Gray skin, long neck, some kind of
flipper -like appendages, small head.

only real major difference, I would say,
is the size. The Stronsay beast,

according to those eyewitnesses, is much
larger than anyone has ever claimed the

Loch Ness monster to be. Nearly twice
the size.

That doesn't necessarily rule out the
same species, though.

Perhaps Nessie is just smaller.

Or there's an even more compelling idea.

What if the creature in Loch Ness is a
younger specimen?

What if the loch is where these animals
breed?

It certainly happens.

Salmon swim in all the way from the
North Sea and breed in the river Ness

the loch. It's an annual event.

This may also explain the inconsistency
of sighting.

If that's the case, the animal breeds
and raises its young in the loch, but

it migrates out into the sea. So the
reason people don't see it all that

is because it doesn't live in Loch Ness
full time.

It's possible.

Loch Ness and Strontae are actually
connected by water. Both the Caledonian

Canal and the River Ness connect the
loch to Rosemarkey Bay, and ultimately,

North Sea.

So it's entirely possible that whatever
washed up on the Isle of Strontae is the

same species as the Loch Ness monster.

If the Loch Ness Monster exists, the
waters it lives in remain largely

unexplored. But as marine science
evolves, new theories emerge about what

might be.

Over time, modern technology has allowed
scientists to dive deeper into bodies

of water than ever before.

And the diversity of life there is
amazing.

And the more species we discover, the
more we have to compare to the Loch Ness

Monster to see if they are a match.

And that approach has yielded one
particularly compelling candidate.

In 2012, biologist Jeremy Wade
publicizes a theory that some scientists

held for years on the origins of the
Loch Ness legend.

Nessie may in fact be a creature that
scientists already know.

A highly elusive, very mysterious
species, but one that is very real.

The Greenland shark.

Why a Greenland shark?

Why this animal in particular?

Upon first blush, this theory seemed way
out there.

For decades, Nessie has been described
as more of a dinosaur -like creature.

But that belief stems from a photo that
we now know to be a hoax.

What if Nessie is not the long -necked
beast in the surgeon's photo, but

something else entirely?

Like Nessie, Greenland sharks are
elusive. They tend to prefer very deep,

cold water.

That makes them hard to study. They are
rarely photographed or filmed.

A lot of what we know about them has
only come to light in the past couple of

decades, despite the fact that our best
guess is they've roamed the Earth for

over 100 million years.

In fact, the first time one was
photographed wasn't until 1995.

And when you first look at it, you may
not initially see Nessie. But keep

looking and think about some of the
eyewitness accounts.

It could fit.

Greenland sharks are typically mottled
gray or brown.

The same colors used to describe the
Loch Ness Monster.

And they're big.

Greenland sharks can get to like 20 feet
long and like four tons.

So they're very, very large animals.

They can actually be larger than great
white.

Unlike most sharks, they have a small
dorsal fin. If a normal shark were

cruising along the surface of Loch Ness,
people would know it. It's instantly

recognizable.

But the odd stubby fin of the Greenland
shark could easily be mistaken for

something else, possibly the head or
hump of some kind of sea monster.

Which definitely applies to most
sightings of Nessie.

Witnesses often describe multiple humps
undulating through the water.

When you think back to the time of St.

Columba, through the Middle Ages, and
the Nessie sightings even up to the

there are still people around who
believe in things like mermaids and all

of fantastical creatures.

So it's not surprising that somebody
could catch a glimpse of a bizarre

shark like this and think that it is a
monster in Loch Ness or the River Ness.

mean, it kind of does look like a
monster.

According to some scientists, Greenland
sharks also move like the Loch Ness

monster. So most people imagine sharks
as being fast, agile hunters. You think

of like a great white or a mako shark
chasing down a mule.

Nessie sightings.

tend to describe a slow -moving animal.

Greenland sharks live in a completely
different habitat where the water is

really cold and they have a very slow
metabolism.

So they swim slowly, they eat slowly,
they do everything slowly.

That is why they're sometimes called
sleeper sharks.

