Book Review: Nessie: Exploring the Supernatural Origins of the Loch Ness Monster by Nick Redfern

While at the Mothman Festival earlier this month, I picked up a copy of Nick Redfern's new book Nessie: Exploring the Supernatural Origins of the Loch Ness Monster. 

As you can probably tell from the title, this isn't your "typical" Loch Ness Monster book.

In Nessie, Redfern delves into the theory that the Loch Ness Monsters are not just mysterious, flesh-and-blood creatures, but they are actually something paranormal. So, if you are someone (who believes the creatures exist!) who thinks that the Nessies are definitely flesh-and-blood creatures, you might not like this book. But, if you are someone who thinks that strange creature sightings and paranormal phenomena could be connected, you'll enjoy it quite a lot.

Throughout the book, Redfern shows that the monsters are not the only strange things seen around Loch Ness. Over the years, there have been many strange things, like sightings of ghosts, mysterious cats, and there have been quite a few people who have been involved with magic, who believed they could summon up the paranormal monsters of the lake. He also mentions a U.S. remote viewing project where agents saw the Loch Ness Monsters and claimed they could appear and disappear, and thought they were ghost plesiosaurs!

Redfern also discusses the possible connection of the monsters and legends of kelpies. Kelpies were/are thought to be mysterious water creatures that can shape-shift, and are almost always said to be malevolent. How does this connect to the Loch Ness Monsters? Well,
 1). Because there are quite a few legends of kelpies throughout Scotland, and
2). Because the monsters of Loch Ness have been described many different ways, including looking like plesiosaurs, a giant frog, crocodile/alligator-like creatures, and even something totally different, that had elephant-like legs and looked somewhat like a camel, seen on land near Loch Ness.

Loch Ness researchers like Ted Holiday, and even Tim Dinsdale, have thought that there might be more to the monsters than a flesh-and-blood plesiosaur living in the lake. Maybe they were right.

I enjoyed this book, and recommend it to those interested in the Loch Ness Monsters and cryptozoology, if you dare to read something a little different than the typical Nessie book.

With Nick Redfern, author of Nessie
Next book review will be Ken Gerhard's A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts: Encounters with Cryptid Creatures.

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