Waylander
Ephemeral Spectre
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2007
- Messages
- 306
Dingo667 said:
OH! Right then, it's clearly a boat, when compared to images of other boths on the loch from Google maps, here Linky and here's another one further up the loch from that main bunch leaving a wake. The original is further on again.
Although in looking over Scotlands many lochs and lakes and waterways, I though this was one of the most intersting finds. Amazed it can be seen so clearly beneath the water. It's not a fake is it? Linky
PeniG
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2003
- Messages
- 2,434
Since the "monster" isn't circled, and since the boat looks like other boats in nearby images, maybe that white blob isn't what the person who noticed it noticed. Maybe it's something to do with the whitecaps to the left?
I don't see anything peculiar in the picture. I hardly ever do.
It makes me feel left out, but I keep trying.
I don't see anything peculiar in the picture. I hardly ever do.
It makes me feel left out, but I keep trying.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 1,812
Yes, seeing those other boats, it does look like one after all. It looked too white/bright at first.
The lines behind it are obviously the wake of the boat which is moving [i.e the motor is on], whilst the others are just floating.
That closes this case for me. :yeay:
The lines behind it are obviously the wake of the boat which is moving [i.e the motor is on], whilst the others are just floating.
That closes this case for me. :yeay:
Waylander28 said:
It's the Captayannis, half submerged in the Firth of Clyde.
http://www.clydesite.co.uk/articles/captayannis.asp
Peripart
Antediluvian
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2005
- Messages
- 6,738
I believe it's a reference to the work of H P Lovecraft, who was fond, not only of squid-like entities, but also utterly unpronouncable names such as those above.Waylander28 said:
As for the picture in the OP, I see no obvious reason to leap to the conclusion that it's a monster. The shape looks boat-like, with a squiggly wake behind. Unless, as has been said, we're supposed to be looking at the other feature, just to the West.
McAvennie
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2003
- Messages
- 3,998
Was watching a documentary about whales last night and an aerial shot of the marine beasts highlighted a wake on the surface similar to the formation next to the boat. Would suggest the possibility of something large being in the water just behind the boat. Surely the boat people would have seen it though.
The Loch Ness Monster doesn't exist anyway so it can't be that. 8)
The Loch Ness Monster doesn't exist anyway so it can't be that. 8)
PeniG
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2003
- Messages
- 2,434
Waylander28 said:
In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.
I am a little shocked that there are two people on this message board who don't know that; but then I suppose y'all'd be shocked at some of the things I don't know. Anyway, Lovecraft - a Fortean himself - is very much part of the intersecting subculture system of which Forteana is a part, so you should at least try out a short story collection. The prose style is famous - one astute (by which I mean, liking the same things as me) critic described it as "going straight past purple into the ultraviolet range" - but I like to think of him as the worst great writer in history. He's so seminal that his worst stories are anthologized almost as often as his best ones, which makes the first encounter a bit of a crapshoot without guidance. Fortunately for your sanity, he was a short storyist and you can try a few samples without risk. Try "The Colour Out of Space," which I think is the best introduction, with one of the strangest intelligent word choices ever made, and touching on many of his signature motifs and themes without the risk of burlesque which always lies at the far end of nameless horror.
And Cthulhu really is more octopoid than squidlike, at least in the depictions I've seen. It isn't described in any significant detail, but the tentacles and wings are canon and illustrators seem to have settled into a standard convention in depicting it sometime around the time the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game came out in the early 80s. (Great game!)
)
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Natural History Museum takes punt on discovery of Loch Ness monster in extraordinary money deal with bookmaker
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:06 AM on 14th September 2009
A museum has a deal with a top bookmaker to display the Loch Ness monster - if the beast is ever caught.
The Natural History Museum has thrashed out an agreement with bookmaker William Hill which would see the monster go on public display.
For more than 20 years, William Hill has been paying the museum a retainer to showcase Nessie's remains in return for verifying her existence.
Documents released by the museum, based in South-West London, show a deal between the two parties was struck in 1987.
And since then, the museum has received an annual payment of £1,000 a year from William Hill, totaling £22,000.
Under the terms of the deal, the bookmaker has guaranteed to pay for experts to provide 'positive identification' of Nessie in the unlikely event that she is discovered and captured. The agreement also covers the Yeti.
William Hill offers odds of 500/1 on the existence of the Loch Ness monster being proved within a year.
The odds on the Yeti - a mythological hairy, white creature celebrated since the 19th century and also known as the 'Abominable Snowman' - being discovered are 200/1.
A clause in the deal, revealed in previously unpublished documents from the museum's archive, stipulates that it could exhibit the creatures or the parts of them that were used to prove their existence.
etc...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0R4RDY6X8
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:06 AM on 14th September 2009
A museum has a deal with a top bookmaker to display the Loch Ness monster - if the beast is ever caught.