If an enormous Greenland shark surfaced
and moved along the water of Loch Ness

that slowly, it's easy to see how it
could be misconstrued as something other

than a shark.

And why don't we see Nessie very often?

because a shark doesn't have to come up
for air.

It may occasionally make its way to the
shallows, but not very often. These

Greenlands love the depth.

The problem with the Greenland shark
theory is that Loch Ness is a body of

water. For a long time, we've thought
that Greenland sharks are saltwater

creatures. But new evidence suggests
otherwise.

Greenland sharks have recently been
filmed in Canada's St. Lawrence River.

In fact, they go all up and down the St.
Lawrence Seaway through America and

Canada, and that is entirely freshwater.

A similar freshwater route connects Loch
Ness with the North Sea. If Greenland

sharks can live in both freshwater and
seawater, it's entirely possible one

could survive in Loch Ness, or at least
migrate in from time to time.

Maybe there's even a chance that the
Strontae beast remains were

and it was some kind of large shark that
was capable of going back and forth

between the sea and the loch.

All of this evidence excites the
scientific community.

There are so many similarities between
Greenland sharks and Nessie, experts

think that they've solved the mystery.

A 2016 experiment at the University of
Copenhagen only adds to that excitement.

These scientists take 28 Greenland
sharks and have them radiocarbon dated

determine their age.

Shockingly, one of them is over 400
years old.

400 years makes the Greenland shark the
world's longest living vertebrate. To

give you an idea of how incredibly old
this is, there could be a shark swimming

out there that was alive before the
Pilgrims left England on the Mayflower.

The team also finds that these sharks
only grow about a centimeter every year,

and they don't even reach sexual
maturity until they are about 150 years

For some, this seals the deal that the
Loch Ness Monster is a Greenland shark.

That longevity could be key to how
isolated the sightings have been.

Nessie seems to be a solitary creature.
No one has ever seen two at once. Most

animals, you would need a family of them
living in the loch and regularly

breeding to account for so many years of
regular sightings.

One single Greenland shark could be
responsible for all of the sightings

back to the 1600s.

To find out if a Greenland shark is
living in Loch Ness, a team looks for

in 2017.

A team of scientists led by Dr. Neil
Gemmel from the University of Otago in

Zealand did a really interesting study.

They went to Loch Ness and they took
water samples all over the lake, the

middle, the sides, the ends, everywhere.

From a half a liter of water, we can get
a very, very good catalog of life

within the loch.

They did a DNA analysis of all the DNA
that they found in that water. So in

theory, any living creature that has
been in that water would leave a DNA

If there's a shark in there, they'll
know, along with anything else that

be swimming around.

After two years, on September 5, 2019,
they announced their results.

First and foremost, they found no
evidence of Jurassic -era animals,

plesiosaurs. But more importantly, they
found no evidence of shark DNA,

including Greenland sharks.

If we think the creature might be
migrating in and out of the loch and

it's been away for a while, perhaps the
shark is still a candidate for Nessie.

But that DNA test makes things a whole
lot less likely.

This study wasn't completely fruitless,
though, because they did find the DNA of

countless other species, including an
incredibly large deposit of another

potential Nessie candidate.

Across nearly 1 ,500 years of sightings,
witnesses and scientists alike have

been fascinated with the mystery of
Scotland's beloved Nessie.

But a closer look at results from a 2019
DNA test might finally reveal the

secret of what's living in Loch Ness.

Throughout the years, since at least the
1960s and maybe even before, modern

technology has been used to try and
solve the mystery of the Loch Ness

Everything from sonar to thermal imaging
to hydrophonic sound waves. But none of

these techniques have given us concrete
results or gotten us any closer to

legitimate answers.

However, anybody who has ever watched a
crime show knows that the best evidence

to provide the identity of the culprit
is DNA evidence.

In 2019, a team of scientists from New
Zealand finally complete their DNA

analysis of water from Loch Ness.

While there's no trace of Greenland
sharks, what they discover unleashes new

possibilities for Nessie.

