In the last ten years, Google has scanned, digitised and put online more than 30 million books. These proved to be a valuable resource a few years back when I researched my book, "The Water Horses of Loch Ness".
However, with an estimate 130 million titles in print, the job is a quarter done. This means forgotten and perhaps valuable references to the Loch Ness Monster and its forerunner, the Water Horse, remain undiscovered.
In the meantime, I also put Google Ngrams to use in that book and apply it again here. This is a tool provided by Google for researchers interested in tracking trends of words and phrases in the scanned literature.
Below, I show the occurrences in the printed literature of the terms Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster, Nessie, Yeti and Sea Serpent. This is an interactive chart which allows you to highlight individual trends since 1933.
Since certain terms can represent the same cryptid, they are summed to give one representative trend. Here is the equivalent static image below (click on to enlarge) and you can go here for the source.
It is clear that the Bigfoot phenomenon is more than twice as far ahead as Nessie. Bigfoot overtook Nessie in the popularity stakes in the mid 1960s which coincides with the Patterson-Gimlin film. Given Bigfoot is very much more ensconced in the American psyche than the Loch Ness Monster, its superior popularity is more or less guaranteed unless a Nessie film of the same quality of Patterson-Gimlin turns up.
Why the Yeti is so high up is a bit of a mystery since photographs and eyewitness accounts are so thin on the ground. Note that like the Bigfoot, it was an image that triggered an uptrend when Eric Shipton's famous Yeti footprint hit the media in 1951.
Also note that the sea serpent has been a pretty consistent performer since the 1930s and even jousted with the Loch Ness Monster for literature hits throughout 1933 to the mid 1960s when Nessie began an upward trajectory. Apart from a slight dip after the Rines expeditions and the onset of scepticism, the trend for Nessie did not level off until the early 2000s.
Since then literature hits has stayed pretty constant as books and articles on the creature address it from the various levels of myth, legend and reality. One wonders what it will take to initiate a new trend in Loch Ness Monster literature?
However, with three possible books on the publishing horizon this year, the trend look set to at least maintain itself sideways. Try out Google Ngrams yourself to see what trends you can discover.
I think the answer to your final question there is an obvious one, Roland.
ReplyDeleteIt would take a quality sighting or sightings plural to reinvigorate the phenomenon.
By 'quality' i mean something that has the kind of impact the Dinsdale film in the 60s or the AAS work in the 70s had. Ok, both those have since been debunked in some quarters, but they both triggered a renewed interest in study at Loch Ness.
There's been nothing in the last 20 years that has had a similar effect i think, and the literature produced over the same time period reflects that.
Hear hear. And it would need a lot more than one or two unidentified sonar blips to generate new interest. The person who claims to be spending several k on 3D sonar in July (really?) take note - you will need much more than a couple of anomalies to justify such a spend.
DeleteYou need to swot up on 3D sonar, Geordie Sceptic. They don't generate "blips" and the latest equipment can be bought for 1000s rather than 10000s. The problem for someone like me is deploying them and being able to use them in long term and targeted manner.
DeleteAlso, having established an interesting image, it still has no more force than a classic photo. If it is inert, someone goes down in a scuba or a ROV to examine it.
You surely get my point though - you now need a lot more than just "We got a couple of unusual hits" for the LNM subject to be renewed. Inside the UK the subject is almost dead now. Cynicism has taken over due to what Feline Trevor says - nothing groundbreaking has occurred for decades.
DeleteAlmost dead? Going by the readiness of the media to publish any image which approximates to the Monster, you're way off the mark.
DeleteI never said the public don't enjoy the occasional bit of fun. The papers also publish pictures of Elvis on a piece of burnt toast etc. Just a bit of a laugh.
DeleteRight, so what has changed? That has always been the case.
DeleteOh there's a huge difference between the 60s and 70s compared to now, you must see that? The subject back then gripped a lot of intelligent people who advocated serious research. The LNPIB was formed and sustained for many years, several scholarly books were written, the subject was discussed in parliament. In 2015 it is taken nowhere near as seriously. In fact the subject is just a joke to nearly every adult in Britain, certainly every adult I know.
DeleteTry forming an LNPIB now and see how successful you are.
The LNM has never been taken seriously by the scientific community. Those who engaged with it tended not to be from the zoological fields (apart from Tucker who may have suffered as a result).
DeleteScholarly books in the 60s and 70s? Okay, we have Mackal. What else was there?
You need to properly distinguish what you mean by "Almost Dead" in terms of categories. In some areas it is down, some flat, some up.
I think the subject has been at best treading water since Deepscan.
DeleteA lack of quality sightings and a tail-off in serious research have ensued. I'd say we need the former to spark the latter.
Another consideration is that over here in the US, there are reality shows that constantly deal with with Bigfoot. You turn on almost any cable channel here and there are shows like Finding Bigfoot,Mountain Monsters,and so on.The is hardly any shows that mention anything regarding Loch Ness at all except for River Monsters.
