Informative Speech On The Lochness Monster

When people think of the word “monster,” their thoughts go straight to the scary mortals that frightened us as children. Whether it was the monster under our bed, the creature that hid in our closets, or the strange man that sat outside our windows watching our every move, we have all had a similar experience. People never give the culture behind that particular monster a second thought. They do not know that there is so much more to a monster than just fangs, claws, scary masks, etc. There is a culture behind each and everyone of them. By knowing and understanding who and how this monster exists, you learn about the culture that brought this monster to life. You learn about the monster's body and all the feelings it incorporates. I am going to be talking about a monster that caught my attention and that not many people are informed about, and that is the Lochness Monster.

The Lochness Monster is one of the most famous lake monsters.

Apparently, there has been many sightings of monsters in history, but Nessie (nickname for the Lochness Monster) was the one grasped most people’s attention. The Lochness Monster is said to inhabit Loch Ness, which is a lake, in Scotland. It is located in Scotland’s highgrounds and is the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain. This large body of water reaches a depth of nearly 800 feet and length of about 23 miles. That is one of the things that Scotland is mostly known for, aside from bagpipes and kilts. Nessie first attained the attention from the public in 1933 after a story was published in a local newspaper. The article did not talk about a monster, but instead a splashing in the water that appeared to

be
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caused by two ducks fighting. There was a lot of people that read the newspaper and suggested a much greater and more monstrous explanation to this. However, it was not until the following year that Nessie was once again on the headlines when a famous photograph showing a snakelike head and neck was publicised.
The interest for this “monster” grew rapidly, especially after a couple claimed to have seen it on land crossing the road that was built near the shore. After this, everyone wanted to know about Nessie, was he real? Or was he just a myth? People in Britain wanted to know this, so they sent reporters to Scotland. They also hired a hunter that went by the name Marmaduke Wetherell. He reported finding what seemed to be footprints of a four-legged animal. In response to Marmadukes findings, the newspaper carried the dramatic headline saying that the Lochness Monster is in fact real. Crowds of tourists traveled to Scotland to sit on boats in hopes to spot the infamous monster.
Cohen is very familiar with this in his writing Monster Culture. He states “The monster is born only at a metaphoric crossroads, as an embodiment of a certain cultural moment--of a time, a feeling, and a place. The monster’s body quite literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety and fantasy (ataractic or incendiary), giving them life and an uncanny independence. The monster body is pure culture” (Cohen 4). The Lochness Monster is a monster that was made up of all the fears the citizens of Scotland had. Especially the ones that lived near the Loch Ness lake. Since the lake was so big in width and in depth, how scary would it be if a “monster” suddenly came about and roamed the lake and the shore? The citizens of Scotland feared that this creature would come out and kill innocent people. But when you have fear, you also have slight interest. Although something may frighten you, you still want to inform yourself on the monster. That is exactly what they did. They paid for a
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hunter to search for Nessie to see if in fact he was real. According to Marmaduke, he was/is. People get captivated by things that we can not understand. That pulls people in and makes us want to know how they operate. The Lochness Monster incorporated not only their fears, but their anxieties too. Knowing that their is a large monster in this huge body of water made the people uneasy. In order to lessen their scared feelings, they had to know more about Nessie in order to decide how they felt about it.
As we learn about different monsters, we also learn a lot about the culture that created it. Although it might not seem like it, we can tell a lot about a monster by knowing where it is from and how it came to be. You learn what was happening during that time and what was feared the most. Whenever you want to know more about the culture that created the monster, do your research and you will figure out anything you wish to know.