Tuesday 29 January 2013

One of those Damned Logs

Ever mistaken a piece of floating wood for a prehistoric monster? No, nor have I, but apparently some do. This kind of faux pas has been touted as an explanation for Nessies for decades as this picture from the Daily Express of the 15th December 1933 demonstrates.




The text reads:

It bobbed up and down travelling at a fair pace - a tree trunk carried by strong currents at Foyers, Loch Ness. France has now heard of the "monster" - "It has the body of a diplodocus and the head of a horse" one Paris newspaper told its readers.

Clearly the Loch Ness Monster in its two humped aspect!



8 comments:

  1. "Ever mistaken a piece of floating wood for a prehistoric monster? No, nor have I..."

    What about http://lochnessmystery.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/yet-another-nessie-sighting.html ?

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    1. I don't think that is a log, though Steve Feltham thought it might rubbish. I put this one on hold pending contact with Mr. Jobes.

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  2. Burton Caruthers31 January 2013 at 07:34

    I once mistook a plastic grocery bag blowing in the wind for a skunk crossing the street, and a gray aluminum pail for a raccoon in my driveway. Both were late at night, in poor lighting, and at a distance. I could see mistaking a floating log for a large aquatic creature under the right circumstances.

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  3. A piece of floating 'Plastic Wood' caused some confusion a while ago but I don't think a observer would mistake a log for an animate object if it did not change shape after a period of time.Most objects appear wooden in Photographs unless there is a sequence which shows movement.The William Jobes photo suffers in this respect and more information is needed.
    In Nicholas Witchell's book The Loch Ness Story revised edition,on page 165 Dick Raynor is mentioned while he was a cameraman with The Loch Ness Investigation Bureau.The extract is as follows-
    On 13th June,Bureau cameraman Dick Raynor watched and filmed an extensive V-shaped wake moving out of Dores Bay from his position near Abriachan.As he filmed it,the pleasure boat Scott II came into view and proceeded parallel with it for a short distance.J.A.R.I.C. (Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre)reported on this,having optically enlarged it up to 38 times magnification:
    'It is probable that the mean speed of the object is not less than five m.p.h. and a possible lengh for that part of the object which seems to break the surface is in the order of seven feet'
    Would Dick like to tell us what he now thinks that object was?
    Jack.

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  4. How can I be expected to remember things that happened 46 years ago? There might be something on my computer...

    ...try http://www.lochnessinvestigation.com/dicksnessie.html

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    1. The smiley fell off in the editing there :-) I have a few logs on my new Loch Ness oddities page at

      http://www.lochnessinvestigation.com/Oddities3.htm

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    2. Some interesting logs. The thing about logs at Loch Ness is that they tend to stay where they are and it is evident after intently watching these things for a while that they are ... just logs.

      Boundary conditions apply of course - see "Nessie and Logs" links to right of this page.

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    3. It's made me wonder what Christian Spurlings memory was like after such a long time:-)

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