‘Friendly Nessie’ kept out of Loch Ness’s bid for World Heritage Recognition!
Loch Ness and the Great Glen have both been aiming to get UNESCO World Heritage recognition and they have deliberately kept Nessie out of this bid. Nessie and its myth aside , this is to create awareness of the area which in turn will bring about £25 million to the economy and hundreds of jobs to Scotland.
The Loch Ness monster is no longer a monster in that sense of the word as filmmakers take creative liberties. From a monster in the 1935 film to a friendly kelpie or water horse in 2007, Nessie has been packaged into numerous avatars on celluloid. Films made over the years including Bollywood horrors were examined and shown at the Glasgow Film Theatre and the National Library of Scotland (NLS) as part of Unesco’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.
Water horse or monster, Nessie is still what will draw in the crowds. Stare at the deep waters of the loch and you can’t help but see or think you’ve seen a dark shape move in the waters. In the times we are in, we all long for magic and fantastic tales and sometimes need to believe in a friendly, misjudged monster. And it’s good for business!