They find about 3 ,000 species, if you
can believe it. Most of those are tiny

plankton, roundworms, nematodes, small
crustaceans.

Of the larger fish they find salmon,
pike, stickleback, lamprey, a few

They even find DNA of land -based
creatures that sometimes end up in the

for one reason or another, including
dogs, cattle, sheep, rabbits, and even

humans. This tells us that this test is
very sensitive.

Even animals that rarely go in the loch
are detected.

But the largest amount of DNA they find
that is detected in almost every single

sample is eel DNA.

There are a ton of eels in Loch Ness. It
is one of the principal spawning

grounds of the European eel.

Now, most of these eels, they only grow
to be about 0 .8 meters. So they're not

exactly monsters. But could there be a
monster eel?

Very possible.

Every single sampling site that we went
to pretty much had eels. And the sheer

volume of it was a bit of a surprise.

The largest eel in the region is the
European conger. It can grow to almost

feet long and weigh up to 160 pounds.

Could that be Nessie?

Eels are migratory fish, so if someone
saw an eel in Loch Ness, it's pretty

to assume that they could think that
that's the Loch Ness monster.

Once you have an eel in mind and you
look back at the videos and images of

Nessie, you realize it could be
possible.

especially if you analyze the way both
Nessie and eels move.

The Loch Ness monster has often been
described as a serpentine -like monster,

maybe snake -like, or perhaps eel -like.
If any animal could look like a sea

monster, an eel is a prime candidate. It
really has a classic serpentine look.

Eels move in a slithery, sort of snake
-like way, where their body curves.

And that's exactly what people...

say the Loch Ness Monster looks like. So
it's really possible that they saw an

eel with those hump -like shapes, and
they thought, that's the Loch Ness

Monster.

A 2007 video shot by retired engineer
Gordon Holmes seems to support this

theory. In 2007, Holmes makes some trips
to Loch Ness to perform some amateur

experiments just for fun.

At first, he records some sounds using
hydrophonic equipment.

Then he sets up a camera to capture
video of the lake. But he doesn't find

anything out of the ordinary.

That is, until his visit on May 26th.

Holmes spots the movement in the water
as he's driving and pulls over and grabs

his camcorder.

His footage clearly shows some type of
large animal moving through the water.

Though it's hard to tell, it appears as
though it's moving in...

A serpentine fashion, almost slithering
through the lochs. This is some of the

best video ever captured of a creature
on the surface of Loch Ness.

Holmes purposely zooms in and out while
he's shooting to make sure the shoreline

and other landmarks are visible so the
footage can be analyzed later.

Holmes sends his footage to a forensic
team to determine the animal's size and

speed.

They find that it's 10 to 15 feet long
and swimming at a speed of six miles per

hour. Based on movement analysis, they
find a strong likelihood that this

is an eel.

Eels are the most common animal in the
loch, and it's very likely that most of

the sightings over the year have been
related to eels. At the time, this is

before the discovery of eel DNA in the
loch, so they come to this conclusion

on their own. Eels can also appear
brownish -gray in the water and have

smooth skin, like the Nessie
description.

The so -called humps that people see
could be the serpentine curves of the

as it swims.

And the whole long, thin neck concept
could fit with the eel as well. They

a long, thin everything.

But at 10 to 15 feet long, if Holmes'
research is correct, there would still

an eel of massive proportions.

And in fact, they did develop an amazing
new science and a way to study bodies

of water and what lives in them.

But of course, potentially identifying
the Loch Ness Monster brings a ton more

attention to their research.

When a DNA profile of life in Loch Ness
is completed in 2019, it uncovers a wide

array of species, but it doesn't
identify everything.

Some of Nessie's most passionate
researchers are quick to note that

the full 2019 report, the source of 20 %
of the DNA collected is unknown, and

that opens up a whole new world of
possibilities.

Maybe the monster isn't a plesiosaur or
a shark or an eel or any species that

we've even encountered before.

All of the previous attempts to prove
that it is this animal or this other

animal have been destined to fail
because it's none of these.

