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Weirdness at Loch Ness: Not a Monster in Sight. A Snake-Goddess? Hell, Yes!

April 2, 2022 People's Tonight 354 views

Nick Redfern October 6, 2021

The summer of 1969 was a strange period in the quest for the truth behind the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. It was a decidedly alternative period, too, given that information surfaced on a secret dragon cult operating in the vicinity of the huge loch. In early June, three American students paid a visit to Loch Ness. The purpose of their visit was to visit Boleskine House, an old hunting lodge (which burned down in 2015) that had once been owned by one of the key players in the world of secret societies. We’re talking about none other than Aleister Crowley. It was while walking around a centuries-old cemetery that stands close to where Boleskine House stood, they came across a strangely decorated piece of cloth; a tapestry, one might say. It was roughly four-feet by five-feet and was wrapped a large sea-snail shell. It was covered in artwork of snakes and words that were soon shown to have been written in Turkish. One of the words translated as “serpent,” which was a most apt description for the beast of Loch Ness. Rather notably, Turkey has its very own lake monster, one which is said to dwell in the waters of Lake Van. But there was more to come: the tapestry found by the three students was adorned with images of lotus flowers. In ancient Chinese folklore, dragons had a particular taste for lotus flowers – to the extent that in lakes where dragons were said to reside, the people of China would leave such flowers on the shores, as a means to appease the violent beasts.

Of the several other people who had the opportunity to see and examine the tapestry in June 1969 – in fact, only mere hours after it was found – one was a near-full-time Nessie-seeker named Frederick “Ted” Holiday. He couldn’t fail to make a connection between the Loch Ness Monster and the dragon- and serpent-based imagery. On top of that, the matter of the lotus flowers led Holiday to conclude that all of this was evidence of some kind of clandestine “dragon cult” operating in the area. That Holiday knew all too well that Aleister Crowley was linked to all manner of secret societies was yet another reason that led Holiday to suspect the presence of a dragon cult in the area. As he began to dig even further into the story, Holiday uncovered rumors of alleged human sacrifice in the wooded areas surrounding Loch Ness, as well as attempts by the secret group to try and nvoke supernatural serpents from the dark waters of the loch.

The mysterious group in question, Holiday believed, was said to worship Tiamat, a terrifying Babylonian snake-goddess, or sea-dragon, who was revered as much as she was feared – and chiefly because of her murderous, homicidal ways. She mated with Abzu, the god of freshwater, to create a number of supernatural offspring, all of dragon- and serpent-like appearance. Then there were the dreaded Scorpion Men, equally hideous offspring of Tiamat that were, as their name suggests, a horrific combination of man and giant arachnids. So the legend goes, Abzu planned to secretly kill his children, but was thwarted from doing so when they rose up and slayed him instead. Likewise, Tiamat was ultimately slaughtered – by the god of storms, the four-eyed giant known as Marduk.

If, however, one knew the ways of the ancients, one could still call upon the power and essence of Tiamat – despite her death – as a means to achieve power, wealth, influence, and sex. Such rituals were definitively Faustian in nature, however (as they almost always are), and the conjurer had to take great heed when summoning the spirit-form of Tiamat, lest violent, deadly forces might be unleashed. It was highly possible, thought Holiday, that the monsters seen at Loch Ness were manifestations of Tiamat, in some latter day incarnation, and specifically provoked to manifest by that aforementioned cult. Nothing was ever conclusively proved, but the entire situation left a bad taste in Holiday’s mouth, made him deeply worried for his own safety, and eventually convinced him that the legendary creature of Loch Ness was itself supernatural in nature.

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