Nessie's Nook

-Public domain/Wikimedia Commons- In the Highlands of Scotland, surrounded by picturesque mountains and lush green foliage, runs a loch famous throughout the world for what is believed to swim in its cold dark depths. The air of the place lends itself to an old legend, from the beautiful scenery to the crumbling ruins of Urquhart castle overlooking it all.   For centuries, Loch Ness has been a place of mystery and intrigue, but is there any real evidence for a monster inhabiting the lake? And if so, what exactly does it look like? Sightings: Ancient and Modern The oldest surviving record of a creature in Loch Ness comes from the seventh century A.D. manuscript written by a monk named Adomnan. It tells the story of St. Columbus, who came to Scotland as a missionary to the Picts. The natives told him tales of a creature who traveled the River Ness preying on the villagers. The chieftain, in an effort to impress this foreigner, sent one of his men to swim across the river to bait...

              Since the beginning of time, when God first spoke, the ability to create stories has existed. It is something completely unique to  the human race , something nothing else in the universe can copy. They connect us in a way that spans time, distance, culture; embroidering a tapestry that spans across millennia.    What is  a story ? And the power behind them.    But what exactly is  a story ?    The definition, as provided by Oxford  Languages,  is “an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment ” .  On the surface, this  appears to be  an apt description, but a clarification is needed to uncover the deeper meaning.   While storytelling has existed since the beginning, its focus has only relatively recently switched to entertainment. In fact, stories were originally more functional; created to pass along cultural be...