Still Blogging Nessie Three Years On

It was on the 18th July 2010 that I published my first article on this blog. It wasn't much, basically a "Welcome to the Loch Ness Blog" post which flagged my intentions and nothing more. At the time, I had no idea whether it would have any impact on people's perceptions of the Loch Ness Monster and even to this day, I find such a metric hard to quantify.

Be that as it may, the blog has increased in popularity as people seeking old and new information on Nessie make their visits. That first post currently has a modest page hit of 509. The most popular posting to date is Marcus Atkinson's sonar story with over 81,000 hits. Behind that lies one of my favourites - the analysis of the Hugh Gray photograph.

In terms of search engines, a Google search for "loch ness monster" usually finds the blog somewhere on the first page of results which has some relevance as not every Google user goes beyond the first page.

Again, this helps gets the message out as people do not know exactly where to find the material. Nevertheless, what people think of what they read no doubt covers a wide spectrum! One thing is certain, though. If people are not reading it, they are not being affected by it. Those reading it may have ascertained the ethos of the blog. It is to defend the Loch Ness Monster and attack opposition arguments.

That may sound a tad bellicose, but it is an argument rather than a war. It is based on words rather than weapons.  It is a strategy that uses the same tools that sceptical commentators claim to use. Indeed, some sceptics reading this may smirk and assure themselves that they have exclusive access to these tools, but I disagree.

Over these three years, I have gotten used to various remarks ascribed by sceptics to those who believe in the existence of large, unknown animals in Loch Ness. They're now like water off a plesiosaur's back. However, that does not diminish the motivation to state one's own case.

There will be phrases such as "gullible", not "grown up" or indulging in the equivalent of reading entrails. Meanwhile, eyewitness reports are sarcastically demoted to "ancient texts" as if they had as much relevance to life today as the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Such is the attitude of some sceptics to those who believe or know there is a monster in Loch Ness. Such is the hardening of scepticism towards opposing views over the last quarter of a century as they began to dominate the game.

Scepticism applies science and critical thinking whilst we seemingly apply the throwing of juju bones. As I have surveyed and analysed the so called application of science and logic by scepticism, I sometimes wonder if the roles are better reversed.

There is no better example than the recent claim by an Italian scientist that Loch Ness Monster sightings are attributable to earthquakes along the Great Glen fault.  It is a ridiculous claim that is easily refuted but since it is a scientist that proclaims it and since some thinking must have been involved, then surely we ought to genuflect before it?

Then there was the claim in 2006 by paleontologist, Neil Clark, that some sightings were attributable to circus elephants swimming in Loch Ness. Not as daft as earthquake bubbles but one that is again not backed up by the evidence. Again, do we swallow this explanation hook, line and sinker because it came from someone who claimed to apply the scientific method?

Going back to the 1960s, we had eminent zoologist, Maurice Burton, extolling the virtues of vegetable mats floating around Loch Ness. No one now believes this has any logical force or evidential compulsion.

So much for scientists you may say, but sceptics sidestep these issues by claiming that these theories are postulated by scientists who may be expert in one field, but not in others relevant to Loch Ness. Which prompts me to ask whether they themselves are qualified in the fields they speak on. What do I mean by that?

Today, Loch Ness Monster sightings are dismissed on the premise that they are ordinary objects seen in out-of-ordinary circumstances. So it is not seismic bubbles, elephants or rotting mats but just a log or a boat wake or a string of birds seen in the wrong place at the wrong time.

By way of example, over on the Loch Ness Monster Debate Facebook page, one researcher told all and sundry that the famous Greta Finlay case was merely a sighting of a deer and a boat wake. When that monstrous explanation surfaced, even fellow sceptics did not accept it:

"I think skeptics claiming what the Finlay's saw was a Deer is a bit of an insult to their intelligence really as I'm sure being resident in the area, they would have seen the odd one every now and again!"

"I find the "deer debunk" a little bit of a stretch myself, anyone with even minimal experience in the outdoors can identify a deer."

I agree with them, it does not make sense and if I was a sceptic it would be more logical just to call it a hoax. But having read the claims of scepticism these last three years, it became evident that there was one theory that was being promoted which to me has about as much kudos as bubbles and pachyderms.

