Parades and carnivals featuring Nessie
- Thread starter Dickydevo
- Start date
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2001
- Messages
- 51,753
- Location
- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
Post it! Please...
David Plankton
I AM HIM.
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 6,077
Yes please!
Coastaljames
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2015
- Messages
- 4,044
- Location
- East Norfolk coast
Er...just post it.
Please.
Please.
Frideswide
Fortea Morgana :) PeteByrdie certificated Princess
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2014
- Messages
- 16,340
- Location
- An Eochair
post post post!
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2001
- Messages
- 14,208
A quick Google suggests it was the Crich Carnival of 1934.
Your picture is not included in the many evocative shots of the carnival over the years!
I'm sure the keepers of that site would be very interested in your photograph, as well as posters on here!
1932 did make me scratch my head a bit, as Nessie did not really "become a big thing" until 1933!
British Carnivals were a repository of weirdness, so the topical monster would feel quite at home, if a good many miles from her Loch. The issue which raises eyebrows today, is the extent to which the notions of the exotic drew on racial and imperial themes. Black-face and grass skirts were great favourites!
Your picture is not included in the many evocative shots of the carnival over the years!
I'm sure the keepers of that site would be very interested in your photograph, as well as posters on here!
1932 did make me scratch my head a bit, as Nessie did not really "become a big thing" until 1933!
British Carnivals were a repository of weirdness, so the topical monster would feel quite at home, if a good many miles from her Loch. The issue which raises eyebrows today, is the extent to which the notions of the exotic drew on racial and imperial themes. Black-face and grass skirts were great favourites!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 114
A quick Google suggests it was the Crich Carnival of 1934.
Your picture is not included in the many evocative shots of the carnival over the years!
I'm sure the keepers of that site would be very interested in your photograph, as well as posters on here!
1932 did make me scratch my head a bit, as Nessie did not really "become a big thing" until 1933!
British Carnivals were a repository of weirdness, so the topical monster would feel quite at home, if a good many miles from her Loch. The issue which raises eyebrows today, is the extent to which the notions of the exotic drew on racial and imperial themes. Black-face and grass skirts were great favourites!
A quick Google suggests it was the Crich Carnival of 1934.
Your picture is not included in the many evocative shots of the carnival over the years!
I'm sure the keepers of that site would be very interested in your photograph, as well as posters on here!
1932 did make me scratch my head a bit, as Nessie did not really "become a big thing" until 1933!
British Carnivals were a repository of weirdness, so the topical monster would feel quite at home, if a good many miles from her Loch. The issue which raises eyebrows today, is the extent to which the notions of the exotic drew on racial and imperial themes. Black-face and grass skirts were great favourites!
Richard/Dickydevo: "Hello,here is the photo I promised.However with all due respect,how could you locate the carnival,Mr Whitehead ,before I had even posted it up here at 7.25pm UK time, Thurs Sept 1st? Your post is dated 1-9-16 at 10.32 am.Indulge my humour,are you a time traveller,able to transport yourself several hours into the future?
Also,I found the image on a web site called Picture the Past and bought a hard copy for £5, which you see here,and the details they sent me on 9/6/16 said Loch Ness Monster, Cromford Road, Ripley Carnival, 1932`http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/fr...nt;EQUALS;DCAV000121&pos=3&action=zoom&id=122
now I will be honest,I think there are 4 Ripley`s in U.K One is in Derbyshire. But as there is a Cromford Rd in Ripley,Derbys, I am almost 100% certain this is a 1932 carnival there and then,not Crich in 1934.But being that I am in a good mood Mr Whitehead, and dislike arguing, no worries dude!What is most interest is that,if 1932 is correct,yes this is a little before the whole 20th Century version of the Nessie story took off. (APOLOGY - I have just read the critch web site,intriguing!Were there 2 parades,one in `32 and one in `34? Have Picture the Past got there facts right?)
Last edited:
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2001
- Messages
- 51,753
- Location
- Inside a starship, watching puny humans from afar
Whoa! Mr Whitehead, your time traveller credentials have been revealed!
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2001
- Messages
- 14,208
I'm sure it was only 11.32 am BST!
Anyway, thanks for sharing a most interesting photo!
The Crich page linked above says,
" . . . a brave few who risked attack to peer underneath it's skin were rewarded by the sight of dainty underwear and lengths of shapely legs, clad in silken hose. The "Monster" was the entry of Crich Girl Guides under the supervision of Captain Lester (My late Aunt Joyce)."
The photo-site definitely identifies the place as Ripley, confirmed by the Jephson's sign in the background. It is interesting that the depicted monster closely tallies with the description of the Guides' monster of 1934; the lady with the placard is most likely a Guide.
Maybe they passed on the prop. to neighbouring troupes to do service at later carnivals.
Nessie's awakening is usually put down to the new road, which was built in 1933. General enthusiasm took off with the famous picture of 1934. So if the Ripley photo is really 1932, it's quite a find.
Anyway, thanks for sharing a most interesting photo!
The Crich page linked above says,
" . . . a brave few who risked attack to peer underneath it's skin were rewarded by the sight of dainty underwear and lengths of shapely legs, clad in silken hose. The "Monster" was the entry of Crich Girl Guides under the supervision of Captain Lester (My late Aunt Joyce)."
The photo-site definitely identifies the place as Ripley, confirmed by the Jephson's sign in the background. It is interesting that the depicted monster closely tallies with the description of the Guides' monster of 1934; the lady with the placard is most likely a Guide.
