Various Items of Nessie News

Well, the old saying "There's no such thing as bad publicity" may often seem to apply to the Loch Ness Monster. The story of George Edwards and his Nessie photo continues to go viral and has finally reached the exalted shores of the mainstream American Media as this item from ABC News shows.

People just love to tune into a good old monster story and they don't come much bigger than the Loch Ness Monster. The article I ran on the photo has now received hits in the thousands and is my own biggest blog article since March. Should I thank George Edwards for heightening Nessie awareness? I am not sure about that ....

Attempting to dig deeper into this latest story is proving somewhat fruitless. The one lead is that two separate sources talk about multiple pictures but don't show them. I am sceptical about that just now but I sent off an email to Cascade News who are syndicating George's photograph. Their own website only shows one picture of the object so I suspect that is all there is to it but I await their response.

I have sent off another email to George Edwards but still no reply to the questions I originally put to him. Going by his interview on ABC, it sounds like the world has arrived at his doorstep and I suspect I am way down the pecking order!

 I must also add that after posting this blog, I strolled into my local newsagent and saw the front page of the Scottish Sunday Mail proclaiming they had evidence that George Edwards had faked the whole incident (see extract below and click to enlarge). I haven't seen this article on their website but if it doesn't turn up, I will post more details. But suffice to say the accusation is that Edwards used an old Nessie prop from some documentaries to stage the picture. George Edwards denies everything but judge for yourself. The fibreglass hump does look indeed like the object in the picture though I must also admit the two are not exactly the same shape. The object in the picture slopes more to the front than the model.

Moving onto another item, I understand that Jeremy Wade of "River Monsters" fame is filming a new series and he is going to Loch Ness for one episode. My only reply is "about time too"!  I wonder what stance he will take as he tries to land Nessie with a fishing rod the thickness of a fence post? Perhaps the Sturgeon or indeed the Wells Catfish or the oft talked about Giant Eel? Certainly, when he tackled the reputed monster of Lake Iliamna, the sturgeon came to the fore. Well, I guess we will find out when the series goes to air - presumably next year.

Talking of next year, 2013 will be the 80th anniversary of the Loch Ness Monster. It was back in May 1933 that the first modern sighting of the creature by the Mackays was written up for the Inverness Courier by the late Alex Campbell. It is amazing that the beast still continues to hold the attention of people after so many years and even in such a current sceptical environment. Does this speak as much to the "I want to believe" as to the actual existence of something large and unknown in the loch? The answer is "yes" to both.

Wouldn't it be great to mark this milestone with some kind of event? Again, the answer is "yes" and it is my hope that some kind of event will be organised that covers the spectrum of thinking on the subject and does justice to a now venerable tale. Well, all I can say is watch this space!