It is the theory that people entering the Loch Ness Zone, come under some psychological change that makes them see monsters instead of deers and other objects. We are not talking about people who make honest mistakes about standing waves half a mile away. This apparently covers even sightings only 20 yards away!

Remember I talked about those not qualified to speak? Well, if you are going to talk about gross misperceptions, I suspect you need to be qualified in matter of neurology as it appertains to the visual, perceptual and memory portions of the brain. I don't think I have met such a person in the field of Loch Ness research yet, but the implication is that there exists a rigorous scientific framework for this. 

I don't see any such books, experiments or peer reviewed scientific papers which compel anyone to accept that Nessie sightings can be explained in this way. There has been experiments with poles bobbing up and down in the water, but nothing conclusive. The theory does not even appear to be falsifiable (i.e. it always comes up with an explanation). If anyone says that all sightings can be explained in such a way (apart from the ones they decide are hoaxes), ask them for scientific proof.

But the "battle" continues apace. I noted this article with the bold title "It’s time to finally give up on the Loch Ness Monster". Really? Tell me why!

For a start we are swiftly directed to a recent blog piece on Scientific American by Darren Naish who has rehashed an analysis of various Nessie photos. Let us see how cutting a piece of critical thinking it is. Well, for a start, it is not Mr. Naish's own critical thinking as most sceptics just regurgitate what others have said. As it turns out, his article has more logical holes in it than the proverbial Swiss cheese.

For a start, he tells us that:

"sightings and photographic and sonar evidence can be satisfactorily explained as mistaken or embellished encounters with known animals (including swimming deer, water birds, seals, and small cetaceans), waves, or optical illusions."

However, and in the light of what I just said, he prefaces that statement with the words "I am of the opinion that ...". In other words, this is no scientific fact that he is presenting, it is just his opinion. Why is that? Because he can't prove it!

He further says:

"The expectation that there’s an unknown animal in Loch Ness almost certainly explains the recent history of sightings."

There's that unproven theory again but now he tells us it is a near certainty it is true without any evidence to conclusively prove it. But crucial to that theory is the absence of monster reports before monster fever struck in 1933:

".. there is no tradition of sightings, nor are their old historical reports or anything like that pre-dating the 1930s"

This is complete nonsense, and I have devoted an entire book to disproving it. But if people were claiming to see Nessie before 1933, his theory about modern monster expectations takes a serious blow.

Naish then proceeds through some well known hoaxes such as the Wilson and Shiels photographs. He then calls fake on the famous picture of Nessie approaching Castle Urquhart by Peter MacNab. He claims it is too big and too dark but claims the real bad news was Roy Mackal's analysis in 1976. That analysis was shown to be irrelevant in my own article on the picture. Darren should have had no problem finding the article, you type "peter macnab loch ness" into Google and it comes up as top match. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

Darren's debunking of Peter O' Connor's picture is then executed but again he is almost completely reliant on what others have said (in this case, Maurice Burton). Did Naish critique Burton's analysis? You can bet your ass he didn't and therein lies a problem. Sceptics do not critique sceptics in any meaningful degree. Never mind, that's my job .. .and anyone else that cares to join me.

Then the Rines photos and the recent Edwards picture are shot down and with some reason I have to agree. But what about the other pictures? Has Darren committed a logical non-sequiter by making his readers assume that if these are fakes then so are the rest? Yes, he has.

So, with that, he says, "So that's that! We move on." I wish they would and leave Loch Ness to the rest of us (and Charlie Sheen)!

Three years on, the modus operandi of scepticism has become more familiar to me. In fact, as one reader suggested, it can be perceived as more than a scientific norm, it is a social and cultural norm. In other words, it is fashionable to be a sceptic. Laissez faire principles apply as supply and demand produces more sceptics and we reach saturation point. You can't move for them now on cryptozoological forums! Back in the 60s and 70s, I suspect the situation was the complete opposite - again because it was more fashionable to believe in high strangeness.

But to be fashionable leads to lack of competition, which leads to lack of peer review and leads to obesity in critical thinking which leads to ill thought out arguments which more often than not are proposed rather than proven.