The Natural History Museum has thrashed out an agreement with bookmaker William Hill which would see the monster go on public display.
For more than 20 years, William Hill has been paying the museum a retainer to showcase Nessie's remains in return for verifying her existence.
Documents released by the museum, based in South-West London, show a deal between the two parties was struck in 1987.
And since then, the museum has received an annual payment of £1,000 a year from William Hill, totaling £22,000.
Under the terms of the deal, the bookmaker has guaranteed to pay for experts to provide 'positive identification' of Nessie in the unlikely event that she is discovered and captured. The agreement also covers the Yeti.
William Hill offers odds of 500/1 on the existence of the Loch Ness monster being proved within a year.
The odds on the Yeti - a mythological hairy, white creature celebrated since the 19th century and also known as the 'Abominable Snowman' - being discovered are 200/1.
A clause in the deal, revealed in previously unpublished documents from the museum's archive, stipulates that it could exhibit the creatures or the parts of them that were used to prove their existence.
etc...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0R4RDY6X8
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
maximus otter has posted an obit of US Nessie researcher Robert Rines here:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Messages
- 57
I haven't read the whole thread, am still trawling through it as it's a bit of a monster if you'll forgive the pun, but what about sightings prior to the surgeon's photo and that sensational account of something ernormous and hideous crawling accross the road by a couple at around the same time?
I seem to remeber something about divers reparing the underside of the boat and one of them coming up terrified and refusing to go back down, having seens a frog-like creature the size of a goat.
I seem to remeber something about divers reparing the underside of the boat and one of them coming up terrified and refusing to go back down, having seens a frog-like creature the size of a goat.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Loch Ness monster death rumours denied
The head of the Loch Ness monster's fan club has denied suggestions that the animal is dead following just one credible sighting last year.
Published: 6:25AM GMT 06 Jan 2010
A new documentary examines the possibility that the monster might be extinct as its reported appearances become increasingly rare.
Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel on 6th June, 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report.
And according to Mr Campbell such reports are increasingly rare.
He said: ""That's why were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.
"In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn't been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.
"There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, 'Had you had a drink?'
"Ten years ago we had a lot of good sightings, but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off."
He added: "What we regard as a dependable sighting is very much down to the person who sees it.
"This was a local chap who knows the things that Nessie isn't - boat wakes, debris on the loch or seals in the summer. A local person will know what these things look like."
However, there were a number of "more dubious" sightings over the course of 2009. These included a sonar contact witnessed by "'Allo,'Allo" star Vicki Michelle and other cast members from the stage version of the popular BBC sit-com when they took a pleasure cruise on Loch Ness in May during the play's week-long run at Eden Court.
Their boat, the Jacobite Queen, picked up five mysterious arch shapes on its sonar between Dores and Urquhart Castle.
Also claiming a possible Nessie picture was data analyst Ian Monckton from Solihull who used his car headlights and the flash from his camera, to take a picture of what he thought could be the elusive monster while driving to Invermoriston late at night.
The 2009 episode "Death at Loch Ness" of the documentary series "MonsterQuest" looked at the theory that the Loch Ness Monster might be extinct.
In this programme researcher Robert Rhines' claim that Nessie, if it existed, may now in fact be dead and its corpse is lying somewhere at the bottom of Loch Ness is investigated.
To prove this theory wrong, Mr Campbell hopes new witnesses might come forward.
"If people start to believe this, it might start to affect tourist numbers.
"Whether you believe in Nessie or not, the Loch Ness Monster is one of the most important tourist attractions we have.
"Perhaps, though, the answers are to be found underwater instead of on the loch's surface.
"Unknown sonar contacts happen all the time.
"Maybe Nessie is just keeping her head down."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... enied.html
The head of the Loch Ness monster's fan club has denied suggestions that the animal is dead following just one credible sighting last year.
Published: 6:25AM GMT 06 Jan 2010
A new documentary examines the possibility that the monster might be extinct as its reported appearances become increasingly rare.
Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel on 6th June, 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report.
And according to Mr Campbell such reports are increasingly rare.
He said: ""That's why were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.
"In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn't been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.
"There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, 'Had you had a drink?'
"Ten years ago we had a lot of good sightings, but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off."
He added: "What we regard as a dependable sighting is very much down to the person who sees it.
"This was a local chap who knows the things that Nessie isn't - boat wakes, debris on the loch or seals in the summer. A local person will know what these things look like."
However, there were a number of "more dubious" sightings over the course of 2009. These included a sonar contact witnessed by "'Allo,'Allo" star Vicki Michelle and other cast members from the stage version of the popular BBC sit-com when they took a pleasure cruise on Loch Ness in May during the play's week-long run at Eden Court.
