A few months back I was doing some research on an old sighting and managed to contact a person who knew of the case for further details. Having helped me add some details to that case, the person told me that they themselves had had a good sighting of the creature back in 2010. I can now bring you the details of this previously unreported sighting.
At around 7:20 in the morning on the 14th June 2010, the witness and their spouse were travelling south about a mile past Urquhart Castle on the A82. At this point a large object described as "clearly visible" was noticed in the water by the driver about 40 feet from the shore. In the witness' own words:
"We
almost went off the road with the sheer amazement of the sighting and
could not find a layby so we slowed down till we had almost stopped on
the main road which I suppose was rather dangerous to say the least."
Having rolled down the car window, the large object was observed. For about the next two minutes, the couple watched this sight which was described as a
"... very large grey wide back, texture was like an elephant's skin and colour.."
When I asked about size, I was given this reply:
"To give an idea of size it was so wide you could easily park a bus on it."
As to its motion, the witness further added:
"It was just kind of idling in the water and then decided to plunge downwards in a rolling motion down in to the water. The wake that followed was absolutely phenomenal, the water took ages to calm down and then all was quite and it was gone."
"This is a true and accurate account witnessed by myself and X .. we know (it) was the creature
but we do not speak of it to avoid ridicule. Believe
me we know what we saw it was awesome and if I could have photographed
it the mystery would be over as it would have been the ultimate proof
that it does exist."
So concludes a remarkable account given the short distance to the object. I accept the witnesses' trustworthiness but have witheld names due to the obvious fear of being treated like fools. This is a situation which occurs quite frequently with witnesses to strange things in Loch Ness and is quite understandable.
The location can be roughly seen using Google Street View below. I asked if this shot was similar to the witnesses' viewing conditions and I was told it was similar but the foliage was not as dense.
The location can be roughly seen using Google Street View below. I asked if this shot was similar to the witnesses' viewing conditions and I was told it was similar but the foliage was not as dense.
Some readers may seek a more "natural" description for what happened. The only one that could be put forward I think is a standing wave from a large boat that had passed previously down the loch. This interpretation has its problems. First, though the term "standing wave" suggests it is stationary, it is in fact moving. An example of one created by the "Jacobite Queen" on Loch Ness can be viewed on the first video clip on the following page from Dick Raynor's website.
In the two minutes the witnesses were watching this "idling" object, a bow wave would have visibly progressed towards the shore and dispersed on breaking up. This object just stayed there until it created its own bow wave when submerging.
In the two minutes the witnesses were watching this "idling" object, a bow wave would have visibly progressed towards the shore and dispersed on breaking up. This object just stayed there until it created its own bow wave when submerging.
So what did our witnesses see that June days nearly three years ago? Something which could accommodate the width of a bus on its back is definitely in "monster" territory and such a photograph would have created a sensation. However, the creature rolled back into the depths and the mystery which is the Loch Ness Monster continues to fascinate and perplex.
Thanks again for your invaluable coverage and publishing of these matters.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fairly important sighting, and to think that it almost went undocumented for fear of ridicule is very worrisome. That's the legacy of hoaxes, overly enhanced "evidence", and bad press: it hurts research, and deprives us of truth. We've been through periods of high public enthusiasm in the last 80 years where people were probably over-reporting potential sightings. In our present day era the pendulum seems to have swung fully the other way, so far in fact people are under-reporting and hesitant to come forward even when they've unmistakably seen a large, animate object at very close range. Some claim sightings have fallen off a lot in recent years, but here is evidence that the real problem may instead be that it is the reporting, not the sightings, that are at fault.
Now this is a highly important sighting for several reasons. It was made at close range, it persisted 2 more minutes after they got the car stopped and the windows down, so probably closer to three minutes. It's a pair of witnesses corroborating each other. There's morphological detail, the skin texture and color. And the witnesses stayed and saw the object dive without resurfacing -- seeing the dive is always important because it proves it wasn't a terrestrial animal of any kind. Most sightings don't give us this much.
So we definitely have a living, aquatic animal. Now the other important detail here is that it was far too large to be any of the "distractor" species. None of the known species that could be offered up to explain this are nearly this large, even if the couple was off by a factor of 2! And that they could be off by more than that, at such close range and in broad daylight, is highly, highly unlikely.
This confirms that at least one "bull" or atypically large specimen is still present in the loch (or at least was as recently as 2010). GW, you'd probably know best, but I don't think we've had a report of such a large specimen in quite a few years. And it bodes well for the health and longevity of these rare animals that there's still as least one huge "bull" down there.
Wonderful work as always. I'm glad to know that something is still being seen, and that the witnesses are unequivocal about their experience. It makes me think of the many "upturned boat" or large hump sightings, which to me sort of serve as a backbone (pun slightly intended) of the mystery -- especially sightings of this nature of long duration. If we believe our witnesses, and there are too many to doubt, that there is something in the loch! And the honesty of your informant comes through clearly as well.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think of the sighting that Holiday, Cameron, and Fraser had on June 16th, 1965. It was a sighting of long duration that sounds so similar to what your 2010 witness says. Fraser and Cameron estimated the object to be about 25-30 feet long -- which I guess would just about support a bus.