Will scepticism accept any of this? Of course it won't. Will this blog continue to find the flaws in their arguments? All I can say is, here's to another three years!

Classic Sightings: Michael McCullough

Date: November 21st 1972
Time: Noon?
Location: Near Fort Augustus Abbey
Witnesses: Michael McCullough and five others
Type of sighting: multiple humps
Conditions: Not Known

Back in November, a reference to a Nessie report appeared on the cryptozoological website cryptozoo-oscity. It was a brief account from four schoolboys from the local Fort Augustus Abbey school:

A 14-year-old Bo’ness boy claimed that he had come within 15 yards of the Loch Ness Monster. Michael McCullough was walking along the banks of Loch Ness when the giant creature appeared in front of him and his three friends. 

I began to probe around to find more details on this story and eventually bits and pieces came in. The reference to the Linlithgow Gazette was a dead end as local newspapers in Central Scotland are more likely to go through liquidations or mergers than national newspapers. Investigating various candidates at my local library turned up trumps with this clipping from the Livingston Journal and Gazette date 27th November 1972.

Bo'ness boy sights 'Nessie' 

A 14-YEAR-OLD Bo'ness boy claimed on Tuesday that he had been within 15 yards of the Loch Ness monster! Michael McCullough, son of a well-known Bo'ness practioner Dr Michael McCullough of Rosemount, Dean Road, was walking along the shores of Loch Ness with three friends when the legendary "Nessie" appeared. The monster surfaced "not much more than ten yards away" then swam across Borlum Bay before submerging again about three minutes later. Michael and his friends, aged 13, 14 and 15, reported their sighting to their headmaster at Fort Augustus Abbey School. Dr Edward Buchanan. 

CRUISED AWAY 

The boys later told "Nessie" expert Mr Alex. Campbell of Fort Augustus that the monster cruised away at a speed of between five and ten miles an hour leaving a one-foot high wake behind it, they say it was dark slate in colour and very shiny. There were three separate parts to the creature which moved through the water like a caterpillar. They estimated the monster to be about 20 feet long with several flipper-like appendages which it appeared to use as a method of propulsion.


Ten yards is very close indeed for a monster sighting but the account is pretty short on detail for something so close. However, the description appears to be of three humps with propulsion appendages being in view. The mention of moving through the water like a caterpillar is confusing as caterpillars do not move through water! This appears to be one of those metaphors applied to Nessie when one is not sure how to describe what one is looking at. I assume it refers to the vertical undulations that are often associated with the Loch Ness Monster.

Explanations will be offered as to what actually happened. The boys merely saw our ubiquitous standing wave which seems to explain everything multi-hump, no matter how fantastical the description. Another explanation is the safety net of the hoaxer. A comment placed on the aforementioned cryptozoo-oscity site says:

It was a hoax. I was at the school at the time. They were bored and made it up. 

However, the fact that the comment is anonymous and placed there on April Fool's Day does not really engender confidence in its authenticity. Forty one years after that event I tracked down Michael on Facebook and asked him what he remembered about that day:

RW: Can you tell me about the time you saw Nessie when there (at the school)?

MM: There were four of us; memory quite distant but a big dark grey thing in the water which shot off at a fair speed was NOT imagination... it was seen independently by two other people from a different viewpoint at the same time too. I have no idea what it was, but it was certainly big and alive. Like over 8m long. What more can I say?

Evidently, the passing of years has not encouraged Michael to admit to any school prank. He is still adamant about the story and the details do not appear to have diminished (I had not shown him the clipping above).

A schoolboy prank or the real deal? You, the reader, must decide!

The Latest "Nessie" Pictures

These pictures turned up recently on the Nessie Facebook page and are certainly worthy of further consideration. The witness was Daniel Parker and another on the 26th June about 3pm near the village of Inverfarigaig on the south shore.

He was driving along this quieter road when his attention was taken by an object which appeared to be moving against the prevailing water currents.  He estimated it was about 5 to 6 feet in length and about 1 foot out of the water. He quickly took four pictures with his Blackberry phone before it submerged. Two of these pictures are shown here.

