Nessie believer, Bill Appleton, got in touch with me recently to point me to his stabilised images of the 2007 Gordon Holmes video. I have seen these before on the Web elsewhere, but these images should be larger and perhaps more amenable to inspection by some readers.
The non-monster theory proposed is that it is a form of wind turbulence on the loch caused by winds being funnelled down in a certain way on to the loch surface. You can find one exposition of that theory here. The author of that assessment, Dick Raynor, admits he had not seen such a video footage before in his 40 years of Loch Ness investigation, but plumps for a phenomenon similar to a wind devil.
However, another sceptic by the name of Benjamin Radford, appears to have put little thought into the matter when he dismissively states:
"There are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create the image Holmes taped."
Dick pointed out to me a cleft in the hills where he thought a wind channel could form. I took the picture below which shows the cleft.
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpu
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
There
are many fish and fauna around Loch Ness that could look easily create
the image Holmes taped. - See more at:
http://www.livescience.com/1566-video-loch-ness-monster.html#sthash.c0w3WziX.dpuf
Now, to me, the formation in the water looks too "solid" to be solely the product of the action of moving air on water. Dick says he sees a similar formation near this one, but I see nothing else that is not just ordinary wind slicks on the loch which are extremely common.
He also says there is no wake which rules out an animal. I disagree with this view as an animal can leave a water trail behind which does not have to be the classic V-pattern as this YouTube video of a swimming alligator shows (especially the last few seconds of the clip).
So is this the Loch Ness Monster? Click on the images below to expand them and form your own opinion. We close with Bill Appleton's own view of the video:
"I believe they display a giant eel side-winding across the lake. The animal is at least 10 feet long, maybe 15 feet.
You can see in some frames the classic "plesiosaur" neck, but this is just the eel moving away from the camera."
You can see in some frames the classic "plesiosaur" neck, but this is just the eel moving away from the camera."
P.S. I will be on holiday soon, so responses will be slow over that time, if there at all!
This is the same general area where I saw my "Nessie." Pretty similar view, pretty similar video.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, despite Dick saying he had not seen such a video in 40 years of looking at "Nessie" videos, you're implying they're more common than we think?
DeleteBut I'll reserve judgement on that until I see your video, Erik!
I'm not implying anything -- only that it's interesting that I saw something amazingly similar in the same general location (Abriachan), in the vicinity of the same cleft! As for my video, I find it interesting from an academic perspective rather than a "Nessie" one!
ReplyDeleteErik, it's all a bit "academic" until we all see how similar your clip is to the Holmes video.
DeleteI smell a challenge!
ReplyDeleteWhere's the beef!
DeleteYeak EKM, upload the video!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to add to the pile of "ambiguous images" with something I'm certain isn't worthy of deep analytical debate! :)
DeleteIt's obvious the Gordon Holmes video shows some animal swimming. The question is what is it?.
ReplyDeleteDick Raynor is a Nessie debunker, he also says the Tim Dinsdale film actually shows a boat ???, so I don't care what he says.
Examine his analysis before you lock your mind and throw away the key. The synoptic Gospels don't line up, either!
DeleteI have done.
DeleteUnfortunately he's a Nessie "debunker".
Facts and figures paint the picture, my anonymous friend.
DeleteDick Raynor dispels anything to do with the creature ................that's what he s paid to do ,the Dinsdale film is a classic capture of something .yes there was a boat in the film but he filmed that to show comparisons with the swimming object ,
DeleteI do like Raynors and Adrian Shine,s idea of protecting what ever is in those waters ...............keep up the good work boys !
Upload or Upshut Erik
DeleteBelated congrats on 3 years of doing this Roland!
ReplyDeleteThese stabilised Appleton videos are very useful (I too only paid passing attention to the Holmes film before. My tactic is to always let someone else do all the hard work first, and then play armchair analyst :)
That being said, anyone should find it extremely interesting to load this into Animation Shop or an equivalent and run it manually frame by frame. I used the lil_fast_nessie.gif file provided here, so these frame numbers specifically refer to that version.
Start with it on frame 36, which is near that point where the "hump" seems most distinct. Click forward from 36 through 44 and I believe you'll see what I see: a blunt head is rising upwards and clearing the water during these 9 frames. There are actually what I'd call very slight brow ridges or eye sockets on top of the head visible during frames 37, 38 & 39. It looks very similar the profile of an otter. It could still be the head of an eel though, or a salamander. Scale would certainly be helpful here.