Ground truth -- many people have seen this huge hump phenomenon. I think, too, of the Loch'na'Bieste reports from around 1840, published many years before the 1933 excitement, that described it simply as "an upturned boat." What are we dealing with here? A true mystery that doesn't fit into any known category.... but seems to be undoubtedly real.
Thanks so much. Like I said, it's great to know that as recently as 3 years ago, the big upturned boat still puts in an appearance. And your witnesses words ring true in that way that is familiar to any researcher well-versed in anomalies.
any other cases of rolling as it submerged?......love reading your blog
ReplyDeleteAnother great find GB and I am sure that many more sightings like this go unreported for the reason that you have mentioned. The actual location of the sighting may well have taken place just past the Cobb memorial site travelling southwards as there is a stretch of the A82 with about 200 yards of good clear views of the Loch including the areas closer in to the northern shore. Having passed the memorial layby there isn't another one for some distance down the road and it also puts the sighting roughly a mile from the castle. It's just a wee shame that no pictures could be taken that may have raised a few eyebrows.
ReplyDeleteOne issue I have with this sighting is that it took place in 2010. The witnesses state that if they had taken pictures, those pictures could put the mystery to bed in the sense of providing proof that there are definitely large creatures resident in the loch. 2010 is certainly recent enough that the vast majority of people were equipped with camera phones. I certainly had a fairly decent camera on my phone three years ago. Not the best quality, of course, but enough to capture an image from that distance and of something that size. Any pictures taken even on a phone would be better than those from the thirties, at any rate! Might be worth asking the witnesses about their mobiles...
ReplyDeleteA good point but not everybody is a mobile phone lover. I certainly am not, I just have one (an ageing nokia model with an iffy camera) because it is almost a necessity these days. I don't even carry it with me all the time because I am forever answering pointless phone calls or texts and I know several people my age (49) or older who feel the same way or are more biased against them. The point is that there are plenty of people out there who don't really use their mobiles that much simply because they weren't brought up with them. Having said that I am pretty good with computers and other gadgets and always carry a good camera with me on holidays, but only on holidays not all of the time. Perhaps the couple who had the sighting are middle aged to elderly and don't fully understand the functions of a mobile if they have one, but there could be many other reasons why a picture wasn't taken.
DeleteHad I been in the witnesses situation the result would have been the same: no photo. My friends may kid me about my antiquated (6 year old) Sanyo mobile phone with its retractable antenna and lack of camera or web browsing ability, but it is one solid telephone, which is what I need it to be. It also holds a charge for two days and has great reception. I know people who upgrade their phones twice a year, but not everyone does that.
Delete@ Anonymous - the very 'first' sighting to hit the papers described a whale-like creature 'rolling and plunging' in the loch. The Inverness Courier reported in 1933:
ReplyDeleteLoch Ness Monster - Strange Spectacle in Loch Ness. What was it? (from a correspondent) Loch Ness has for generations been credited with being the home of a fearsome monster, or water kelpie. On Friday last, a well known business man, who lives near Inverness, & his wife, a university graduate, when motoring along the north shore not far from Abriachan Pier, were startled to see a tremendous upheaval on the loch, which previously had been calm as a mill pond. The lady was first to notice the disturbance which occurred fully three quarters of a mile from the shore & it was her sudden cries which directed her husband's attention to the water. There the creature disported itself, rolling & plunging for fully a minute, its body resembling that of a whale & the water cascading & surging like a simmering cauldron. Soon, however, it disappeared in a boiling mass of foam. Both onlookers confessed that there was something uncanny about the thing, for they realised that here was no ordinary denizen of the depths. Quite apart from its enormous size the beast, in taking the final plunge, sent out waves that were big enough to have been caused by a passing steamer.
Jenny thank you
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I hope that everyone's weekend was both great and safe,and I hope that they have another great week!
ReplyDeleteBy way of thanks for your excellent book that I am almost done reading I would like to correct you about the giant eel larvae. It is now known by science that these giant eel larvae do not become bigger as adults. Most eel larvae multiply in size many times as adults leading to the question if the giant ones may be responsible for sea serpent sightings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, I am just back from Loch Ness and will continue my investigation into this sighting as time goes on. But for now .... Happy 80th Nessie ... alive and kicking!
ReplyDeleteA very interesting sighting,Nessie-alive and kicking indeed.
ReplyDeleteIf there are animals of this size in loch Ness then the food supply would support fewer of them and fewer animals would mean less genetic diversity.Of course if Nessie was interdimensional these problems would be solved.:)
This sighting certainly makes the Peter Macnab Photograph worthy of closer inspection.
Jack.
I think Nessie is/was just the beginning of "high strangeness" that just may actually be a part of reality-
ReplyDeleteto continue: start with David Paulides' dual volumn "Missing411" about 411 unexplained disappearances in the N. American wilderness and then continue with the research of Dr. Melba Ketchum and her team actually confirming the existence of Sasquatch/Big Foot-
if Nessie(s) could possibly be a reality then Ketchum and Co's research is even more plausible-
never ceases to amaze me how we, the masses, are being kept in the dark about so very many things
Roland,have you seen the cheap cell phone photo of a swedish lake monster poking its head and neck out of the water close to two men on shore?it had a camel like,cadbourosaurus head.
ReplyDeleteDon't recall that ... link?
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