Clearly, the two pictures have been taken from different positions as I see no obvious correlation between the foreground branches in the pictures. However, an examination of the object in the pictures shows it has slightly altered its appearance, though again it is not clear whether this is due to the object itself or the water around it.

Could it be a rock? The location is beside a small section of wall opposite Achnahannet. A look at Google StreetView gives a general view of the location. A zoom in to this area in the second photo shows a rock poking out of the foliage to the right but that rock is far closer to the shore than the object in Daniel's picture.

Rocks do appear and disappear with the loch's rising water levels but not this far out. In fact, rocks that far out would be a hazard to shipping! Two pictures I took with my game camera near this spot show how the rising water level can make rocks come and go, but again I emphasise this is more likely right up at the shoreline.

Daniel says he thought he saw something similar the previous day, but that could indeed have been some of the rocks nearer the shore and it was not at the same location. To quote Daniel:

The first picture was from a clearing about fifty yards from the beginning of the scrub, once this thing was out of view, I reversed the car about ten/twenty feet to another clearing, that's your other picture. This thing started to submerge to the right of this picture and as you can see there is more scrub, by this time I reversed the car back to by where the wall is, we sat there a few minutes, seen nothing and drove off.

One other consideration is a log of some shape which is moving against the prevailing wind due to an underwater seiche. This is possible, but the main point here is that the object submerged and did not reappear after the witnesses had waited for a few minutes. Logs do not tend to do this.

So, it could be a living creature and Dan is adamant it was not a seal. If it was indeed showing up to six feet of body out of the water, that limits our options in terms of animals. Perhaps some more information will be forthcoming if the other two pictures become available.

As an aside, I note the good old Loch Ness Hoodoo struck when one of the witnesses told me he had left a "good camera and video cam with great zoom" at their cabin. I doubt that would matter. As soon as Nessie notes they have better equipment, she'll stay underwater! 

But it shows the need for the best equipment one has when at Loch Ness as I don't think most camera-phones are up to the job. The natural assumption is that one is not likely to see anything unusual when visiting and that is true for any given person.

Opinions are invited from readers.

POSTSCRIPT

As it turned out, it was a rock and thanks to Steve Feltham's investigative skills, it was located at Loch Tarff which is a small loch on the south side of Loch Ness. My intiial thoughts based on a location given as near Inverfarigaig are obviously not now applicable. Just as well I didn't commit to a "This is Nessie" statement.

More details are at the Loch Ness Monster facebook where the alleged photographer and others debate the whole episode.

Some Old and New Nessie Books

If you're a Nessie Bibliophile, then it's time again for one of our occasional excursions into the world of books on the Loch Ness Monster. At the last count on our list of Nessie books, the number of titles exclusively or partly devoted to our monstrous subject was fifty seven.

Today, that number swells to a round sixty and we start off with a new title which will not actually be published until the 4th of July. It is called "The Loch Ness Monster: And Other Unexplained Mysteries" by J. F. Derry.

I like the way this book starts with the title "unexplained mysteries". In other words, don't take any dissing of the subject from those who put it all down to over-excited tourists seeing driftwood or bow waves. However, the picture on the cover is most likely no mystery as it was taken by that crafty cockney, Frank Searle in 1974. But I will reserve final judgement on Frank until I have read Paul Harrison's forthcoming book on the subject.

The book is actually a compilation of stories and photographs taken from the well known British newspaper, the Daily Mirror. As the book's abstract at Amazon says:

It's 80 years after the first modern-day sighting of the Loch Ness Monster and yet despite frequent eye witness accounts since then, sonar images and even video footage, still no one knows for sure whether there really is a serpent-like prehistoric behemoth inhabiting the famous Scottish lake.

More amazing is that Nessie is only one of countless extraordinary terrestrial and extraterrestrial life-forms that have been reported worldwide over the course of the last century or so: the Yeti and Bigfoot; British big cats such as The Beasts of Bodmin and Stroud; paranormal manifestations in the form of ghosts, banshees and poltergeists; and visitors from other worlds, aliens and their UFOs.

