The Loch Ness Monster and fascism: When Italy claimed to have killed Nessie
For some, Scotland's Loch Ness monster is simply a science fiction legend brought to life in bright cartoons and dark horror films much to the delight of audiences.
Known affectionately across the world as Nessie, the star of countless documentaries and hoaxes is one of several reasons tourists visit the Scottish Highlands every year.
However, to others, the mythical creature typically portrayed as a large, long-necked, Plesiosaurus-like, underwater beast, is very real – something Axis powers bet on during the Second World War to dampen morale in the UK when Italy claimed to have killed the Loch Ness monster.
While not a new idea – stories of a mysterious "water kelpie" living in Loch Ness were already popular locally – the myth of a beast living in the lake gained fresh popularity in April 1933 after a sighting was reported on by the Inverness Courier and picked up by international media.
Aldie MacKay, the manageress of the Drumnadrochit Hotel, claimed to have seen a "creature... [with a] body resembling that of a whale" in Loch Ness, a freshwater lake 23 miles long and 754ft deep.
Some people who believe the Loch Ness monster is a myth think the release of the blockbuster film King Kong in March 1933 contributed to the popularity of the idea of a creature lurking in the waters of Loch Ness.
So, in 1933, a Hollywood-worthy legend was born that was to be used less than a decade later by senior Nazis to dampen the spirits of the British public.
The Aberdeen Press and Journal reported in December 1940 on Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels' 'Monster Fairy Tale', saying: "It is reported from Glasgow, via Stockholm, that the Loch Ness monster has struck a mine, and its body has been found washed ashore in pieces on the west of Scotland."
Perhaps unsatisfied with the lack of reaction from that news, a The World's News article published in 1941 reported that Italian newspaper Popolo d'ltalia claimed an Italian pilot had "bombed and destroyed a huge, serpent-like animal on the surface of Loch Ness".
"London has had a good laugh," said the Australian newspaper declaring Nessie "alive and kicking" and "a war hero", adding: "He may be a monster, but he has some sturdy, bulldog characteristics which the British admire."
However absurd the tale sounded, the newspaper The World's News printed the "source" of the news – a letter from Nessie's "killer" himself.
The author of the latter, an anonymous pilot, wrote of the last big bombing raid over England he took part in alongside his German counterparts.
At one stage he found himself over the Scottish Highlands over "a large lake, lying still and peaceful in the moonlight".
The pilot recalls seeing what he initially thought might be a large armed vessel.
No such luck.
He says: "I gasped with astonishment.
"For there, moving slowly across the placid water was a gigantic monster, perhaps 40 feet in length."
After circling the lake to ensure he understood the situation and not wishing to waste fuel by bringing the bombs back home with him, the pilot dropped them in the direction of the mysterious beast.
He added: "Looking backwards, I could see the monster flopping violently and then his entire body came to the surface, either stunned by the concussion or killed outright, I do not know."
World News claims that by attacking the Loch Ness monster, Italy did nothing but add a notch to the imaginary belt of the legendary beast by making it the "first sea-serpent victim of a bombing plane".
Describing Italy's bomber aircraft as "the latest unnatural horror" and "a monster mechanical bird that dropped eggs of death" the newspaper scoffed at the idea a prehistoric beast, perhaps millions of years old, could be killed in such a way.
It adds: "Possibly scarred and even shell-shocked, [the Loch Ness monster] seems to have returned perhaps from repairs at some deep-sea wetdock, and outwardly as good as ever."
How could the paper be so sure Italy didn't kill the Loch Ness monster?
Once again in the long history of Nessie, proof of the beast's existence came down to a sighting by locals – Mr MacFarlan-Barrow and three of his children.
While in a dinghy, the family reportedly spotted a mysterious monster with a "snaky neck" near Glendoe Pier.
One of the children said: "It raced up and down and across the loch as if in really high spirits.
"Occasionally it dived and reappeared with the agility of a giant sea bird."
The paper goes on to sarcastically question how the MacFarlan-Barrow family could have seen the monster when the 'Popolo d'ltalia' had reported its death.
How indeed.
Today Loch Ness and its famous residents are as popular as ever with people visiting the old Drumnadrochit Hotel daily as it has been converted into an interactive museum dedicated to exploring the mythical worldwide phenomenon.
People can even search the depths of Loch Ness using onboard sonar equipment on Deepscan, a boat named after Operation Deepscan an expedition famously carried out on the loch in 1987.
The loch is also used by service personnel such as divers from the British Army's 39 Engineer Regiment who take on underwater relay challenges there to test their endurance diving capability.
Perhaps, while underwater, they keep an eye out for Nessie, just in case.
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