I will discuss the above image further down, but I just thought I would bring you up to date on the search for the footage taken of possibly one or more large, unknown animals at Loch Morar in the 1980s. The explorer, Sidney Wignall, led the expedition and a portion of the footage appeared on national UK TV before it disappeared from view for four decades. I wrote a blog on what we know of this film three years ago in this article.
After that, things went quiet before two events happened last year which convince me all or part of the footage is within reach, albeit with the usual obstacles. The first was a comment submitted to the aforementioned article from someone who claimed to be in possession of the original film. Naturally, this raised expectations and I got into an email conversation with them. The person said they had not looked at the film for a very long time and it was in a film canister somewhere in their house,. They would undertake a search, but they suspected it was hidden in a pile of canisters and identifying labels would have likely fallen off.
That initial communication came just days into the national coronavirus lockdown. I lost my job within a few months and I suspected my contact was not in a great place either. We all got rather distracted by more important events. I contacted them again in October 2020 but no success in finding it. Yes, I know, it is frustrating. I phoned the person again last week and they had found a box of VHS tapes and were hopeful of finding a taped copy. I await further developments.
Now, I know seasoned readers will sigh and suspect I am being led up the garden path. But I have checked the person's background and I am satisfied that their story is true. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that something will just turn up after forty years of being forgotten about. If they finally find the film, the next issue is copy it to a digital medium. I am prepared to keep on waiting as that does not cost anything and the reward at the end may well be a fantastic piece of cryptid footage. But I can't even say that until I actually see it and assess it. After all, one Nessie expert described it as looking like the silhouette of a plesiosaur and another as looking like a log!
However, in one of those strange coincidences, I was contacted within days of that by another Nessie researcher who had located the news clip of the event. That person wishes to remain anonymous, but I want to thank him for his research in this matter. As it turns out, the Morar film was transmitted on the ITN national news on the 11th November 1981. The collection of ITN News programmes has been catalogued and made available for licensed use through the Getty Images corporation.
The entry for that news clip is clear enough as it describes the news report as opening with Sidney Wignall standing by his plane, then they're looking at a map, the item then changes to them flying over the loch and then the big moment as the "monster" is shown below in the water. This is then still framed followed by an artist's impression of what it might be. The whole sequence lasts perhaps three minutes, I do not know how much of that is "monster" footage.
Okay, great. I contacted Getty Images asking how I access this video. Firstly, I was told it was still in analogue format and had not been digitized. I guess they do these things on demand. I was then asked for what purposes I wanted it and how much of the news clip I wanted to license. This is where the journey began to go uphill. It was not a free item and there was money to be paid to allow its use. To be precise, £150 per second with a minimum of 10 seconds.
I swallowed hard and realised these people tend to deal with richer film and documentary makers who buy the rights to "rent" these clips for their own productions. However, I was advised that one could purchase a private preview of the item to determine whether I wished to proceed. That only cost £150, so I agreed to that.
The reply then came back that they could not even release the preview as part of the news item had third party copyright issues. In other words, the portion of the news report that contained Loch Morar film was third party and could not be release without their consent. Monster hunting was proving to be as elusive online as it was by the lochside. Sidney Wignall died some years back, so what does one do next?
After some consideration and communication, it may be the case that the person who has the original film is the copyright holder. So I went back to Getty Images and told them I had found the copyright holder, how do we proceed? To my surprise, they said they were still unable to provide the clip! That is a continuing conversation.
Anyway, the ITN news report would be great, but the real deal is the original film which has the complete sequence. A few seconds on ITN may not provide all the answers. We live in hope, but I move onto the image at the top of the article as I was informed that this may be another aerial image of Mhorag, the Loch Morar Monster. Another researcher, going by the pseudonym of Nunzio Byznez, contacted me some months back saying he had spotted Mhorag in satellite image of the loch. I zoom into the area of interest in the image.