The list is astonishing and extensive, but the remarkable Daily Mirror archive has accumulated a wealth of articles and pictures from sightings, visitations, apparitions and alien abductions, many of which are now collected together in this otherworldly monster of a book, "Loch Ness Monster and Other Unexplained Mysteries".

Well, I have ordered my copy and will give it a fuller review in due course.

The second title is one already mentioned on this blog and it is the album called "Alex Harvey presents The Loch Ness Monster" published in 1976 as a vinyl record. This is a compilation of sightings from that time and I wrote previously on this item in this article. However, a CD version of the album was published in 2009 which I bought. To my surprise, the item actually arrived as an 18 page booklet with the CD in the inside back cover.

So inside we are treated to various photographs of eyewitnesses and snippets of their stories all framed in the manner of a travelogue by Alex Harvey. You will even see a picture of a young Dick Raynor with a kipper tie and long hair who, according to Alex, agreed to an interview but then changed his mind. I don't know if that knock-back annoyed Alex Harvey because he cheekily refers to Dick Raynor as "Dick Rayner" and "Nick Raynor" in the booklet.

It's a nice little booklet with some good photographs and you can generally pick it up on eBay for a good price. The same cannot be really said for the final item which is entitled "Loch Ness Monster Handbook" by Jim M. MacRae which was published in 1974. 

The front cover promises amazing facts and offers to improve sighting chances and all this against the backdrop of a grinning Loch Ness Monster. I paid over the odds to get this 15 page booklet but such is the life of a Nessie memorabilia collector. This is what I call a "boilerplate" book which is essentially a book which adds nothing to the store of knowledge or thinking about the subject and pretty much has the look and feel of an item aimed at the tourist trade.

I don't know anything about Jim MacRae who appears to have been a local man but the material he uses is pretty standard stuff for the 1970s. We have the plesiosaur theory dominating and the photographs by Lachlan Stuart, Kenneth Wilson and Frank Searle interlaced with some well known sightings such as that by Greta Finlay.

In fact, it is the same Searle photo as the one at the top of this article. One should not underestimate the influence Frank Searle had on Loch Ness Monster publicity in the early 1970s. After the Dinsdale and O' Connor pictures of 1960, there is a gap of over a decade with nothing of a sensational quality. That was ended by Searle's pictures and the Rines flipper picture.

It has always been a bit of mystery to me why despite the heightened publicity of the 1960s with the high profile searches no one thought of continuing the so called line of faked pictures. You had the alleged litany of deception from Lachlan Stuart, Peter MacNab and Peter O' Connor over 9 years but the next 12 produced zilch. I would actually expect more fakes since increased publicity attracts more attention seekers. But it was not the case, which make one wonder how many claimed fakes are actually fakes.

These last two books exemplify the volume of Nessie literature in the 1970s. Though that decade occupied one eighth of the Nessie era, it produced one third of the known titles. It was a crazy decade, no doubt looked back upon with mixed memories by many. But the record now stands at sixty titles and I hope you enjoyed our little trip into the Nessie bookshelf.

Man not fooled by duck!

It is said by some that people at Loch Ness can be fooled in to thinking birds are 30 foot plesiosaurs. This guy on YouTube is not so easily fooled!

The Jennifer Bruce Photograph

You may have noticed this photograph on various Nessie related websites but despite this not a lot is known about this picture taken over thirty years ago. The first mention in the Loch Ness Monster literature is from Rip Hepple in No.54 of his "Nessletter" which was published in October 1982. The archive link for this issue is here but we show the relevant extract below (click on image to enlarge).

It is presumed that the picture was taken in August but there is no certainty about that. The location is the north side of Urquhart Bay, and it looks like it was taken at or near Temple Pier. And that is really it in terms of further information. I tried to obtain the original clipping from the owners of the Calgary Sunday Sun but without success. I will ask Rip Hepple, but if anyone has a copy of this article, it would be great if they could scan it and email it to me as it could contain relevant information.

The problem is that this photograph appeared in the post-Nessie hunter era. The books by Dinsdale, Holiday, Mackal and so on had been largely written and so it missed the bus, so to speak. However, Henry Bauer mentions it in passing in his 1986 book, "The Enigma of Loch Ness" but had little to say about it.

