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Lair of the Beasts: A Monster Road-Trip

In Search of Lake-Monsters

By Nick Redfern September 05, 2009

Four-Teans go to Ness, written by Englishman Colin Stott.
© N/A

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed right here the new paperback edition of Steve Alten's excellent novel on Scotland's most famous unidentified beast: the Loch Ness Monster. Titled The Loch, Steve's book is a fine tale of monsters, mysteries, conspiracies and more. Now, hot on its heels, we have in our midst a new non-fiction book on Nessie: Four-Teans go to Ness, written by Englishman Colin Stott.

I usually see Colin a couple of times a year - at conferences on all-things weird, monstrous and generally strange in my home-country of England. Well, last weekend I was speaking on the subject of UFOs and the Men in Black at the Weird 09 gig in the English town of Warminster. While hanging around in the lobby, I heard someone say to me: "Hello, Nick." I turned around to see who it was - and, sure enough, it was Colin.

Greetings exchanged, Colin thrust into my hand a small book that had a picture of the dark waters and the imposing hills of Loch Ness on its cover. It transpired that, last year, Colin and three of his friends drove up from their respective English homes to the mighty loch, for a week, to seek out the legendary creature for themselves - and perhaps even to invoke it via ancient rite and ritual. And, on his return home, Colin decided to write a book about the adventure.

Having learned all this, and after Colin kindly provided me with a copy of his book, I told him I would be very pleased to review it right here - which is precisely what I am going to do now.

Faced with a 10-hour flight back from Heathrow Airport to Dallas, I decided to pass the time on the plane digesting the 120 pages of Colin's self-published book - and I'm very glad I did, as it's a fine and fun tale of what can happen when four English blokes go on a road-trip in search of monsters.

Colin skillfully begins by setting the scene, explains how and why he and his mates - Perry, Mick and Dave - decided to embark on their expedition, and launches into a tale of memorable and cryptozoological proportions.

Along the way, we get a good insight into the lives and characters of the four friends; we learn what motivates them to seek out Nessie; and we get highly entertained in the process.

Colin also hammers home the important point that, in terms of weirdness, Loch Ness is not just the domain of a monster - or even a colony of monsters. As he very rightly notes, the loch is literally saturated by high-strangeness of a truly dizzying variety.

None other than the "Great-Beast" himself, Aleister Crowley, once owned a home on Loch Ness: Boleskine House. In addition, the book is packed with amusing and intriguing tales of the guys' activities - which center upon Werewolf-Ninjas (I kid you not!); haunted cemeteries; crashed UFOs; occult practices; dark goings-on in the thick woods that surround the loch; a spooky cemetery; and much, much more.

And, of course, there is the main character in the book: Nessie. It's clear from reading the book that Colin possesses a deep knowledge of the history and lore of the monster, and this shines through in the pages of his mighty tome.

Citing some of the more intriguing - and sometimes little-known - sightings of the creature, Colin paints a picture of truly high-strangeness, of dark secrets, and of a land that is both magical and mysterious, in equally heady proportions.

Then, we get to learn all about the invocation that the four undertake as they seek to force Nessie to rise from the inky depths - an invocation that just might have worked, as Colin explains.

Not only that: the book also contains a selection of good, color photographs that offer the reader a solid view of what Loch Ness is really like, and what you may find there if you dare to hunt for the great leviathan yourself.

But this is more than just a book about monsters and spooky activity in the woods. It's also a story of four friends following a dream, having an adventure that they will undoubtedly remember for the rest of their lives, and doing something on their own terms, rather than on anyone else's.

I most definitely recommend Four-Teans go to Ness to anyone that wants to learn more about the creature, about monster-hunting in general, and about that most-mysterious of all locales: Loch Ness.

As Colin's book is self-published, you will have to write to him direct for details on how to obtain your very own copy. You can contact him at: nodifer@blueyonder.co.uk

Nick Redfern is the author of many books on monster-hunting, UFOs, and the paranormal. His new book, Science Fiction Secrets, is out right now via Anomalist Books.