BBC Tuesday, 24 April, 2001, 10:21 GMT 11:21 UK

Monster hunt hopes to net Nessie

Many claim to have photographed the "monster"

A multi-million pound project resumes at Loch Ness in Scotland on Tuesday to try to find out whether the monster, Nessie, really exists.

The Swedish-based team will be using hi-tech sonar equipment to scour the Loch for any large, unusual shapes.

Expedition leader Jan Sundberg says there have been so many sightings of Nessie that there must be some truth in the legend.

Past expeditions failed to trace the monster because they did not have the sophisticated sonar equipment available to his team, Mr Sundberg said.

"If there is something there we will find it this week, if we don't there might not be something there," he added.

White witch

But the monster hunters will not only have the elements and Nessie to contend with.

A white witch is planning to cast a blocking spell on the team to try and prevent them catching Nessie and taking her DNA samples.

Kevin Carlyon, a High Priest in the British Coven of White Witches, plans to sail out onto the loch and cast a bad luck spell on the researchers.

He said: "It will basically stop anyone catching or harming Nessie either now or in the future.

"People do not want Mr Sundberg or others disturbing Nessie."

History of 'sightings'

But Mr Sundberg, 53, a member of the Global Underwater Search Team, from Montala, Sweden, said the search would continue.

The team plans to cast a huge cylindrical "serpent trap" into the shallow parts of the loch.

Although Nessie is thought to live in the depths that he and his team think she is related to the eel and would go to the shallows regularly, Mr Sundberg said.

The first sighting of Nessie on the 24-mile loch is reported to have been by St Columba in 565AD.

Since then there have been intermittent sightings, but it was in the 1930s that the Nessie boom began, after a road was opened alongside the loch.

Since then thousands claimed to have spotted her and some say they have even photographed her.

Each year at least 500,000 tourists flock from all over the world to the loch in the hope of catching a glimpse of the monster, and they spend up to £25m in the Loch Ness area.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001

Answers

Tuesday April 24 10:58 AM ET

Loch Ness Monster Hunter Nets Big Witch Trouble

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Veteran monster hunter Jan Sundberg landed himself in hot water with a white witch on Tuesday as he began an underwater attempt to catch the most famous and elusive resident of Scotland's Loch Ness.

The Swede has sparked fury among animal lovers and witches alike with plans for Operation 'Clean Sweep', a trawl of the lake which he hopes will net Nessie, the legendary Loch Ness monster.

But Kevin Carlyon, high priest of the British White Witches, is determined to put a stop to the hunt by casting a protective spell over the loch and any monsters lurking peacefully beneath the waves.

Sundberg, who is adamant the work of his Global Underwater Research Team is legitimate scientific research, is unimpressed by the interference and plans a distinctly unscientific solution.

``It's all a lot of mumbo jumbo, so we haven't bothered with this guy,'' he said. ``If he shows his face down here again, we'll throw him into the lake. I think he needs to be cooled off a bit.''

The legend of a monster in the dark waters of Britain's largest lake dates back to 565 AD when St. Columba, the holy man who brought Christianity to Scotland, spotted a fearsome lake-dwelling beastie.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001

Ed Dames is quite sure that Nessie is a Dinosaur Ghost. Art B. was quite enthralled with that explanation.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001

I pass on the following Nessie tidbit for what it's worth (which is perhaps not all that much): A movie made some years ago, entitled "Amazon Women on the Moon" put forth the provocative theory that Nessie was Jack the Ripper.

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001