Italian journalist claims he invented Nessie

LOCH NESS MONSTER “INVENTED”

An Italian journalist claims in the Milan illustrated weekly that he invented the Loch Ness monster in 1933. Signor Francesco Gasparini said that he was the London correspondent of a Milan newspaper at the time and amassed hundreds of British newspaper clippings. They included two lines published in a Scottish newspaper about some Inverness fishermen who had seen a strange fish. “At the beginning of August 1933 my supply of news was even slower than usual,” he wrote. “I had the inspiration to get hold of the item about the strange fish. The idea of the monster had never dawned on me, but then I noted that the strange fish would not yield a long article, and I decided to promote the imaginary being to the rank of monster without further ado.” But the monster grew out of hand. The next day, Signor Gasparini said, he was forced to invent eye-witness accounts, backed up by local colour gleaned from a geography book. By the time he began plotting the monster’s death or escape, long reports were appearing in other papers. “It had to live on. The British press grabbed my little monster and made a giant out of it.” The legend grew. “Photographs” of the monster and magnificent drawings, based on eye-witness accounts were published widely. Affectionately called “Nessie”, it became a national institution. Signor Gasparini declared: “The monster of Loch Ness has never existed. I invented it. I admit it – but I am not sorry.”

www.irishtimes.com...

Im willing to agree that much of the Nessie lore could be hoax, but what does that say about all the people that genuinely believe that they have encountered Nessie? And what about all the other people who claim to have started the legend and faked pics?

A lot of people have claimed to see Nessie or invented Nessie, but one thing they all lack is real tangible proof. We could be taking the word of some man with no proof but his own story. Therefore I am disinclined to believe this man.

There could be something to this....I mean, on a level where human minds subconciously are all connected and energy waves of our brains are flying around the world all the time.

Perhaps the people that did come in contact with Nessie were experiencing some sort of brainwave resonance manifestation....where the brainwaves of other believers and the harmonics of those brainwaves came to a focal point upon the witness, thus inducing a hallucination at the brain level.

Either that

Or they are all pathological liars

Whether or not this chap "invented" Nessie for his Italian audience, the first recorded sighting was apparently in the 6th century, although a somewhat fantastical tale. However, the 1933 sightings were not the product of a "big fish" but the story as portrayed by George Spicer and his wife of a sighting in May, a full 3 months before this chap's claim.

Whether or not Nessie exists, clearly this is an attempt to claim a little bit of fame for an already existing story. His story may be true in the sense that he "bigged" up a minor story from abroad but he cannot claim to have invented Nessie as such.