Casting about for a timely subject for today’s post, I learned a little something about one of the world’s most famous monsters. It turns out that one of the earliest reports of a creature living in Scotland’s Loch Ness originated from a sighting of the beast by a priest who’d go on to become a saint. But does this story relate one of the most important eye-witness accounts in cryptozoology or is it a better example of one of history’s first, best and longest lasting hoaxes? Here’s the word from Christianity…

On this day, August 22, 565, St. Columba is said to have encountered the Loch Ness Monster.

Revered as a saint, his life was written by Adamnan. In reporting Columba’s life, Adamnan gives what appears to be the first written account of the Loch Ness Monster.

Traveling in Scotland, Columba had to cross the Loch Ness. On its banks, he saw some of the Pict folk burying a man who had been bitten by a water monster while swimming. The body had been pulled from the loch with the aid of a hook by rescuers who had come to his assistance in a boat.

Despite the danger, Columba ordered one of his followers to swim across the loch and bring back a coble (boat) that was moored on the other side. This man’s name was Lugne Mocumin. Without hesitation, Lugne stripped for the swim and plunged in.
The monster, robbed of its earlier feast, surfaced and darted at Lugne with a roar, its jaws open. Everyone on the bank was stupefied with terror; everyone, except Columba, that is. A firm believer in the authority of the crucified Christ, he raised his hand, making the sign of the cross. Invoking the name of God, he commanded the beast, saying, “You will go no further, and won’t touch the man; go back at once.”

At the voice of the saint, the monster fled as if terrified, “more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes,” says Adamnan.

The heathen were amazed. Everyone who witnessed the sight gave glory to the God of the Christians.
Did the event really take place? A church historian may be permitted a few doubts.
To begin with, Adamnan’s account was written over a hundred years after the alleged events.
Furthermore, different versions of the story disagree with one another. One has Columba raising the monster’s first victim from the dead by laying his staff across his chest.

We also note that this is only one of many extraordinary events in Adamnan’s account. According to him, Columba dripped with prophecies and predictions that came true. He made water into wine like Jesus, drew water from a rock like Moses, calmed a storm at sea, provided a miraculous draught of fishes, multiplied a herd of cattle, drove a demon out of a milk pail, and cured the sick. A book owned by Columba could not be destroyed by water. Through his prayers he killed a wild boar, stopped serpents from harming the inhabitants of a certain island. Angels and manifestations of divine light attended him throughout his life. Adamnan’s account has so many incredible tales that it is unbelievable.

Stay Awake!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.

Ever wish you could go on a real-life monster hunt for the legendary Nessie? Now Google Maps offers the next best thing with their immersive mapping of the legendary Scottish loch. Search for yourself and see if you can be the person to unlock the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.

In honor of this cryptozoological democratization, here is Leonard Nimoy’s classic In Search of the Loch Ness Monster…

Stay Awake!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.

The television show In Search Of is a strange little chestnut from my childhood. I knew the show’s host, Leonard Nimoy from his turn as “Spock” in Star Trek repeats, and In Search Of’s focus on unexplained phenomena, missing persons and extraterrestrial encounters was right on target for a kid who already loved Sci-Fi.

I remember being terrified by the “Bigfoot” episode of the show and equally traumatized when the program took its cameras beneath the deep green waters of Loch Ness. But, not all of the show’s subjects were so “out there.” In 1980, their “Lee Harvey Oswald” episode dramatized the circumstances surrounding the assassination of JFK, including key evidence from authors and experts along the way.

The result is an insightful portrait of the self-proclaimed “patsy” that challenges the “lone gunman” contentions of the Warren Report. The centerpiece of the show is a Dallas police dictaphone recording that proves that there were four shots in Dealey Plaza that day in 1963. The recording confirmed a shot coming from the “Grassy Knoll” and the existence of a second shooter. The evidence was presented to the House Select Committee on Assassinations and published their findings in 1979. Among their conclusions:

Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at Kennedy. The second and third shots Oswald fired struck the President. The third shot he fired killed the President.
Scientific acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that at least two gunmen fired at the President. Other scientific evidence does not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President. Scientific evidence negates some specific conspiracy allegations.
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee was unable to identify the other gunmen or the extent of the conspiracy.
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Soviet Government was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy.
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Cuban Government was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy.
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that anti-Castro Cuban groups, as groups, were not involved in the assassination of Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved.
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the national syndicate of organized crime, as a group, was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved.
The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Central Intelligence Agency were not involved in the assassination of Kennedy.
Agencies and departments of the U.S. Government performed with varying degrees of competency in the fulfilment of their duties. President Kennedy did not receive adequate protection. A thorough and reliable investigation into the responsibility of Lee Harvey Oswald for the assassination was conducted. The investigation into the possibility of conspiracy in the assassination was inadequate. The conclusions of the investigations were arrived at in good faith, but presented in a fashion that was too definitive.
The Committee further concluded that it was probable that:

four shots were fired
the third shot came from a second assassin located on the grassy knoll, but missed. They concluded that it missed due to the lack of physical evidence of an actual bullet, of course this investigation took place almost sixteen years after the crime.

Find out more. Watch “In Search Of: Lee Harvey Oswald”

Stay Awake!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.