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I Saw And Photographed The Loch Ness Monster In 2006

I'd forgotten all about this thread.

The linked article is great, it shows that there can't be any doubt as to where the photograph was taken from; we cannot of course be certain how the image of 'Nessie' was manufactured but I like the idea of a bit of dirt on the inside of the window. It could of course be something else, or maybe it really WAS Nessie ..... ? :)
 
Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble researching this and come to the conclusion that the photo mentioned in the OP couldn't have been taken from a car but was in fact taken from the living room window of a holiday cottage.

Shortened link to article here.

Wow! I'm new to this thread. I've just read the first few depressing pages, then the excellent article kindly linked by David Plankton.

3 thoughts:

1) As a (now retired) investigator of fraud, who spent 10 years speaking to private individuals and trying to decide which ones needed further investigation, I found that the OP set off all my alarms. Dramatic story, told with too much imagination and not enough detail; withholding details on tenuous grounds; setting rules for how and when the evidence could be seen, and by whom; and then getting all upset when any aspect of the account was queried. If this had been a claim for a stolen watch or a broken TV, I would have sent it straight off for investigation on the basis of those behaviours alone. Note, however, that behaviours of this kind suggest "risk of deception" and do not prove deception.

2) Discussion about "scepticism" as if it were a bad thing. True scepticism is the attitude that says, "I want the facts and the evidence and I'll check them before forming an opinion." That is not the same as saying, "Nonsense, I don't believe a word of it." Scepticism, in this true sense, is unequivocally a Good Thing and should be encouraged, especially in a forum like this. I don't come here to "wonder at" things unquestioningly, but to "wonder about" things and question them.

3) The investigation and partial reconstruction of the photos. Excellent work. A job well done, and written up entertainingly too. Thank you.

My personal position: I consider it possible but unproven that there is a population of an unknown species of moderately large creature in Loch Ness. I consider it possible, but less likely, that there was at one time a single specimen of something (escaped, released, or hybrid/mutant/freakishly large) which has given rise to the myth. I think it is likely that most of the reported sightings are either hoaxes or honest misidentifications of normal phenomena. However, whatever it is or was, if the LNM exists, it is piscine, and certainly not a relict dinosaur.
 
Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble researching this and come to the conclusion that the photo mentioned in the OP couldn't have been taken from a car but was in fact taken from the living room window of a holiday cottage.

Shortened link to article here.

May God forgive you but you've doomed me Plankton!

By bumping this thread you have unwittingly woken that horrible thing "The log joke" which through my own stupidly I summoned here years before, (well on page 1 actually).

A happier more innocent me thought, " What an interesting topic. I'll just make a harmless quip about that popular Nessie trope, the one where everyone who looks at a Nessie photo says it looks like a log. What harm could there be?"

I even put a smiley face emoji next to it to show it was lighthearted.

How wrong could I have been? Such horror and diabolic snarkiness did I so inadvertently unleash on such a poor unsuspecting thread. Those foul, demonic exchanges between the OP and other forummers - the stuff of nightmares.

Woe! Woe is me! What have I done? What have I done? What's that noise? Is it on the stairs? It returns to torment me again, The log joke, even now I hear it scratching at my bedroom door, Justin if you can hear me please forgive a foolish man...

Mods send it away! Mods, send it away!

No, stay back! Stay ba.....







Great find though Plankton!
 
It's a log :)

I must say it was a nice surprise to find that this thread hadn't been locked! This is a link to the blog post where I found the article -

Loch Ness Monster Blog: The Photographic Problem.

where the writer is more forgiving as to the authenticity of the photo. I think the trees not lining up (as he says) can be put down to different focal lengths, but I'm sure plenty of people would say I was wrong. It also has a lengthy debate below in the comments which, like this thread, don't so much shed any light on the Loch Ness mystery as show how much we don't like our beliefs challenged. (See also Religion, Politics, Football, Music, Mrs Brown's Boys etc.)

I think the photo is a classic, real or not. If it was faked with a small piece of dirt on a window aligned with a boat's wake then it deserves an award for one of the best simulacra photos ever.
 
May God forgive you but you've doomed me Plankton!

By bumping this thread you have unwittingly woken that horrible thing "The log joke" which through my own stupidly I summoned here years before, (well on page 1 actually).

A happier more innocent me thought, " What an interesting topic. I'll just make a harmless quip about that popular Nessie trope, the one where everyone who looks at a Nessie photo says it looks like a log. What harm could there be?"

I even put a smiley face emoji next to it to show it was lighthearted.

How wrong could I have been? Such horror and diabolic snarkiness did I so inadvertently unleash on such a poor unsuspecting thread. Those foul, demonic exchanges between the OP and other forummers - the stuff of nightmares.

Woe! Woe is me! What have I done? What have I done? What's that noise? Is it on the stairs? It returns to torment me again, The log joke, even now I hear it scratching at my bedroom door, Justin if you can hear me please forgive a foolish man...

Mods send it away! Mods, send it away!

No, stay back! Stay ba.....







Great find though Plankton!
That'll learn you to stop making trouble, you trouble maker you.:D I'm sure we'll all survive though Mr Naughty. Keep on doing what you do.
 
May God forgive you but you've doomed me Plankton!

By bumping this thread you have unwittingly woken that horrible thing "The log joke" which through my own stupidly I summoned here years before, (well on page 1 actually).

A happier more innocent me thought, " What an interesting topic. I'll just make a harmless quip about that popular Nessie trope, the one where everyone who looks at a Nessie photo says it looks like a log. What harm could there be?"

I even put a smiley face emoji next to it to show it was lighthearted.

