After years of searching for the loch ness monster, we might finally have an answer.
While we’ve been looking high and low for almost a century for the mythical beast, it turns out the creature could have been dead for quite some time.
The Daily Star reported that Alba Party General Secretary Christopher McEleny made a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Inverclyde Council regarding a man called Charles Rankin, who claims he found the Loch Ness monster 81 years ago in Gourock.
However, the incident wasn’t reported at the time.
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It was not until 1980 when The Strathearn Herald claimed another man said he found a ‘carcass of an animal the likes of which neither of us had seen before’.
But rather than holding onto these remains, the man quickly disposed of the carcass as the smell became ‘really offensive’.
The man apparently proceeded to cut up the carcass and buried it in the town's incinerator grounds.
“I had in mind to dig them up at a later date once the flesh had decomposed, but I left Gourock in 1946 and the opportunity was lost,” he told the outlet at the time.
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The site where the remains were buried later became St Ninian’s school in Gourock.
When Mr McEleny asked about the discovery, a spokesperson for the Inverclyde Council revealed that after Mr Rankin found the beast, the Royal Navy prevented photography of the creature.
“The Public Protection Service's Contaminated Land Officer confirmed that if the sea monster was incinerated it is unlikely there would be much in the way of identifiable materials left,” they added.
They had high doubts that there would be any ‘tissue remnants’ after 81 years of decomposition.
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Mr Elkin told the Daily Star he’s always been ‘fascinated’ by the story.
“This is the first time in decades that it’s been confirmed by suitably qualified and in the know public officials that the stories are in fact true,” he told the outlet.
He believes the Royal Navy wanted to conceal these findings as it was during the war, and the area was one of the most important bases for the entire allied war effort.
“Some might think that this perhaps is the reason there have been no sightings of Nessie for decades but I would hope that this was rather a distant cousin of hers that as a result of the local boom defence and massive sonar presence on the West of Scotland sadly met her end on the shores of Gourock,” he continued.
Charisa Bossinakis