In the same year, Steuart Campbell's sceptical book, "The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence", did briefly cover the picture but makes no conclusion about it. Meanwhile, Paul Harrison's excellent book, "The Encyclopedia of the Loch Ness Monster" does not give it an entry.

BIRDS

So, as you can see, this article is in some sense starting from a low base, but let us see what can be discovered. The zoom in below was obtained from the Criptosito website and will be used for comparison analysis.

Let us look first at Rip's suggestion that this was merely a bird swimming or floating on the surface of the loch. Having looked at the birds mentioned, the best candidate in terms of long neck is the cormorant of which a representative picture is shown below.

If we superimpose this picture over the Bruce image with a view to equalising the width of the neck bases we see a problem with the bird interpretation. Basically, the bird's head is too big by a factor of at least two. The Bruce image lacks the sharp beak and is an altogether smaller head than what would be expected. Whether a cormorant could also achieve the sinusoidal contours of the Bruce neck is also a matter of debate.

In that light, the bird explanation seems forced and, as I shall point out later, there is another good reason to doubt this interpretation.

SEAGULLS

But another explanation has been suggested by researchers such as Dick Raynor and that is the idea that Jennifer Bruce merely caught a snap of a bird such as a seagull in flight across the loch. Below is a picture of a seagull in a pose not dissimilar to the one suggested (original link here). To see the suggested bird, the head-neck is the upturned wings in flight and the horizontal base is the tail to beak of the bird.

Let us superimpose this bird over the zoomed in Bruce image to help you see the proposed configuration. Now having seen it, can you see what is wrong with this alleged bird?

Looking at some further pictures of seagulls in flight (below), one is struck by the abnormal nature of the Bruce "seagull". The first abnormality is the position of the mid-wing joint which is too high up. The joint should be nearer the middle of the wing as you can see from the various gull pictures below. This suggests that this is not in fact a seagull at all.

The second problem is the sinusoidal nature of the "wing". Basically, it just does not look right. When a bird is in flight the lower half of the wing does not curve back like the Bruce "wing".The "wing" is also thinner compared to the pictures below.

Thirdly, the Bruce "wing" is disproportionately longer compared to the "body" when compared to the sample gull pictures. All in all, if this is a gull or any other bird, I suggest it is a deformed one which as a consequence is not capable of flight! There are too many problems with this interpretation and the burden of proof lies with the proposer to prove we are looking at a bird.

To see what real seagulls look like at Loch Ness, check this link. Overlaying the gull in flight at that link over our gull picture produces a nice, proportioned fit.

 

original link here

DETERMINING SIZE

So, taking the position that this is not a bird in flight or at rest on the water, what further can be deduced about the object? Fortunately, I was able to find a similar photograph with a known object in the foreground. The picture below was taken in 1979 at Temple Pier and is reproduced here under the Creative Commons license from the panoramio website.

 

From this we can estimate the size of the object in the water by superimposing the Bruce image over the boat image and resizing it to fit the general background contours. As it turns out, there is a person feeding two swans in the centre of the boats who is about the same height as the object. This would mean the proposed head and neck is at least five feet out of the water. The two overlaid images below are to the same scale. As hinted earlier, this is the other reason why this could not be a bird in the water as no bird at Loch Ness has a neck five feet long.

The two relevant sections of the images at the same scale are isolated and shown below for your inspection. If the Bruce object is indeed in the water, it is huge.

As a further confirmation of the scaling, eagle eyed readers may have noticed the two blobs to the far right of the Bruce image. These are most likely two buoys and by a fortunate coincidence, there is a buoy to the right of the boats. When the two pictures are scaled, the buoys in the two pictures are the same size. The shadows on the two Bruce buoys also suggests the photograph was taken around 2pm if we assume mid August as the date. In contrast, the lighter buoy in the boat picture suggests an evening setting.

NOW YOU SEE IT ...

One further consideration is the claim by some commentators that the photographer was not aware of anything unusual when the picture was taken. This is then used to reinforce the case that it was just an everyday object that was ignored at the time (such as a passing bird). However, the Nessletter reference above does not say that the Bruces were unaware of any object at the time. It merely says that when they developed the pictures, a head and neck image was visible.

