Sunday, August 17, 2025

Hitler and Mussolini both claimed to have killed Nessie


The Loch Ness monster became a popular newspaper story in the 1930s. The result of this was that, in an attempt to undermine British morale, both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy claimed to have killed Nessie.

The Aberdeen Press and Journal reported in December 1940 on Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels' 'Monster Fairy Tale', saying: "It is reported from Glasgow, via Stockholm, that the Loch Ness monster has struck a mine, and its body has been found washed ashore in pieces on the west of Scotland." 

Perhaps unsatisfied with the lack of reaction from that news, a The World's News article published in 1941 reported that Italian newspaper Popolo d'ltalia claimed an Italian pilot had "bombed and destroyed a huge, serpent-like animal on the surface of Loch Ness". 

The illustration above shows Ruttie, the Rutland Water Monster. Lord Bonkers tells me she was wounded in an encounter with a U-boat, but made a full recovery.

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