Friday 16 January 2015

A Photograph from Loch Ness

A strange looking picture has emerged from Loch Ness this week. Taken by author Geoffrey McSkimming from Australia, it appears to show something in the loch as he took a picture of his companion, Sue-Anne Webster.

The trouble is he was not aware of anything at the time which adds to the mystery. Assuming the picture is not a product of the proverbial photoshop, the object does appear to be part of the scene as vegetation obscure part of its form.

However, from a Loch Ness Monster point of view, what might be interpreted as the head is very elongated compared to classic eyewitness descriptions. In fact, it look more like one of the herons occasionally seen at the loch, though even that does not look entirely a perfect fit as the "beak" looks decidely blunt. I certainly do not think it is a defect in the image.

Comments are invited as to what this object might be and the author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com









If it is a photoshop job, Jens emailed me to suggest it is a PAPO Plesisosaur model. Okay, perhaps but needs a bit of stretching and editing! You can see the modern issue with coming up with a picture of the Loch Ness Monster that can evade the trap of digital image editing.




Original story:



Australian Adventurers Capture Loch Ness Monster

A pair of Australian adventurers have captured, in a photograph, this incredible image of the Loch Ness monster.

Geoffrey McSkimming, noted adventurer, world-traveller, raconteur and author, best known for the Cairo Jim and Phyllis Wong Mystery series of children’s adventure stories, and companion and fellow adventurer, Sue-Anne Webster, actress and freelance magician extraordinaire, were celebrating Sue-Anne’s birthday on the misty shores of Loch Ness, in Inverness, Scotland, when legendary lost dinosaur Nessie photo-bombed the happy snap.

Geoffrey reports that the pair had no idea the mysterious denizen of the deep was behind them, “Not until after we took the photo…oh my gosh! No! I swear when I took this photo there was nothing in the water.”

“No, there wasn’t when I looked either…she’s a teaser,” added Sue-Anne.

In the tradition of such pictures, the image of Nessie is indistinct, out of focus, blurry. Dour, unimaginative official types have described it as a smeared drop of water on the camera lens.

The creature, agreed by many investigators and scientists to be a prehistoric plesiosaur, a large aquatic dinosaur, probably became trapped in the deep mountain-edged lake in ancient times when it was still open to the ocean. The dinosaur has been given the tentative scientific name Plesiosaur McSkimming-Websterii. Possibly because the fabulous beastie skims through the water with large webbed flippers, and of course the Mc at the beginning merely indicates its Scottish origin. Why do scientists add two i‘s to the end of words to make them scientific? Nobody knows. It’s another mystery.

There are unconfirmed reports that this pair of mystery solving aces will now begin an expedition to the High Himalayas to discover the Abominable Snow Man.

Until then Geoffrey McSkimming’s children’s adventure stories are available in libraries, online and in all good bookstores, and the amazing Sue-Anne Webster is available for magical performances, including her world renowned I Dream Of Jeannie show.

34 comments:

  1. Thanks GB, and for opening up the comments section for this one, I always love reading it.

    Have to say I think this one looks far too similar to that heron to be a real contender. I take your point about the blunt beak, but I still think it looks very heron-esque.

    I also have an issue with the size - if you look at the lady's head and use that as a rough guide, you definitely don't get the 20-30ft beast often mentioned.

    The other thought that struck me - isn't there a model Nessie somewhere along the shoreline for a tourist centre or something? You'll have to forgive my lack of local knowledge here!

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    1. Certainly not a cormorant, they have a more bulbous head.

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    2. Yes, thanks GB. An occasional opening of the comments section on noteworthy occurrences would be appreciated and an even trade-off to no comments. Or, did you miss the comments section also and do a U-turn? Anyway, the pic, to me, looks to good to be true, as most alleged LNM. pics of late turn out to be. Also, it looks to flat, one dimensional and indistinct. I also agree that it does not conform to the classic eyewitness descriptions. It certainly looks like some kind of prehistoric saurian creature and not avian in nature. Can you say Photoshop? Or, maybe “Jeannie” conjured up a Nessie look alike. Now, where's that Geordy! This should be fun.

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    3. There is a model monster by the shore at the Clansman Hotel, but this is not that.

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    4. Oh really! I didn't know that! You must mean this model at the Clansman Hotel.

      From Jonathan Brights blog here:

      http://jonathan-brights-urban-tales.blogspot.com/

      A larger pic here:

      http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uPgqTYfnI1w/UvlvKia4k0I/AAAAAAAAARY/toqa-zr4Rk8/s1600/a2.jpg

      And from YouTube here:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGi5onbHdY8

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    5. John, I have retired from the Nessie scene for the foreseeable future. I have found the scene to be very closed-minded and unwilling to discuss non-monster theories. For example I sent a request to join the Zombie Plesiosaur Society facebook page and was rejected and blocked. I wasn't even given the chance to join and comply with the page rules. For a "free thinking" movement that decision was extraordinary.

      So my stance now is to stay away from a scene like this. If anything interesting should emerge from Loch Ness in the future, I may resurface (no pun intended!), but I won't exercise my keyboard fingers on photos like this one, or decades old eyewitness reports without accompanying photographic evidence. It's simply not worth my time and effort trying to debate with anyone who finds the above image worthy of anything more than a quick snigger.

      So farewell John A, for now at least. It was fun until the censorship ruined it...

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    6. Wow! That's to bad Geordie, must be a real exclusive club. I guess your reputation preceded you from here and you've become well known for your passionate arguments! Perhaps you should feel flattered. The Great Groucho Marx once stated “I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER". So take heart, maybe they feel your too much of a threat to them!

