Tall fish tale or real-life water monster?

In 865, a lone fisherman was casting for salmon when he saw a huge snake-like head rise from the deep Scottish waters.

More than 1400 years later, a London traveller was sailing those same waters when he claimed to have seen a prehistoric creature gliding across the black surface with a small animal dangling from its mouth.

These were the first documented accounts of the Loch Ness Monster, today considered the most famous of the water beasts – and one of the elusive. Seriously. Evidence of her existence is mainly anecdotal, backed only by a few (very) sketchy photos and a half dozen sonar readings.

Tales of actual Loch Ness attacks are few, but don’t let her cute nickname fool you. Experts say"Nessie" most closely resembles a plesiosaur, a type of aquatic carnivore – chances are there’d be little left of you to share the tale.

Old Nessie remains AT LARGE (some reports claim 20-feet long large) and ranks high in the Most-Wanted-Monsters book of Cryptids.

Life Saving Fact

Stay close to shore! Lake monsters like their water deep and cold.

Monster Monday: Vampires

Vampires: Masters of Reinvention

From Bram Stoker’s classic fiction debut, based on real life Vlad the Impaler, to teen heartthrob and de-fanged Edward, no other monster has enjoyed such pop-culture, Madonna-esque transformations as the vampire.

But don’t be a sucker. While he may have charmed his way into our homes via breakfast cereals and his progeny may smile dreamily from Twilight pillowcases - the original Dracula has eluded capture and remains one of the deadliest, sexiest monsters known to man.

Dracula tops our MOST-WANTED list from the Not-Quite-Dead category.

After-Life-Saving Fact: Want to ensure you don’t come back as a blood sucking fiend? Plan aHEAD. Request to be decapitated before burial (and good luck with that), or settle for a simple cremation. Dust doesn’t come back.

Can't get enough Vampire action? Follow us on Twitter where this week, we'll be doling out six facts about the infamous creatures. @MWMonsters

Monster Monday: Frankenstein

The Patchwork Monster

Frankenstein is the most sophisticated of the Not-Quite-Dead. He can speak, learn, reason, feel emotion – his story is considered the genesis of the science fiction genre and his influence is profound, even today. In this age of stem cell research and advances in cloning, etc, this creature is extremely dangerous.

Frankenstein disappeared at the end of the first-hand account of his tale, right after murdering his re-animator, Victor Frankenstein. The creature said he was going do himself in, but no body was ever found and countless pop culture references to him continue to emerge. He is considered AT LARGE. Literally. The guy is huge – 7 feet tall or something.

Life-Saving Fact: The chemical and electrical forces believed to give Frankenstein his strength also form his weakness: his chemically-treated body is extremely flammable.

Can't get enough Frankenstein? Follow us on Twitter where this week, we'll be doling out six facts about the infamous monster. You won't believe your eyes - some of this stuff is downright spooky!