Their boat, the Jacobite Queen, picked up five mysterious arch shapes on its sonar between Dores and Urquhart Castle.
Also claiming a possible Nessie picture was data analyst Ian Monckton from Solihull who used his car headlights and the flash from his camera, to take a picture of what he thought could be the elusive monster while driving to Invermoriston late at night.
The 2009 episode "Death at Loch Ness" of the documentary series "MonsterQuest" looked at the theory that the Loch Ness Monster might be extinct.
In this programme researcher Robert Rhines' claim that Nessie, if it existed, may now in fact be dead and its corpse is lying somewhere at the bottom of Loch Ness is investigated.
To prove this theory wrong, Mr Campbell hopes new witnesses might come forward.
"If people start to believe this, it might start to affect tourist numbers.
"Whether you believe in Nessie or not, the Loch Ness Monster is one of the most important tourist attractions we have.
"Perhaps, though, the answers are to be found underwater instead of on the loch's surface.
"Unknown sonar contacts happen all the time.
"Maybe Nessie is just keeping her head down."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... enied.html
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Archives reveal belief in Loch Ness Monster
Jack Malvern
The existence of the Loch Ness Monster was “beyond doubt” in the mind of one of Scotland’s most senior police officers, according to a file released yesterday by the National Archives of Scotland.
William Fraser, chief constable of Invernessshire in the 1930s, was convinced that not only was “some strange creature” bobbing about in Scotland’s second largest loch but it was in danger of being hunted to extinction. He contacted the Under Secretary of State at the Scottish Office in 1933 to raise concerns about the animal’s plight. “That there is some strange creature in Loch Ness now seems beyond doubt,” he wrote. “But that the police have any power to protect it is very doubtful.”
Mr Fraser, who served as chief constable between 1936 and 1951, was responding to a flurry of sightings of a large acquatic beast, or pieces of wood that looked like one. Ministers were sceptical that grainy photographs published by newspapers constituted proof, but questions were asked in the House of Commons as to whether an investigation should be conducted in the interests of science.
Civil servants considered installing “reliable observers” at the side of the loch equipped with cameras to provide definitive evidence of Nessie. Aerial observation was also suggested.
The next step would be to trap the creature without harming it, according to files that have gone on display at National Archives Scotland’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
The files, which form part of an exhibition entitled An Open Secret, conclude that it would be better to let any monster continue to amuse the public rather than kill it.
The decision did not stop monster hunters from frequenting Loch Ness in the hope of bagging the creature. To date, none has been successful.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 109019.ece
Jack Malvern
The existence of the Loch Ness Monster was “beyond doubt” in the mind of one of Scotland’s most senior police officers, according to a file released yesterday by the National Archives of Scotland.
William Fraser, chief constable of Invernessshire in the 1930s, was convinced that not only was “some strange creature” bobbing about in Scotland’s second largest loch but it was in danger of being hunted to extinction. He contacted the Under Secretary of State at the Scottish Office in 1933 to raise concerns about the animal’s plight. “That there is some strange creature in Loch Ness now seems beyond doubt,” he wrote. “But that the police have any power to protect it is very doubtful.”
Mr Fraser, who served as chief constable between 1936 and 1951, was responding to a flurry of sightings of a large acquatic beast, or pieces of wood that looked like one. Ministers were sceptical that grainy photographs published by newspapers constituted proof, but questions were asked in the House of Commons as to whether an investigation should be conducted in the interests of science.
Civil servants considered installing “reliable observers” at the side of the loch equipped with cameras to provide definitive evidence of Nessie. Aerial observation was also suggested.
The next step would be to trap the creature without harming it, according to files that have gone on display at National Archives Scotland’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
The files, which form part of an exhibition entitled An Open Secret, conclude that it would be better to let any monster continue to amuse the public rather than kill it.
The decision did not stop monster hunters from frequenting Loch Ness in the hope of bagging the creature. To date, none has been successful.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 109019.ece
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2003
- Messages
- 58,270
- Location
- Eblana
Last edited by a moderator:
The author takes quite a skeptical view of Nessie, but still an interesting report:
http://alibi.com/index.php?scn=feature&di=&story=32962
Life on the Loch
The lonely hunt for truth and monsters
By Benjamin Radford
Steve Feltham’s eyes and smile grow wide when the subject of the Loch Ness monsters comes up. “I think they’re out there, certainly,” he says, though he adds with a hint of sadness that it may not be true for much longer. He estimates there are probably a half-dozen creatures left in the lake (down from dozens in earlier eras) and will be fewer each passing year: “Sightings have declined. They’re gradually dropping off of old age, I think.”