ReplyDeleteThat alone would cause a spike in numbers and could be why Bigfoot is considered to be popular .
Agreed. If BIgfoot had been a phenomemon based outside the USA, I doubt it would be as popular.
DeletePlus the fact that there is far more tangible evidence for Bigfoot i.e. tracks, strange howlings , or vocalizations, film, and video. A survey of Youtube videos shows and would suggest that something is definitely there, blobsquatch images notwithstanding, unless one thinks they are all a man in a gorilla suit. A good Nessise pic or video would surely cause a rebound. I still think The Loch Ness Monster remains the Holy Grail of cryptids.
DeleteI've not looked into Bigfoot really. Are there any good videos since that PG film, John?
DeleteThere are many, which cannot easily be explained. I just recently saw one of a group of supposed Bigfoot (Bigfeet?) stalking bison at Yellowstone National Park which I found interesting, but who knows? I consider the Patterson-Gimlin film to be genuine. You can see the Yellowstone video here:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRurxAtiLkM
Nice video of some people walking around reasonably near to some bison. :-)
DeleteAll I know about the Patterson film is that Patterson created a booklet with a drawing he made of a Bigfoot with pendulus breasts, then a year or two later he hired a camera telling people he was off to film Bigfoot. He then produced the well known film, featuring exactly what he was after, complete with pendulus breasts matching the drawing he previously made.
I'm sure you can guess what I think.
3D sonar very intrestin !! If this fella is right then gud luck to him! Last time a so called amateur scientist went up there he captured summit intrestin on film!!!! Ya never know. :)
ReplyDeleteThe 3D sonar scan (July) post was made by me. It's the way to go. 3D scans can be 85% accurate when used by a competent operator. The "scuba diver" as posted by GB unfortunately could only dive to a depth of about 100-130tf on compressed air, then bad things happen. Having said that, one must also take in to account the nil visibility at depths below 20ft.
DeleteUnlike 'Op Deep Scan) 70s? The concept is to follow any sonar returns to ascertain a possible feeding/swimming area of activity.
Daz
I can vouch for your plans. Good luck, I hope you strike gold.
DeleteInteresting stuff, Anon.
DeleteI wish you all the best.
When are you looking to start?
Anon (Daz) sounds like he's on the right track. Good luck to him.
DeleteAre there not already 3D sonar systems operating on the Loch? I took the boat trip out of Fort Augustus last summer and they had some sort of 3D system on display.
DeleteYes there are. Gordon Menzies' boat certainly has one.
DeleteIm always for new methods! If this lad is legite then good luck to him! Sure he will enjoy loch ness wateva ! Neway im off to benidorm im sure ull all miss me :))) keep up the banter boyos and less moaning lol xx
ReplyDeleteHave fun Jake. Is it just the two of you going?
DeleteI for one enjoy your input here Jake, you make a lot of sense and you crack me up in a good way sometimes!
DeleteCheers john. always keep a smile on my face unlike some !!!! After all its only a creature... lol
DeleteI usually have a smile on my face, and I don't need 120 units a week to achieve it! :-)
Delete120???? Ya can double that. ;)
DeleteThat's the spirit!
DeleteHello Daz,
ReplyDeleteI wish you the best of luck with your 3D sonar project. I was the follow-up diver on Operation Deepscan, whose task it was to investigate any targets within the range of compressed air diving. From my years of professional diving in Loch Ness I can let you know that 'visibility' remains constant throughout the depth profile although the peat-stained water does limit ambient light observation to around 60 to 70 ft.
From my experience with sonar there is a trade-off between resolution and range, and on Gordon Menzies "Castle Cruises" boat (which I was skippering today) we have a Furuno 50 / 200 kHz fishfinder which is good to 300 metres and also a Lowrance HDS 8 455 / 800kHz which provides good images in relatively shallow water - <50m. Neither is a 3D machine.
What is the make / model of your sonar? And what ROV are you using? After my time diving in Loch Ness I spent several years as an ROV pilot in the North Sea industry.
If I can be of any help just ask.
Cheers, Dick
Daz, what's your name? Does your project have a Facebook page to attract sponsorship? What are the finer details of your plans - start date, duration of trip, boat and sonar to be used, methods for following up any hits etc?
ReplyDeleteA very nice post, GB! Linguistics + cryptozoology = fun.
ReplyDeleteOne suggestion: "Yeti" could be combined with "Abominable Snowman." I just went to the source page and tried it out: the trend shape changed a bit, and the popularity leaped up. Fascinating stuff!
Good call on the abominable snowman, forgot about that.
DeleteThe high figures for the yeti must be related to the popularity of Bigfoot I'd assume anyway. People browsing around looking for Bigfoot info are likely to be interested in the closely related subject of Yetis. I know that when looking for Nessie stuff online I've also occasionally looked up Champ and Ogopogo. Similar legends, different countries.
Delete