A useful pair of maps from Roy P. Mackal's The Monsters of Loch Ness, only two of many maps, tables, and illustrations from this handsomely produced volume. Mackal rules out whales, sirenians, and plesiosaurs as candidates for Nessie, settling on some unknown species of large amphibian or eel - though he later changed his mind and endorsed the Zeuglodon, an extinct "serpentine whale" that became a popular ID for sea serpents and lake monsters in the '80s and '90s. His book is an interesting time capsule, published in the twilight of the "golden age" of Loch Ness monster hunting when Nessie believers felt they were on the precipice of a breakthrough with all their modern tools of sonar, submarines, and surveillance ... unfortunately, the 1980s would prove lean years, and other monsters like mokele-mbembe, Champ, and Cadborosaurus would have to pick up the slack.
We also get your standard maps of Loch Ness and Scotland that every good Nessie book needs, plus some tongue-in-cheek action shots of author Mackal:
Courtesy The Swallow Press, 1980 (original pub. 1976)
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