A reader of my blog just drew my attention to a comment made by a "William Smith" some months back on a Nessie video clip. What he said sounds astounding but I myself have no recollection of such a TV event back in 1981. To quote his words:
I was in the US Air Force in England circa 1981.
The BBC used to broadcast the news at 9pm. They would always run a
teaser just before 9 at the end of whatever program that was on before
that. We lived in a dorm on base and there'd always be TV's on while we
did whatever we were doing. One night, there were 4 or 5 people in my
room and the TV was on.
It was also on in our dayroom, which was a
communal relaxing room on the floor. ANYWAY,,,,,the teaser for the news
came on. It totally blew us away. There in front of us on the TV was
footage,,,,not video,,but film,,,taken from inside an RAF helicopter
over a shallow area of Loch Ness. The guys in the copter were yelling
and the camera was pointing below them. You could see the wash from the
propeller on the water and in the middle of it was a creature. It looked
like a small dinosaur,,,it had four flippers, a long neck and a
somewhat short tail. It was thrashing about in a panic under the
helicopter. The footage was real. They didn't have CGI back then, the
inside of the copter was real,,,the men were yelling, the noise was
loud,,,and the scene on the water was real.
The announcer was saying
something to the effect that the RAF had found Nessie and details would
follow at 9. Of course we all freaked out. We watched at 9 and
absolutely nothing was said. We were completely perplexed. Many people
saw the clip,,,I know of at least two of my superiors who contacted the
BBC and the RAF and no one seemed to know anything.
We'd all seen it. I
met locals who saw it as well. There was no internet then,,,no phones to
text with,,,,so word couldn't get around like we can do today. I talked
to people about it for weeks and many people saw it. The story faded
away and one can only wonder what the hell happened. But for me,,,,the
creature,,whatever it is, exists.
By some coincidence, a seperate facebook post from yesterday stated this:
I have not been able to find it again but I saw a video a few years ago taken from a helicopter hovering over Loch Ness and a sturgeon, from 20-25 feet long, was just under the surface of the water. Parts of its back were above the water. It is a perfect candidate (use Occam's Razor) for the Loch Ness "monster." It settled the matter for me.
It sounds like they are referring to the same video but with a differing interpretation. But anything 20-25 feet long filmed in the loch is a must see, sturgeon or not. So there are two questions here. Does anyone remember seeing this alleged clip back then and if it really was recorded, where is it now and why was it pulled?
Let's see how far we can go with this and see what turns up. I blogged on some airborne sightings a few months back.
The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com
They are two very different interpretations certainly. How they could end up so diverse beats me. I wonder if there is a conspiracy to keep the media from reporting anything that might upset the apple cart? I remember a documentary on Roswell, where the owner of a radio station was phoned by someone in government and told if he run the story, he'd lose his license by the end of the night. Unless William Smith has had an invented or corrupted memory (which is possible), could there have been some media interference? I can't see a reason not to run the story of the century, unless you are told not to.
ReplyDeleteI would see no justification for withholding such an event. I mean, it's not like it would upset or shatter the whole world order or society in regards to peoples religious beliefs or otherwise, or the outright consternation and maybe even panic that might ensue, like the revelation of the reality of extraterrestrials would. Unless it was a huge conspiracy by an Illuminati like order of skeptics to save face lol. Anyway I would take that story with a raised eyebrow and a tiny grain of salt.
DeleteAssuming for a moment that the video exists close to the form mentioned, one explanation is that some important news item came in to push it out. For example the Toxteth riots of July 1981. Every news item has a use by date it would seem.
DeleteEven so, that would have been "Big" news internationally, bar none. Definitive prove of the LNM. Nobody would dare sweep it under the rug not even skeptics. Are you kidding me! And Robert Rines would have been all over it. Even arch skeptics such as Dick Raynor and Adrian Shine would have welcomed it and pushed for it's dissemination. In all fairness, both have often stated that they would love to be proven wrong.
DeleteYes well that's the question, how definitive was such a video?