Observe the head reaches its highest point in frame 44. It then slams *downwards* in frames 48 and 49, and it is exactly during frame 49 that the second object emerges to the left, in the path of the moving head. Note also this neck-like object is *not* moving right to left during the next couple frames, but is being closed upon by the larger, speeding object. This would be a fish jumping. There is some foam thrown up between the objects during frames 46-49. The fish thrashes, briefly appears joined to the head of the bigger object, *then* begins to move with it during the subsequent frames. This smaller object is a fish in the process of being scooped up, and the undulating neck-like part is really its desperately wriggling tail. During frames 60-64 we have the illusion of a single long-necked animal, but during frames 64-69 the head of the predator turns a bit to it's left, now ahead of the fish tail which must be extruding from the right corner of its mouth. At frame 70, the meal has been dragged under, but we can still see the larger animal continuing on its course from right to left, just below the surface for a few more frames. The head begins to rise again at frame 116, but does not completely emerge. Instead, we see the torpedo wake of something smaller, what must be a second fish racing out of its path.
Scale would certainly be useful in diagnosing the identity of the predator. But relative to the size of the fish being taken down, it does appear more likely to be an otter. Unless of course that was a really large fish.
Interesting observations, Steve. I too noted the fleeting and apparent head-neck frames. Haven't really probed that oen further.
DeleteI bumped into Gordon Holmes at the Nessie at 80 symposium. He showed us all his video during a break. I wish I had spent more time speaking to him. It is valuable to communicate with witnesses. Something sceptics certainly don't prize.
Did he also show you his DVD on faeries? :)
DeleteWhats that got to do with it ekm? I think we get you don't believe so why do you troll these sites?
DeleteGlasgow boy, here is a question you may be able to shed some light upon. While in Foyers on vacation I came across a local man who told me while conducting military exercises during WW2 divers encountered large eels in the loch. Apparently too large to be swimming nearby and this drove them from the water. Also, I was told about a massive eel trapped within the Foyers hydro electrical dam which I had heard of this elsewhere. Are these stories just Nessie folklore ?? Have you heard of either one of these occurring ?
ReplyDeleteGB in the video of the alligators I was struck by how minimally the first alligator disturbed the water until it started heading towards the second 'gator whereupon the water became more and more agitated the closer the two got.
ReplyDeleteI found myself wond'ring therefore if this was related in anyway to the behaviour of social spiders which're spiders able to share the same web without cannibalising each other due to the particular point they make in approaching each other of making dramatic highly noticeable displays quite similar to the attacking prey display but at the crucial moment instead of pouncing leaving themselves hanging in the air completely vulnerable to counterattack and predation.
In fact if they fail to perform this manoeuvre outbreaks of aggression can occur resulting in mortalities until things calm back down.
My point being maybe the same applies to Nessie any exaggerated water disturbance might not be for the benefit of tourists so to speak but some as yet invisible companion in which case that might be precisely the very time to start scanning further and further out from and around the disturbed water rather than merely concentrating on the spot where the disturbance's actually occurring.
wat part of the loch was holmes video taken?
ReplyDeletedave: the lat & long are on my web page at http://www.lochnessinvestigation.com/gordonholmes2007video.htm
ReplyDeleteRegards, Dick.
dont think it was abriachan like ekm says
ReplyDeleteDave - I think GB mis-heard my comments about the cleft in the hills or perhaps misunderstood. There are several places between Drumnadrochit and Lochend where I see "unusual" surface effects - and tourists photographing them - when the wind is in the north-west; the first is where Gordon took his video - which shows 2 similar disturbances separated by ~100 metres; the second is near the Clansman Hotel,where EKM took his video, and the third is the general area from Tor Point to Aldourie Pier, viewed from the "Wellington layby".
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
yes thanks. but i do admit i think this holmes is video shows an animal of some sort. maybe an otter or eel.
ReplyDeleteGlasgow boy great post regarding loch ness monster, without a doubt Gordon holmes filmed Jeremy wades Greenland shark...invisible on sonar to according to roland Watson..interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteGlasgow boy great post regarding loch ness monster, without a doubt Gordon holmes filmed Jeremy wades Greenland shark...invisible on sonar to according to roland Watson..interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never believed that this sighting is a product of natural phenomena like the wind making a distance on the water. The movement is very consistent unlike wind hitting the waters, this object is set on a course and if this was wind why aren’t we seeing more in the Holmes video. The skeptics are really clutching at straws on this one.
ReplyDelete