That is why I would like to see the original source before commenting further. But, if we assume for the sake of argument that they were not aware of anything at the time, it is entirely possible that the photographer did catch a glimpse of something under the restrictions of the viewfinder but it had gone by the time she scanned the loch with the naked eye. Meanwhile, the other two persons may not have even been looking that way as Jennifer Bruce quickly snapped the castle.

Either way, the object, in my opinion, is not a bird. If it was the Loch Ness Monster, then evidently it surfaced for only a short time before submerging again. Flash sightings are not uncommon and the Monster is often been and gone before its audience even realises what is going on. From a Nessie perspective, this would appear to be the case here.

As for the morphology of the creature, the sinusoidal nature of the "neck" is not unusual either. The witness database certainly points to a neck (or whatever the appendage is) possessing a high degree of flexibility. Some witnesses also refer to something akin to musculature rippling or changing though it is unclear what is actually changing under that monstrous skin.

My views have already been published elsewhere on the supple and subtle nature of what is traditionally considered the head and neck of the Loch Ness Monster. This type of photograph only reinforces that view.

MAKING WAVES

Since this is an object surfacing, one would expect some kind of concentric ripple to emanate from the centre where the object is located. Though the quality of the picture is poor and there are other waves moving up the loch and interfering, I think the ellipse caused by the object is visible as this hand drawn picture tries to demonstrate.

If that is the case, then the ellipse suggests an angle of viewing of 10 degrees and if the observer's eye level is three to four metres above the loch surface then that suggests the object is 17 to 22 metres away. However, this all depends on the accuracy of the ellipse and the elevation of the observer.

The radius of the ellipse is about 9 metres based on our 2 metre neck which suggests the ripple from surfacing has not been travelling very long which is consistent with the creature not being long visible. I would not know for sure how fast such a ripple travels on Loch Ness as it is dependent on the depth of the water at that point and how much force was applied to the water as the object surfaced.

CONCLUSION

So do I consider this a genuine picture of Nessie? Yes, I do. Do I consider explanations about birds inadequate? Yes, I do. Such explanations may have been suggested in good faith, but I fear there has been little in the way of critical analysis of such suggestions.

The internal evidence points away from basic birds towards something big and unidentifiable. There is only one thing big and unidentifiable in Loch Ness ... and we know what that is.

Nessie Tourism War Ramps Up

From today's Press and Journal:

The owner of a Loch Ness Monster visitor centre has been charged with stealing a rival tourist attraction’s advertising sign.

Donald Skinner, 70, of Nessieland Castle Monster Centre in Drumnadrochit, has been accused of taking the sign belonging to the neighbouring Loch Ness Centre – also dedicated to the loch’s famous monster – earlier this month.

But he claims he did not steal the sign. He says he “took custody” of it because it was blocking a sign advertising his centre from being seen.

I am not sure who the accuser was but this comes on the back of the recent war of words over how the locals should present the Loch Ness Monster to tourism.  So what is next? Drive by shootings with Tommy Guns? Probably not, but someone needs to step in and end this before it grows legs.

The Daily Record updates the situation by stating that the Nessieland owner, Donald Skinner, has been arrested over the incident.

NESSIE wars have broken out in a Highland village – leading to a visitor centre owner’s arrest for theft.

Donald Skinner, who runs Nessieland Castle in Drumnadrochit, admits taking a sign belonging to the rival Loch Ness Exhibition Centre.

But he denies breaking the law and insists he “took custody” of it because it was blocking one of his own signs.

Mr Skinner, 70, said yesterday: “I have an official sign opposite their place, saying, “Nessieland 300 yards ahead”.

“They put another sign in front of it. I asked them to move it and this went on for three or four weeks.

“So I warned them if they left their sign there, I would have to take it into custody. They didn’t move it so I took it.

“I did not intend to keep it and I have told the police that. It has been given to the police. ”

A police spokesman said: “I can confirm the theft of a sign belonging to the Loch Ness Centre at Drumnadrochit was reported. A local man was charged and will be reported to the procurator fiscal.”

The Loch Ness Centre, which has been run by Robbie Bremner and his family for 30 years, declined to comment.