DeleteI'm in two minds about this. One says on the balance of probability, the video does not exist. The other recalls the video of champ from the mid 2000s, clearly showing some unknown beside a small boat. In the end it was absorbed into the ether. Who knows what's out there that remains forgotten?
DeleteThere may also be another reason why the powers that be would like to keep us stupid about such things. The scientific community has been proven to be extremely resistant to anything that might uproot any of it's fundamental principles. Whereby we might have to rewrite history books. As Ted Holiday said, humps were acknowledged as moving across Loch Ness by the zoological powers that be, but no attempts were made to solve the mystery. I happen to believe, after many years of thinking about this, that it's a mystery of physics and not zoology. Maybe it's a box the scientific community, or governments, don't want to open. Maybe it would lead to many more unanswered questions, and maybe it would create public panic. So the best thing to do is, as with unexplained aerial phenomenon, pretend it doesn't exist and that the eyewitnesses are delusional.
DeleteI love a good old conspiracy theory be it Jesuits, CIA, Freemasons, P2, Roswell, Princess Diana, etc. Imagine the monster was an alien pet whom the Greys didn't want harmed and certain people at the loch were paid disinformation agents. It would make a good novel if well written. :)
DeleteBut that kind of nessie conspiracy line has already been taken up in some books and films. Alten's "The Loch" comes to mind and Danson's "Loch Ness" with the secretive water bailiff.
DeleteI'm sure it would make a great novel! I'm aware of the 1996 film, although I don't quite remember the gist of it. I have become rather interested in the lengths that some people will go to in order to protect a secret, as I have progressed into middle age. A lot of official explanations just don't make sense, and yet we are asked to swallow them without asking questions. Some of these explanations I wouldn't accept from a child, never mind a government. There are many proven instances where the conspiracy turned out to be more than a theory. There's almost too much bad luck associated with identifying Nessie. And the older I get, the more I realise that the world we live in is less like the one I actually see in front of me. I know for a fact that journalism in Northern Ireland is stifled so that the country can run as smoothly as possible. I'm not referring to rumours that anyone can make up, but corroborated events that cannot be reported on. These events call the ability to govern of some of our politicians seriously into question. Things about these people that are absolutely in the public interest. Obviously, this means that a free press is not really free, and that governments or other groups have a certain sway in what is reported and how. Hence the fact that UFOs, Nessie and other unexplained phenomena are treated with derision, regardless of the mass of eyewitness evidence.
DeleteI don't know if evidence of Nessie is being withheld, but I'm fairly sure that evidence of UFOs is withheld. Churchill forbade the discussion of it in a signed letter, as people's faith in the church might diminish. So it wouldn't surprise me if something similar was afoot with Loch Ness.
I only raise the issues about Northern Ireland as it's where I'm from and I have some knowledge of how information is treated here.
DeleteI could see the C.O. of the RAF squadron involved not wanting his people getting too involved with the media over this, but if the film was already released strange how it seems to have disappeared...
DeleteI'm curious to see if anyone outside of Smith recalls this. On the facts he provides - a Loch Ness Monster staying on the surface with a helicopter over head, so close to the water that it created its own wash; also, it is in a shallow area - this does not fit the usual Nessie behavior. I'm going to say William is spinning yarns...
ReplyDeleteExcept we have a Jason Mack recallng a similar story ...
Delete1981...So very long ago. I was also in the US Air Force, living in a dorm at Vandenberg AFB California, right on the coast overlooking the Pacific ocean in the last years of my 8 year hitch. Good times!
ReplyDeleteThis could be the clip I’ve half remembered for decades. Except I remember if being shown on a programme like Blue Peter or Magpie. I remember at the time that it was presented in an underwhelming
ReplyDeleteway - whereas I was freaking out that it was incontrovertible evidence of a lake creature (I was probably about ten years old at the time so this would have been c. 40 years ago), the presenter was very calm, which suggests to the grown me that it was a sturgeon or something of that ilk. For some reason I always thought it was actually taken at Loch Morar rather than Loch Ness.
