The dark waters of the Scottish lake known as Lock Ness look peaceful enough, but local folks warn of terrible danger there. They say the lake is the home of a terrible creature, a huge swimming monster. A dinosaur-like creature was supposedly seen in the lake as early as 565A.D. by Columba, and Irish saint. Since that time, the monster has been sighted in the lake thousands of times. Usually, it is just the head that is seen above the lake's surface. Occasionally, though, the monster treats tourists to a full view of the giant humps that appear to be on his back.

Is the monster fact or fiction? Could the same monster live for thousands of years in the lake? Or have there been subsequent generations of the monster known as Nessie? Perhaps there are entire families of these monster. If that is true, why haven't they been seen more often? And why haven't the scientists who have searched the lake's waters come up with any sign of the monster's existence?

There are questions that people have been asking for centuries. One man answered one the questions: He discovered that the monster was real. And because of his encounter, he had the snapshot to prove it.

Brice Swift had really enjoyed his trip to the Scottish Highlands. The land was a bit wild to the north and it was rich in wild game. Swift didn't hunt game with a rifle or bow and arrow, though. He hunted with his camera. A surgeon by trade, Swift was an amateur nature photographer and he had gotten some of his best shots on this trip. Along the many large lakes that dotted the countryside, various kinds of water birds gathered, some of which he had never seen in his hometown of London. And the weather had been fabulous-the lighting just perfect.

On the last day of his trip, Wilson convinced his buddy to take an early morning drive along the north shore of the lake known as Loch Ness. The lake had become famous in Scottish history for the legends of the huge monster that was said to live beneath its waters. But Swift didn't really believe the stories he had heard. How could a monster live for so many years in the lake and never be captured?

When Swift saw the size of the lake, he had to admit that it could be possible. He had thought the lake would be as small as a pond, but the expanse before him was huge. Sharp cliffs lined either side of the lake and then dropped sharply down into the water. The water itself was a dark, inky black.

"Polluted water?" he asked his friend as the car pulled into an overlook. "How could it be? There are no factories up this way."

"It's from the peat," his friend answered. "The water runs though peat moss before it reaches the lake. It picks up small particles of peat, and that's what turns the water black."

"Hmmmm." Swift answered. "Looks deep." "I've heard that there are places more than nine hundred feet deep. There are supposed to be caves all along the sides, underneath the water. Don't know if that's true, or if it's just what folks say to support the whole idea of the monster. You know, they might claim the monster could hide in these caves," Swift's friend said.

Swift just shook his head and chuckled. Crazy business, this Loch Ness monster rumor. How could people believe such things? Swift attached a telephoto lens to his camera and aimed it at the lake. Through his lens, he could see the lake's smooth surface, not broken by even so much as a ripple.

Then he aimed it at the sky where some birds were circling. Other than that slight movement, the morning was quiet-eerily quiet. Swift focused his camera back on the lake. Suddenly the water rippled, just slightly. "Must be some fish in there," Swift said to his friend.

"Yeah," he answered. "Too bad we forgot our poles." Swift laughed. From their position on the cliff, there was no way they could get close enough to the water to fish. Suddenly, Swift heard his friend gasp.

Swift quickly aimed his camera at the spot where his friend was pointing. A section of the water was churning. Dark foam formed on its surface. Then, as Swift watched through his camera, the neck and head of some long, dark creature became visible above the inky water.

The thing slowly stretched upward, as if testing the air. The neck was narrow and graceful. The head was long and triangular shaped. It almost looked like some kind of dinosaur-a brontosaurus, perhaps. Through his camera, Swift could see that its skin was a deep, dark green.

Swift's first impulse was to run for the car. What if the monster came after them? Then he realized that that was just a bit unlikely. The monster had never been known to leave its watery home and, even if it did, it probably couldn't reach them on the side of the cliff.

Instead, Swift wasted no time recording the scene with his camera. He had only four pictures left on his roll, but he snapped them quickly in succession. Then, as he was reaching for his extra film, the huge green creature slowly and quietly slid beneath the black surface of Loch Ness.

The water churned for just a few seconds. And then the lake became calm again. His friend was still rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "Could it be? Did we really see it?" he spluttered. Swift shook his head. "I don't know what we saw. Maybe it was just the morning light playing tricks on us."

"But it sure looked. . ."; "Real?" Swift finished. "I got some snapshots of it That will tell us for sure." The two hopped into their car and raced into Inverness. They stopped at the first pharmacy they could find that was open at that hour of the morning and left the film. Then the two headed off to breakfast, still speculating about what they had seen.

Several of the townsfolk overheard their conversation and crowded around their table. "You really saw Nessie?" one asked. "I heard tell of her, but never saw her," said another.

"My boy, he says he's seen that monster, but I didn't believe him." It seemed everyone had an opinion about the lake monster, and they weren't shy about sharing it. Swift and his friend could barely get away from the crowd when it was time to pick up the photos.

They finally managed to leave the group and then headed for the pharmacy. There, Swift's hand trembled as he opened the photographs. The first shots were of some quail he had seen earlier in the week. Those were followed by a picture of a red deer in the evening light and some shots of unusual butterflies he had seen in a meadow. Then, finally, came the pictures he had been waiting for.

Swift gazed at the first picture he had taken of the lake. It only showed the broad expanse of dark water. No creature. He sighed and flipped to the next photo. Just inky black lake. There was nothing to indicate that any living creature was there.

The next shot was completely black, somehow overexposed in the developing process. Finally, he turned to the last picture. Swift gasped. There it was-a real picture of the monster of Loch Ness. Its long neck was visible, floating gracefully above the water. And its head appeared as a gentle triangle against the sky, about twelve feet above the water's surface.

Swift's picture cause a rage that, within a few years, spread through Scotland and the rest of the world. Finally, there was proof of the monster's existence. Though some claimed the photo had been doctored or was the work of trick photography, Swift knew it was neither. From that moment, scientists began searching for the monster that Swift had photographed.

Even so, though many have reported seeing Nessie and a few have even taken some photographs, no one has discovered anything else about this mysterious creature of the deep.