The two businesses have a long-running history of disputes.

Mr Bremner sued Mr Skinner three years ago, claiming he had lost £1.3million because his rival called his business The Original Loch Ness Exhibition Centre.

The case was settled out of court after Mr Skinner agreed to change his centre’s name.

There have also been previous disputes relating to signs pointing to the two attractions.

Superman and the Loch Ness Monster

In recognition of the latest Superman blockbuster, "Man of Steel", it may interest readers to know that Nessie gets a mention in at least one Superman comic of old. It is Action Comics No. 497 published in July 1979. Ever wondered how to get the definitive proof for the Loch Ness Monster?

"This is a job for Superman!"

  

 

Now if you read the speech bubbles, you may have noted that Superman mentions the Loch Ness Monster, but this is actually the Loch Trevor Monster he has bagged! What on earth is the Loch Trevor Monster and who ever thought of that ridiculous name for a Scottish loch? Indeed, does it outdo the outrageous "Hoots Mon!" Scotsmen in the comic for laughability? Well, it may have something to do with this earlier Jimmy Olsen comic drawn by the late, great Jack Kirby.

 

And last but not least DC Comics' resident "Nessie" also made this appearance in May 1990. Well, at least Superman informed us that Nessie is not the survivor of alien experiments. Just in case any of you guys were toying with that idea! 

BTW, I enjoyed "Man of Steel" and though it was better than "Superman Returns" but that original Christopher Reeves "Superman" film still wins it for me!

Nessie, UFOs and Sceptics

 

Original picture at this link

I was watching the National Geographic channel recently and came across something that resonated within me as regards the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.

I have just had TalkTalk's TV box installed which allows you access to subscription channels on a month by month basis. So I guess in some ways, my TV viewing experience has ratcheted up a notch from the standard fayre on Freeview (or "Council TV" as they say in Central Scotland).

Anyway, I got to watching a series of documentaries NG made which focused on UFO files of European governments. One of the top stories was the well known case that occurred in Rendlesham Forest in 1980. You can read more about it here but the gist of the case was strange bright lights and a metallic object being seen in the forest twice over the space of several days by base officials and servicemen.

Now whatever you may think about the case, the parallels with handling Loch Ness Monster accounts came to light when sceptics were asked for their opinions on the case. One such contributor was Nigel Henbest, a writer of popular science books. He suggested they had seen a combination of a meteor, the star Sirius and the local lighthouse at Orford Ness.

Could those witnesses have been so duped and stupid? I watched what a Colonel Charles Halt had to say and he denied it was the lighthouse which he was familiar with. In fact, he uttered these words:

"I think I will scream if they mention the lighthouse again!"

Or words to that effect but the word "scream" certainly was there to emphasise his frustration with these sceptical explanations. So do sceptics just plain ignore feedback from witnesses? Do they in fact seek or bother about witness feedback? There are two important aspects to examining what witnesses say.

The first is the need to demonstrate the witness' observational incompetency in the context of the incident. We talk about the "professional" witnesses who we place greater stock in such as locals, water based workers or hobbyists, regular monster hunters and so on. 

But how does one prove observational incompetency in an given case? I would suggest in the case of scepticism, it is assumed rather than proven. It should be the other way round.

Secondly and related is the witness feedback. When a sceptical explanation is offered, how often is witness feedback sought? If it is ever done, I see very little evidence of it. Now I understand that not every witness can be sought out and engaged with but surely there is more to this than just publishing a possible explanation and that's that. No further debate, no feedback, nothing.

To put it bluntly, I do not consider this a holistic approach to witness analysis and it is something all Loch Ness researchers should engage in according to the proportion of time and resources available.

So what shall we say to this? Or rather what would the witnesses of old say to this?

Would Greta Finlay have said: "I think I will scream if they mention that deer again!"

Would the Spicers have said: "I think I will scream if they mention those otters again!"

Would Aldie Mackay have said:  "I think I will scream if they mention standing waves again!"

I don't know how those individuals would have reacted but I am sure there are plenty of other witnesses who would react in such a way!

  

P.S. The Godzilla in the picture is for EKM!