      Only a completely gullible person would take the pic seriously. I think Mr McSkimming and Miss Webster, or other persons unknown doctored the pic for publicity sake. The proposition that they will now solve the mystery of the Abominable Snowman says it all. I think GB posts these types of stories from time to time all in the spirit of fun and to elicit comments from readers in order to establish their mind–set. I certainly don't think GB thinks it shows an actual animate creature, he's much more sophisticated than that!

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    7. I oculd reply to some points made, but ... meh!

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    8. Re-opening comments, John? More on a case by case basis.

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    9. Hey, Geordie, the ZPS is a lot less "exclusive" than you think. We have plenty of skeptical members, so I'd ask you to actually look at group discussion before giving it the "closed minded" label. Regardless, I'd be delighted if you'd join under a real name. Unfortunately, we have experienced several spammers recently so we're not too fond of inviting individuals with pseudonyms. But, as I said, we at the ZPS would be delighted for you to join and learn that we most assuredly are not "closed minded".

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    10. Right, understood. Good idea.

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  2. My thoughts are that it's quite close, about the right size for a heron, and it's showing much too much body depth to be a plesiosaur (or indeed any aquatic animal) in the water. If it's out of the water, and crunching along the typical pebbly shore, I'm amazed they didn't notice it.

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  3. The Nessie model Brightonlad is probably referring to is located in a pond adjacent to the Loch Ness Center. The model actually resembles a plesiosaur. The sighting of Plesiosaur McSkimming-Websterii has got to be a joke, prank or a hoax take your pick.

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  4. This says everything. That image is a fake as a 2.47 dollar bill...

    "Geoffrey McSkimming, noted adventurer, world-traveller, raconteur and author, best known for the Cairo Jim and Phyllis Wong Mystery series of children’s adventure stories, and companion and fellow adventurer, Sue-Anne Webster, actress and freelance magician extraordinaire, were celebrating Sue-Anne’s birthday on the misty shores of Loch Ness, in Inverness, Scotland, when legendary lost dinosaur Nessie photo-bombed the happy snap.
    Until then Geoffrey McSkimming’s children’s adventure stories are available in libraries, online and in all good bookstores, and the amazing Sue-Anne Webster is available for magical performances, including her world renowned I Dream Of Jeannie show."

    Lol,
    Jon Long Island, NY

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  5. She's cute but why does the "arse" end of it look like the back of my old Boxer dog with bobbed tail? It looks like it was drawn and assembled to resemble "Champ" descriptions.

    Lyall M

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  6. I think we should allow the photo to be interned into the 'waste basket' of piss takers. People like this are diversifying the true researchers kudos ie Steve F, the late TD

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  7. There's also a head and neck shape protruding into frame from the upper right side sky portion. A Nessie mom doting over her fledgling? You decide. ;-)

    Jon LINY

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  8. The lighting and contrast are all wrong. While the main picture looks like it was taken on an overcast day, the "creature" appears to be lit from the front / left by strong sunlight. As is said above, one for the waste basket.

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  9. finally! definitive proof that the loch ness monster exists. after all, an author wouldn't fake a photo like that, merely to plug their books, would they?

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  10. It looks to my eyes to be a photoshop of a bird-like dinosaur, but with the legs removed from the image to give the impression the creature is floating in the water.
    Paddy

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  11. Which brings up one of the main points of this article - how would you "know" a real Nessie picture when it appears?

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    Replies
    1. A clean clear shot of what appears to be an animate object by reliable witness(es) As far as I know analysis can detect digital tampering but I could be wrong on that.

      Of course all photo's and video's since digital capture are now forever suspect. But for once... a clean clear sharp shot at short range or with telephoto. I want there to be a nessie but the usual photos and videos that appear from time to time are a joke and insult to ones intelligence.

      Jon LINY

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    2. Good point GB. We are so used to being duped over the years that when the real thing is finally caught in a good, clear, closeup photo we'll tend to dismiss it as to good to be true. Until a Nessie is recorded in a clear, closeup hi-res, well lit video and displaying animate movement, then it will be obvious that it is a living creature. Then we will have definitive proof at last..

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    3. Geoffrey reports that the pair had no idea the mysterious denizen of the deep was behind them, “Not until after we took the photo…oh my gosh! No! I swear when I took this photo there was nothing in the water.”

      I think the above quote says it all. As for a "real" Nessie photo, one photo on it's own is not going to prove anything, no matter how detailed it is.

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  12. Poor Photoshop job, obviously.

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  13. At this point in time the only still photos I would accept would be a sequence of rapid-fire shots. Such a sequence would (or should) show motion. They would have to be reasonably close up or a telephoto lens used, and would also have to be in color. And of course be detailed.

    Paddy

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  14. Whats the point of this? Waste of everyones time. Got any photos worth looking at???

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    Replies
    1. I think every known and available supposed pic of the LNM has been displayed on this blog. Anyone wishing to waste their time elsewhere can Google “Loch Ness Monster pics” and get a plethora of images, from the possible and the obvious fakes to the plain silly, with plenty of superfluous redundancy. Believe me, I've wasted my time there!

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    2. Herein lies the problem. There is not one Nessie photo which is both clear and not engulfed in suspicious circumstances. Not even one.

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    3. I put it to you that this would be true even of a genuine picture. Why? People have agendas and some will never accept photographic evidence. They'll throw fake mud and it will stick. I have seen how various testimonies, films and photos have been attacked by critics. Their tactics are well known to me after over four years of running this blog.

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    4. Can you tell me the name of a photo which is actually genuine, clear, and has been demonstrably falsely sullied in the manner you suggest?

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    5. Not "falsely sullied". Anything that sounds "plausible" is put forward. There is no photo which has not had some degree of doubt raised against it. Objection can be as facile as "no background - not taken at Loch Ness", "object too big to be Nessie", "doesn't look like a Nessie", etc.

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