We may not know what it is because we
just don't know what it is.

Based on all this unidentified DNA,
could Nessie be a completely

previously unknown species?

If there's one thing that all underwater
explorers and scientists can agree on,

it's that we have not found all the
species in the ocean.

There are hundreds of thousands, maybe
millions of species that we haven't

or classified yet.

There's stuff out there that we don't
know anything about.

If Nessie's species is unknown, how can
we ever identify it? Pretty much the

only way we can properly identify a new
species, whether it's a tiny insect or a

giant lake monster, is to find a
specimen. That's how science proves and

classifies new animals, plants, and even
bacteria.

Either living or dead, we have to
capture one.

As far as we can tell, nobody has ever
captured a Loch Ness monster.

There may have once been those remains
on the Isle of Strontae, but we're not

actually sure it's the same animal. And
in any case, none of that DNA survived.

So there's no way to compare the
Strontae beast DNA with the unknown DNA

have from the loch.

So we're stuck with trying to catch this
elusive animal in Loch Ness.

But for 1 ,500 years, no one has even
come close.

We're still trying to get a good
photograph, let alone trap the thing.

The problem lies...

in the incredibly challenging conditions
at Loch Ness.

First off, Loch Ness is huge.

It's 23 miles long, it's a mile wide,
and the most important thing, 750 feet

deep, which is impressively deep for any
lake. It contains more water than any

other lake in the UK.

In fact, it contains as much water as
all the lakes in England and Wales

combined.

It's a large place to look for a
monster.

But the size isn't the only reason it's
hard to explore.

Loch Ness is full of peat, which is
organic matter from plants that's

breaking down in water. It makes the
water dark brown, almost black.

Visibility is only a couple of feet at
most.

And even if you were to dive down for a
look around, the temperature is not

survivable. Loch Ness has an average
surface temperature of 42 degrees

Fahrenheit. And as soon as you get about
20 feet down, it has what is known as a

thermocline. It's a stratification of
the water, almost like an invisible

where suddenly the temperature can drop
10 or 20 degrees.

Without a very advanced modern dry suit,
a diver could freeze to death and drown

in about six minutes.

I'm not sure that this thing is possible
to catch in Loch Ness.

But could another lake linked to Loch
Ness by a waterway offer fresh hope of

capturing a creature?

Like Nessie.

According to some, the answer is yes.

And Sweden's Storsjön Lake is the ideal
location.

Both are fresh water and fairly cold.

Both share similar biological diversity,
oxygen levels, etc.

If something can live in Loch Ness, it
can most likely live here too.

Like Loch Ness, it has a long history of
monster sightings.

There have been centuries of reported
sightings of a creature with the same

physical description.

In Swedish, it's called Storjuljuret,
which literally translates to the Great

Lake Monster.

First written about on a runestone that
dates all the way back to the year 1050,

it's got this depiction of a long
serpentine water monster on it.

Conditions in the two lakes are similar,
but there's one key difference.

Storjuljuret is much cleaner and clearer
and much less hazardous to explore.

And that makes spotting a monster.

Much easier.

Thanks to much more favorable
conditions, the Storzjord has been

on video from far away, most recently in
a 2008 documentary that also shot

infrared footage.

And attempts to track the specimen have
already been mounted.

Researchers at the Lake Monster Center
in Storzjord plan to continue their

search efforts.

If they're successful, all we have to do
is compare the Swedish creature's DNA

to all the unknown DNA from Loch Ness.

If any of it matches, we've identified
our monster and discovered a brand new

species. That would be among one of the
most incredible scientific discoveries

in history.

As many as 18 ,000 new species are
identified every single year.

So the possibility is out there. I hope
one day we can add Nessie to that list.

Over long centuries, many theories have
emerged about the origins and existence.

of the mysterious Loch Ness Monster.

Each offers an intriguing possibility,
but none are airtight.

You say, hey, maybe it's a plesiosaur,
but there's no evidence any of them

survived extinction, and we'd see an air
-breathing creature much more often.

