A Loch Ness mystery: The strange case of the disappearing... case
IT is down there somewhere, unknown and elusive – a mystery hidden by the dark waters of Loch Ness.
And before you jump to conclusions, we are not talking about Nessie.
Britain’s most mysterious stretch of water holds another secret – and for anyone with a thirst for conundrums and fine rye whisky, it might provide an even better prize than the fabled monster.
The search for Nessie is, for the moment, in abeyance while an intrepid band of hunters attempt to locate a sealed case of Canadian Club stashed in the loch 46 years ago by the North American drinks’ company as part of a promotion.
The whisky was hidden on December 1, 1969 and has never been found.
Now a local Nessie expert has reactivated the search after coming across an advert in a US magazine.
Gary Campbell, Registrar of Sightings at the loch, was going through old archives when he discovered Nessie was not alone.
As part of an innovative worldwide promotion that began in 1967, Canadian Club hid 12 bottles of its
‘I don’t think Nessie has drunk it’
product somewhere on Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro. They were discovered by accident ten years later.
In subsequent years, the company hid whisky in such exotic locales as the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, Death Valley, California, and Angel Falls, Venezuela.
With each newly sequestered case, the company published advertisements filled with clues on how to find them, stirring the imagination of treasure hunters.
In a May 1970 edition of Life magazine, a headline said: ‘On December 1, 1969, we left a case of Canadian Club in the lair of the Loch Ness Monster’.
But unlike some of the other stashes, no one ever found it.
Nine cases, including the Loch Ness stash, are still out there in the Canadian Yukon Territory, Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile, Ujiji in Tanzania, Lake Placid in New York, and the North Pole.
Mr Campbell said: ‘ We thought we’d see if we could find it.’ The Life advert suggests the whisky is located at the north end of the loch, near to the shore and the location of the Dores Inn.
But Mr Campbell’s efforts to locate it have been unsuccessful.
He said: ‘It may have moved over time and while the loch isn’t tidal there are underwater wave formations that could have picked up the whisky from where it was dropped
‘I don’t think Nessie would have drunk it,’ Mr Campbell said. ‘I’m sure she would prefer a local malt.’ Local businessman Willie Cameron, who has offered his boat to assist in the search, said: ‘It is the second mystery of Loch Ness. Like Nessie, it will have matured with age and could be used to t oast t he monster.’