This was the comment Nunzio passed to me:
I admit it has that 1975 Rines/AAS picture look to it with that long neck and bulbous body so what do we make of this intriguing image? It is no photoshop job as you can go and view it yourself on the satellite images provided by the map facilities of Apple and DuckDuckGo. It is located on the southern part of the Eilean Ban island as circled below.
Well, the first thing to do was check other images from map providers. These images do get updated over time, but here is the one I took from google maps. It is a poorer quality image that the other one and there does not appear to be anything occupying the same stretch of water. Is that due to poor resolution of what?
The next image comes from Microsoft Bing and is shown below. Now here we see that there is something similar looking in the same area. A zoom in of that area is included.
This crater-like image with raised edges would look to confirm that the object in view is part of the shallow loch bed between the small islands. I would guess that it is a sandbank and explains why there is no tail. The other argument is that if it was a living creature, one would not expect it to be in the same location taken by another satellite some time later, perhaps months or years. I am not sure how one would check that the two images are definitely separated in time.
Nunzio has the right of reply here if he has something more to say on the matter. But this image does make one think about the Wignall film which was also taken from above. If it was like this image, then some heated debates may ensue. However, I am persuaded better things of it, but the acid test will be the actual viewing of it, something which is proving to be a waiting game.
The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com
Been waiting to hear something on the Wignall film. I think your right about the sand banks.
ReplyDeleteSo this means another no real proof here?
DeleteYes
DeleteRoland, thanks for your continued efforts. Now that there's some idea of what's on the lake bed it can be taken into future consideration. Wignall's footage, taken from low altitude, might be quite extraordinary after all.
ReplyDeleteWow great researching once again we all appreciate your efforts hope you get a swatch of the video keep up your great work much luv 😎🚬🍻
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/blood-sucking-living-dinosaur-swirling-25303582 did you see this?
ReplyDeleteExcellent work yet again Roland, not all heroes wear capes my friend.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I seem to remember about descriptions of the Wignall film were that it showed animals plural, rather than just an animal. At the very least we can hope for one clear(ish) image of the animal and the other being the sandbank. However 150 per second for 3 minutes, that's a lot of beans to fork out, though I guess if you can get a viewing of the file first then you could decide whether it was worth paying for some of the footage, then maybe crowdfund it?
It must show something compelling, 'Prince' Charles was said to be very interested after seeing it too,for whatever that's worth.
More importantly, have you managed to get another job?
looking at that closeup. looked like a Giant turtle to me!
DeleteJesusFan, Latman is talking about the 1981 footage, not the satellite image.
DeleteThanks Latman, I started a job back in January, so all good.
DeleteThe minimum is 150 for 10s, still £1500 but cannot even get at it ... yet.
Yes JesusFan, I was indeed talking about the 81 footage and not the sandbank pictured in the article.
DeleteRoland, glad to hear it, these are indeed strange times.
With any luck you can get access to the footage so that the worst case scenario is at least you can view it then enlighten us all. I hope that the footage isn't just multiple sandbanks, the fact that Rip mentioned movement is promising, unless it was an optical illusion.
If the footage is indeed worth investing in, I'm sure we would all contribute towards it.
Just seems that much of the so called proof is in the final analyst "not so much"
DeleteAlso, how is it that there are lakes in the region that report nessie like creatures, but some more like large ponds?
If thats a creature it must be enormous lol
ReplyDeleteWhat could it be then, based upon long neck and no tail?
DeleteA sandbank .. did you read the article?
DeleteIf this is really the animal, it seems to conform with Huevelmans & Costello’s proposed body forms for the long-necked sea serpent; with little to no tail.
ReplyDeleteHowever I do agree that it is probably a sandbar. Also it seems odd that these animals could perform such a technique as well.
You mean the infamous long neck seal>
Deleteyeah
DeleteI'm looking at the area on Google Earth and there appear to be plenty of similar shapes in the vicinity. The one in the picture above is still there, as far as I can make out, and it's got a sibling just nearby! Clearly just an underwater feature, and one of a number in this part of the loch.
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteVery disappointing, but hats off to your continued dedication to the cause. Also, there should be a law regards media of national interest, in the same vein as found treasure.