How wrong could I have been? Such horror and diabolic snarkiness did I so inadvertently unleash on such a poor unsuspecting thread. Those foul, demonic exchanges between the OP and other forummers - the stuff of nightmares.

Woe! Woe is me! What have I done? What have I done? What's that noise? Is it on the stairs? It returns to torment me again, The log joke, even now I hear it scratching at my bedroom door, Justin if you can hear me please forgive a foolish man...

Mods send it away! Mods, send it away!

No, stay back! Stay ba.....







Great find though Plankton!
The only other log joke I know NF is:

"I slept like a log last night."
"Yeah?"
"I woke up in the fireplace."

Anyway, sorry .. Loch Ness Monster stuff instead ..
 
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I must say it was a nice surprise to find that this thread hadn't been locked! This is a link to the blog post where I found the article -

Loch Ness Monster Blog: The Photographic Problem.

where the writer is more forgiving as to the authenticity of the photo. I think the trees not lining up (as he says) can be put down to different focal lengths, but I'm sure plenty of people would say I was wrong.

Interesting article, thanks for the link! To me, in this article it looks like the photo might have been taken a little to the side of where the previous guy suggested in the guest house. It's CLEARLY still in the same general area give or take a few meters - and NOT from the roadside. So, perhaps not in that room in the guest house, but a different one in the same building, or next door, does it really matter?
I think, if we accept the OP, or whoever it was that took the photo, was staying in the guest house, they could have spent HOURS trying different angles and so on until they got the best image to put out.
 
The wake looks faked to me too. Does a water monster wibble wobble from side-to-side whilst ploughing dead-ahead? I don't think so. Also, the wake doesn't compare well with the photos of wakes in the investigator guys photos of boat wakes.

I just read "the dragon & the disc" by FW Holiday. I'm with his line of thinking. People really do see water dragons, all over the world, and always have, but they are a different aspect of reality, just like UFOs, just like Big Foot etc etc etc
 
Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble researching this and come to the conclusion that the photo mentioned in the OP couldn't have been taken from a car but was in fact taken from the living room window of a holiday cottage.

Shortened link to article here.

Wondering why this won't open for me - I just get a blank page both on computer & ipad..
 
Strange, works fine on my PC (browser is Firefox).

I'm on a Mac with the latest version of Firefox I can run on the OS but it's quite an old version - maybe that's a factor. Ipad runs Safari, also not a particularly new version..
 
Looks like Justin's "fear of ridicule" was somewhat prophetic.
Some excellent detective work to debunk the charlatan!
 
It strikes me that if the OP had stated the correct location from where the photo was taken, and kept all other details the same, it would have been a lot harder to debunk the tale.
 
I don't agree on the photo analysis. Trees can grow a great deal over 12 years making the field appear to be thinner from the same viewpoint. The building I used to work in had a great view of a field when we moved in in 2005 and I remember watching some foxes gambolling about in it with colleagues once. By 2018, the field was completely obscured by trees. You would have to get a helicopter to get the same view of the field.
 
Just looked at the picture and have to say my overwhelming thought was "How was it possible no-one on the boat reported seeing it?" They were closer than the people on the bank. And there'd be wash from it hitting the boat, no?
 
This thread saddens me, the poster had clear evidence that Nessy is a giant. pixelated, cormorant on a jetski and forum members chose to mock them for their hard work.
Ogdred, my brain is doing somersaults trying to remember the origin of your avatar. I seem to remember little people fighting against a gigantic reptilian villain and his inept guards, but I can't track anything down on the internet. Before I tear loose the top of my skull and start rending parts from my brain, could you help me out buddy?
 
It strikes me that if the OP had stated the correct location from where the photo was taken, and kept all other details the same, it would have been a lot harder to debunk the tale.

This is how we used to work when I was in fraud investigation. You can seldom prove that the person did not once own a Rolex watch, or indeed that they did not drop it over the side of a rowing boat on Windermere. However, if you ask for the whole story from them from when they acquired the watch right through to when they submitted the insurance claim, you will often find inconsistencies and discrepancies.

The behavioural clue is often the huge amount of detail and emotion around the (alleged) incident and a strong contrast between this and the vagueness about the events before and after.

Inconsistencies alone do not prove fraud, but a discrepancy (two facts that cannot both be true, therefore at least one of them must be false) can hole a witness's account bellow the waterline. It depends on how relevant the discrepancy is, and how easily it can be explained away.

I think I got it for my 50th birthday
That model ceased production when you were 47
Oh, it must have been my 45th
Hmm, fair enough... Next question...

Or
I got it for my 40th birthday. I remember it well because my first wife bought it for me and had it engraved with our initials. She left me when was 42.
The model shown in the photo of you wearing it wasn't introduced until you were 45.
B**ger!

In this LNM case, the OP was quite clear about the photo being taken from the lakeside. If something so fundamental to their story and told so confidently is definitely untrue, then all of their uncorroborated account is unreliable.
 
Thank you.
I'm very happy for people to venture forth stories that they have never told for fear of being laughed at and to assume that they're telling the truth as best they can. I personally have a minimal interest in the LNM so no urge to believe or not, I think it's great for tourism and I'm all for continuing to try to get a good photo.
But I also come from an investigative profession, and I don't agree that we just want to believe and we stop there. If we have questions that have been answered and it still fits together that can be a big deal. Greenery notwithsanding, someone has put forth a detailed account of a photograph that on one important point could not have been taken as he said. Why would a person do this? What is the thought process? And why should I then be interested in the rest of the tale? And in extreme cases, do we want to encourage a poster in fantasy, which takes time from the readers' other pursuits.
 
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