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- DRUMNADROCHIT, Scotland - Nessie, the elusive Loch Ness monster and national
mascot of Scotland, could be ready to make a sensational debut on the Internet.
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- Scottish marketing wizards are putting
the final touches to a high-tech Loch Ness Web page that will carry live
TV pictures from Scotland's most mysterious lake.
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- "This is going to blow other live
Internet sites out of the water,'' said Willie Cameron, who runs Loch Ness
Marketing and works in the local hotel. He and his partner Fraser Campbell
proposed the idea of a live Nessie link.
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- Soon anyone from Australia to Alaska
will be able to log on to the Loch Ness site and scout for Nessie, the
dinosaur-like monster of the long neck and enduring legend.
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- "Any publicity we can get is a good
thing. Everybody's heard of Nessie. I can't imagine a country that hasn't
heard of it,'' said Jackie Knight, who works in a local shop.
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- Cameron says that is the beauty of the
idea " Nessie is so well known that there is no need for branding.
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- "We have to open a shop window on
the area. We are hoping to open a gateway to the Highlands,'' he said.
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- CATCH NESSIE ON THE NET
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- The site, www.lochness.scotland.net,
should be running before the end of May. Live pictures will be beamed back
from a camera fixed on a house overlooking the lake.
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- The camera can pan and zoom and offers
three or four views of the water and surrounding hills.
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- Cameron and Campbell admit they did not
realize how quickly their plan would take off.
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- "The idea came from a man in a supermarket.
He said 'you guys up there have missed out on something, you need to get
live on the net,''' said Cameron.
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- The page is part of the Scotland Online
network and will include history, stories and information about the area.
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- THE PHENOMENON
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- The first sighting of the Loch Ness monster
is said to have happened in the year 565. Saint Columba was at the lake
with some followers when a strange beast emerged from the cold waters.
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- The cool-headed saint simply made the
sign of the cross and the beast withdrew.
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- Nessie got her big break in 1933 when
the road from Inverness in the north to the small town of Drumnadrochit
was opened, luring travelers to the region.
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- One couple said they saw something in
the lake and Nessie soon became a household name.
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- "In 1933, cinema was booming and
the biggest thing in cinema was King Kong. The public were looking for
something to follow that and some bright journalist picked up the story
of the sighting and this just filled the void,'' said Cameron.
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- FACT OR FICTION
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- Cameron has not seen Nessie but his father
lays claim to one of the longest sightings of a strange something in the
lake in 1965. He said it looked like an upturned boat but was at a loss
to describe it exactly.
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- "What he said was how do you describe
a tomato to a blind man?,'' Cameron said.
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- He is skeptical but 3,000 people have
reported seeing something bizarre in the 23-mile-long lake.
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- Dave Paterson, the local postmaster,
is in the same boat.
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- "I have never seen anything but
my wife has and will swear by it. You walk along the lake on a misty morning
and tell me you don't see something,'' he said.
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