Maybe they passed on the prop. to neighbouring troupes to do service at later carnivals.
Nessie's awakening is usually put down to the new road, which was built in 1933. General enthusiasm took off with the famous picture of 1934. So if the Ripley photo is really 1932, it's quite a find.
Last edited:
Frideswide
Fortea Morgana :) PeteByrdie certificated Princess
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2014
- Messages
- 16,340
- Location
- An Eochair
this stood out for me for all the wrong reasons when I read the original articles. I know it's Guides and not Brownies but......
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 114
He looks like a time traveller!
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 114
Someone,maybe you,should write up this little known aspect of the whole Nessie sagaI'm sure it was only 11.32 am BST!
Anyway, thanks for sharing a most interesting photo!
The Crich page linked above says,
" . . . a brave few who risked attack to peer underneath it's skin were rewarded by the sight of dainty underwear and lengths of shapely legs, clad in silken hose. The "Monster" was the entry of Crich Girl Guides under the supervision of Captain Lester (My late Aunt Joyce)."
The photo-site definitely identifies the place as Ripley, confirmed by the Jephson's sign in the background. It is interesting that the depicted monster closely tallies with the description of the Guides' monster of 1934; the lady with the placard is most likely a Guide.
Maybe they passed on the prop. to neighbouring troupes to do service at later carnivals.
Nessie's awakening is usually put down to the new road, which was built in 1933. General enthusiasm took off with the famous picture of 1934. So if the Ripley photo is really 1932, it's quite a find.
Frideswide
Fortea Morgana :) PeteByrdie certificated Princess
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2014
- Messages
- 16,340
- Location
- An Eochair
This is brilliant stuff! Thank you Dickydevo
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2001
- Messages
- 14,208
I have found some references to sightings of Nessie on land in 1932 but they did not surface until much later - 1990, in fact.
Meanwhile, the conventional wisdom is as reported here on paranormal-encounters site:
"The term “monster” was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in a report in the Inverness Courier. On 4 August 1933, the Courier published as a full news item the claim of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch, he and his wife had seen “the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life”, trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying “an animal” in its mouth."
This site attributes the Monster name to Evan Barron, the newspaper's editor.
The carnival stunt clearly drew on traditional dragon costumes but the placard unambiguously demands its recognition: if I read it correctly, "Here is announcing the capture of the only LOCH-NESS-MONSTER."
The Ripley Carnival was in August 1932, nine months before the phrase was coined. I think August 1933 would not have allowed much time to run up a monster costume and that 1934 is a much more likely date for the picture.
Pictures from that set seem to have been available elsewhere online at some point. Now the only versions available are on that Picture the Past site.
Meanwhile, the conventional wisdom is as reported here on paranormal-encounters site:
"The term “monster” was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in a report in the Inverness Courier. On 4 August 1933, the Courier published as a full news item the claim of a London man, George Spicer, that a few weeks earlier while motoring around the Loch, he and his wife had seen “the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life”, trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying “an animal” in its mouth."
This site attributes the Monster name to Evan Barron, the newspaper's editor.
The carnival stunt clearly drew on traditional dragon costumes but the placard unambiguously demands its recognition: if I read it correctly, "Here is announcing the capture of the only LOCH-NESS-MONSTER."
The Ripley Carnival was in August 1932, nine months before the phrase was coined. I think August 1933 would not have allowed much time to run up a monster costume and that 1934 is a much more likely date for the picture.
Pictures from that set seem to have been available elsewhere online at some point. Now the only versions available are on that Picture the Past site.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 114
Thanks Frideswide and seriously if you want to write up with me this neglected aspect(Nessie in carnivals) for my magazine Flying Snake,I`d be more than wiling to co-operateThis is brilliant stuff! Thank you Dickydevo
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 114
Hi again,I seem to recall that when the company sent me the photo a few months ago,or on that url link,there was a comment that a trade directory had been used to establish the date and 1932 locationI'm sure it was only 11.32 am BST!
Anyway, thanks for sharing a most interesting photo!
The Crich page linked above says,
" . . . a brave few who risked attack to peer underneath it's skin were rewarded by the sight of dainty underwear and lengths of shapely legs, clad in silken hose. The "Monster" was the entry of Crich Girl Guides under the supervision of Captain Lester (My late Aunt Joyce)."
The photo-site definitely identifies the place as Ripley, confirmed by the Jephson's sign in the background. It is interesting that the depicted monster closely tallies with the description of the Guides' monster of 1934; the lady with the placard is most likely a Guide.
Maybe they passed on the prop. to neighbouring troupes to do service at later carnivals.
Nessie's awakening is usually put down to the new road, which was built in 1933. General enthusiasm took off with the famous picture of 1934. So if the Ripley photo is really 1932, it's quite a find.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2009
- Messages
- 114
My pleasure.ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!This is brilliant stuff! Thank you Dickydevo
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2001
- Messages
- 14,208
Yes, they used Kelly's Directory to establish the location and the name of the firm in the background. Perhaps they used the 1932 Directory but that would only confirm the business was in existence by 1932.
I would guess the Derbyshire villages staggered their Carnival dates over the traditional late August Bank Holiday weekend, leaving the Guide-Monster free to visit both Ripley and Crich in the same year, when the monster was fresh news. 1934 still seems the most likely to me, though we may never really know!