So maybe it's a Greenland shark, but
shark DNA wasn't found in the loch.

Well, what about all the eels, Ian?

But could an eel, even a giant one, grow
that big?

What about the thing that washed up in
Stronteng?

or the similar lake monster in Sweden.
To be honest, any one of these creatures

could be what was spotted in Loch Ness.
Or perhaps it's more accurate to say all

of these things could be.

What if it's not Loch Ness Monster, but
Monster?

We talk about the Loch Ness Monster as
this monotypic creature, like there's

just one of it.

There's only ever been one Nessie.

But given the time period, 1 ,500 years
of sightings? That's highly unlikely.

There's absolutely no reason it has to
be one thing and the same thing over a

century. Let's start with the eel
theory.

For sure, some of the things that people
have seen in the loch over the years

have been eels. Just look at the Gordon
Holmes footage, and that's obvious.

It's a common animal on the loch, and
when you're scanning from far away

for any kind of movement on the surface,
a large swimming eel could certainly

catch your attention.

How about a Greenland shark?

Well, we know they're swimming around in
the North Sea, and they can and do

sometimes go upriver in the freshwater
areas.

It's quite likely a predator like that
could follow a bunch of salmon into the

river net and could conceivably make it
all the way into the loch. A lot of

animals that sharks like to eat make
that trip, including seals.

While there wasn't any shark DNA in
2019, there's still a good chance that a

shark has been spotted in the loch
across the thousands of other sightings.

And what about...

The plesiosaur theory.

I don't necessarily think there's a
living, breathing plesiosaur that is

swimming around there. But I do think
the plesiosaur may be what's behind the

legend.

Scotland and the UK in general are
teeming with plesiosaur fossils.

Fully intact skeletons of creatures that
back in the Middle Ages would have been

assumed to be monsters.

Water beasts, just like St. Columbosaur.

Imagine in 500 or 600 AD, you stumble
upon the remains of a plesiosaur. You

would certainly tell your buddies back
at the alehouse about the crazy giant

long -necked creature. It's quite
possible that this tale eventually

into the Loch Ness Monster legend.

As for the strontae beast, whatever it
is, it really doesn't matter. If it

washed up on the shore of the island, we
know there's a direct path of waterway

that connects back to the Loch Ness.

And any migratory creature, whether it's
a shark, a whale, or anything less,

could be swimming back and forth from
the sea to the loch. Some of the Loch

sightings could be the same animal.

Or perhaps an unidentified animal from
even further away.

Across 1 ,500 years, some of the Loch
Ness sightings may well be an

new species.

Even the DNA results bear that out. They
can't identify every living thing in

the loch.

But if Sweden's Georgian Lake is hiding
the same species, maybe we'll have an

incredible discovery soon.

Still, even if they identify the store's
good shirt and identify one in Loch

Ness as well, that doesn't mean that
Gordon Holmes didn't see an eel or

didn't see other animals. A new species
would be a revelation, but remain only

one piece of the puzzle.

And still, there will always be those
people who believe Nessie is a hoax.

We know for a fact that plenty of Nessie
witnesses have been duped by hoaxes. It

happened to a sonar team that found a
movie prop.

And in fact, it happened to millions of
people around the globe thanks to the

surgeon's photograph.

So yes, Nessie is also a hoax, but not
just a hoax. There is much more to the

monster than that.

One day we may get the perfect biopsy,
the perfect picture, the perfect bone

specimen, or maybe a strange long
-necked creature will just walk right

the lock and say hello.

And when that day comes, it'll be time
to break out the champagne.

But until then, I think we shouldn't
limit our minds to what Nessie could or

couldn't be, because it could be
something new next year. The

endless, and that is what has kept
people fascinated with Nessie for so

Despite the many challenges, thousands
of amateur and professional researchers

still spend time at Loch Ness every
year, hoping to unmask the monster.

Perhaps modern technology will soon
provide us with a clear picture of

hiding in the depths. Until then,
there's no shortage of people willing to

I'm Lawrence Fishburne. Thank you for
watching History's Greatest Mysteries.