Thanks, well that is the question, how noteable is this video? If it was a sturgeon like creature I am pretty certain Adrian Shine would have made mileage out of it when he was discussing the sturgeon theory in the 1980s.
DeleteI also remember a film clip from about 40 years ago shown on a program like Blue Peter or Magpie.The film showed what looked like (to me) a very large crocodile like creature, which had four appendages and a long tail,a large head on a shortish neck.Salamander like perhaps.Someone from the helicopter was being interviewed and he said when the creature was next spotted he intended to jump into the water and take a tissue sample (I remember thinking better you than me mate).Nothing seems to have come from any of this.
DeleteI have also always thought this film clip was taken at Loch Morar.From memory the water seemed to be very clear.
It seems we have a few recollections, but like seeing the beast itself, all anecdotal.
DeleteLike Jack, I recall the focus of the clip being that they were planning to tag it. And yes, the water was very clear - certainly not Loch Ness like!
DeleteThat was my initial thoughts, but 37 years is a long time to recall things. I will likely dig a bit deeper into this at the weekend.
ReplyDeleteExtremely interesting, I eagerly await updates. The recollections are great, there’s obviously something significant here.
ReplyDeleteI do remember this at the time although I've always thought it was on ITN News as part of their 'And finally ..
ReplyDelete' features of the time. The image of the creature was clear. The film, as I remember, showed the creature both being relatively still near the shore and also swimming at some pace down the loch. I've been trying to find it online to no avail
When you say clear, do you mean relatively unambiguous? And it's clearly not a sturgeon? I find the confusion between sturgeon and unknown animal with paddles / long neck irreconcilable, especially when seen from above. And I remember a video from an English guy on YouTube some years ago, adamant that the authorities were using helicopters to drive the creatures from the surface. I didn't put any stock on it though.
DeleteI thought at the time it looked more like the classic 'Nessie' description than anything else, but then again I had little idea what a sturgeon looked like at the time, so there's always the possibility I jumped to a conclusion.
ReplyDeleteThe flippers seemed to be bigger than sturgeon, thinking back, and there was a definite body and tail rather than one, long, thick body. It's 37 years on, though, so the memory may be doing some crafty editing!
As far as I can recall, the film wasn't shown as one continous thing, with the creature being still and moving off. It was a shot of it seemingly resting and floating off shore then it cut straight to it swimming at speed through the loch.
Always thought I saw it on ITN, though.
That's fascinating. The fact that several people have a similar memory suggests more than a grain of truth here. I would be quite surprised if a sturgeon was filmed and it made the national news as Nessie. It's very interesting that this video has been lost, or buried. The only explanations I can see are that:
Delete1. You are all remembering a very similar event that didn't happen.
2. It was a sturgeon and almost everyone concerned, including the news crews, thought it was an unknown animal. This does not explain how the film has disappeared from the record.
3. The information in the film is deliberately being kept from the public, or it was scrapped after being deemed to have been less interesting than first thought. This doesn't explain why the BBC has no knowledge of the event, although in the end it may have been one of the ITV companies concerned.
On an aside but related, I wrote an email to a Canadian TV production company who had advertised for information from anyone who had seen a creature at Loch Morar, as they were making some form of documentary about the mystery. I had asked if they had many responses and what was the quality of the information. I believe I wrote the email 2 or 3 years after their advert was dated. The response was courteous, but of no value, as they had outsourced the work to another company, who had then abandoned the documentary due to lack of interest. The woman who wrote the response had no idea who commissioned the documentary, and basically all the information had been lost, in the . You would wonder how many times this happens in the media world.
Okay solved. There is a cine film taken from above at that time. Follow up to come.
ReplyDeleteThis better be good!
DeleteWow! It's a lost masterpiece. Or it's nothing? Who knows?!
DeleteHi Roland, nothing beats exploring your blog before heading to bed, it never bores me! Just a wee question, how did you get on with hunting down this footage?
DeleteI suspect it was actually the Wignall cine film taken at the same time at Loch Morar.
Deleteperhaps a request for information regarding this topic may be found here :
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/researching-bbc-archives/zrqpwty