ReplyDeleteWell done! The photo above is probably a sandbar. What Rip Hepple describes from Wignall's film is something else. I quote:
ReplyDelete"The animal was close to the surface and twisting to one side, showing movement as the aircraft passed over."
Indeed, chalk and cheese.
DeleteI found Roland's analysis far more interesting than this image provided. I have always said that Loch Morar deserves more attention and a closer look but I sadly don't see anything apart from a sandbank which is highlighted more due to the natural lighting around the Loch and islands.
ReplyDeleteWatch the whole video if you like, it's actually beautiful but if not then skip to the 2:15 mark and see bottom left. I'm confident that this is nothing more than a sandbank. Have a watch...
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/XSWE3Hf3N-4
Another so called proof for loch ness or similar animals bites the dust!
DeleteThat's just my opinion and observation in regards to the pictures provided. We can't prove that Nessie and Morag don't exist they same way we are struggling to prove that they do exist.
Delete(Obviously I do believe in Nessie)
Lovely. Drones are great.
DeleteThere is an argument that perhaps Nessie is itinerant, however Morar being cut off would preclude Morag from the same.
DeleteGiven that Morar is so deep then hopefully the animals are still there and just out of reach, I still believe there are underwater caves in Ness, so why not in Morar too. If Nessie indeed a visitor and given how clear Morar is, have there been any expeditions with multiple drones or any sonar sweeps? Morag can't go anywhere but Morar after all, unless there are a network of caves that these animals hide in.
Would the creatures in there and Loch Ness be the same then?
Delete@TheLatman - I share the same wish in regards to these 'creatures' being alive and well. Both Lochs are massive and you really do need to be in the right place at the right time. The odds are very much against us.
DeleteI'd like to think that both Lochs have caves or possibly even tunnel like formations but to my understanding the lack of limestone can make it difficult to produce caves over the years. I'm no geologist obviously so I'm open to correction.
@JesusFan - Remember we still don't know what lurks in Loch Ness so your question is hard to answer, however there are similarities in regards to eyewitness accounts, unfortunately that's all we have to go on when searching for the truth.
DeleteIf they are the same 'creature' then why inhabit Loch Ness and Loch Morar? The depth in both Lochs may be appealing but again, why?
Just out of curiosity, is Loch Morar landlocked or not? Hard to tell from maps what's separating it from the sea: spits, sandbars, marshes, locks?
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge it's landlocked with several small streams/burns running into the Loch.
DeleteA river feeds into the sea but when I was there I noted there was a dam-like structure there.
DeleteI just now saw some photos on Getty Images that were, I think, of the western part of the loch, and it looks marshy and otherwise impassable for something big and wet.
DeleteAnother photo from Ricky Phillips perhaps :)
ReplyDeleteDon't know if You've already covered this idea but... Wasn't part of the Wignall film shown on the kid's show Blue Peter on BBC? (Why on earth air it there btw?). I think somewhere on this blog was even stated the exact date.
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance BBC keeps old episodes of the show in their archives? If so, are these available to the public?
Cheers
Yes, that was mentioned. Now we have the ITN date, the BBC archive could be searched, doubtless with the same copyright problem emerging.
DeleteIt may at least be easier to secure a personal viewing, since the BBC is a public service and my understanding is their archives are generally made available to researchers.
DeleteIf a fundraising effort begins, I would donate $100 USD to Roland being able to access the video.
ReplyDeleteYes there is a dam and small hydro electric plant sited on the river Morar. I think it only generates something like 1 kw of power due to its small dimensions, but a dam it, is all the same. The usual fish ladders etc are there and if I remember correctly the difference in height is only about 16 feet. The dam was built just after the second world war and how the terrain was before this I don't know. Maybe the river to sea access was possible before the dam construction.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm a bit late to this party, as usual, but really now people; have you read the article? Many, many, seem to be missing the points...
ReplyDelete@Hopkarma - What point's are we missing?
Delete