I found Feltham more or less by accident. I was at Scotland’s famous loch for about a week in 2006 following a speaking engagement in London. There I discussed my original research into “America’s Loch Ness Monster,” the creature supposedly inhabiting Vermont’s Lake Champlain. I had spent much of the day near Inverness, conducting a series of experiments to judge the size and distance of unknown objects in lake waters. But by mid-afternoon, the weather had grown too Scottish, and I had to pack it up.
Benjamin Radford
The author looks over the loch Instead of experiments, I walked along a chilly beach near the town of Dores, where, to my surprise, I found about 20 Loch Ness monsters. They were mostly red, green, purple and blue. Some were perched on rocks, others on little clear acrylic ice cubes, all on a wooden shelf supported by a waist-high tree stump. They were only a few inches high, and had big, cute eyes. Above them was a multicolored, hand-drawn sign that read, “Nessie Models For Sale.” Just behind that lay a converted minibus with faux wood paneling and a giant logo that read, “Nessie-Sery Independent Research.”
It’s part tourist shack, part library, part monster research facility and all home to Feltham, the world’s only full-time Loch Ness monster researcher. Feltham, with his easy grin, a shock of gray and white hair, and clipped British accent, is a fixture at Ness. He’s lived on its shores since 1991, when he abruptly moved from England. The vehicle, which is not much bigger than some walk-in closets, has everything he needs: a sparse bed, a desk, a tiny sink and a cooking burner. The walls are plastered with posters, photographs, maps and shelves with Loch Ness-related books and papers. (I was pleased to see some of my own articles and research on his shelf.)
Being both in the very shallow pool of serious lake monster researchers, we talked shop for an hour, swapping stories, research findings and theories about our elusive prey. He asked me about some of my lake monster investigations (a dozen or so of which appear in my 2007 book Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most Elusive Creatures), and he gave me a tour of his place.
I perched on a tiny stool, and Feltham told me his story. He spoke of a fairly ordinary childhood and rattled off a list of his previous occupations: “I was a potter for a while. Then I installed alarm systems. You know, peoples’ houses, commercial, all that lot. And, I’m an artist, of course,” he quickly added, gesturing to the Nessie figurines. He sculpts them in his spare time (which he has a lot of) to earn a living, selling them for £10 each (about $15).
Benjamin Radford
“Nessie Models For Sale” Growing up, he’d always been fascinated by Scotland’s Nessie but never seriously pursued it. When he installed residential burglar and fire alarms in London, he said he’d usually make small talk with the owners, who were often elderly. As old folks are often wont to do, the pensioners shared stories of their lives. Feltham noticed a common theme: Many expressed regret at not having followed the dreams of their youth. One retiree had spent years working in a pastry shop and always wanted to open his own bakery but never did. Another woman once had dreams of moving to America and pursuing a career in dance or theater; instead, she spent 30 years in a comfortable but unfulfilling office job. Feltham took that as a sign that he should seize his dream of searching for the Loch Ness monster and dedicate himself to it full-time. He quit his job and left his friends, family and life to drive to Loch Ness to live alone in a van and spend all day, every day, looking for the beast (and greeting the occasional tourist).
I knew better than most people what a bold move that was. A monster in Loch Ness, or any other lake, is a possibility, but a remote one given that there’s no hard evidence they exist. No such creatures have ever been captured. If they exist (and there would have to be dozens of them in the lake to sustain a breeding population), they have miraculously managed to avoid leaving any teeth, bones or carcasses.
Loch Ness has been searched for more than 70 years, using everything from miniature submarines to divers to cameras strapped on dolphins. In fact, just three years earlier, a team of researchers sponsored by the BBC undertook the largest and most comprehensive search of Loch Ness ever conducted. They scoured the lake using 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation. One of the lead searchers, Ian Florence, was quoted in a BBC news release: “We went from shoreline to shoreline, top to bottom on this one, we have covered everything in this loch, and we saw no signs of any large animal living in the loch.” No monsters, no nothing. I asked Feltham what he thought about that.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “It was flawed,” he sniffed. “Yes, it made the papers, but they didn’t scan [the loch] all at once, so to me the results are suspect. They searched it over three days in three parts, so the animals might have moved around between the searches.”
Benjamin Radford
The ruins of Urquhart Castle, the most famous and most photographed spot on the lake I understood his point, though it seemed unlikely to me that such a thorough search had somehow missed a half-dozen or more large creatures. I didn’t challenge him on it. Though I was used to being the skeptic when it came to eyewitness reports, Feltham shared my doubts about many sightings. He explained that many “eyewitness” sightings of Scotland’s famous lake monster can be traced back directly to Hollywood movies about the creature. He had no doubt that eyewitnesses sometimes describe seeing things they only really saw in fiction: “You remember the movie here on the loch that came out? The one with Ted Danson? Well, there’s a scene at Urquhart Castle that shows two Nessies there with long, thin necks.” That scene, Feltham told me, changed real-life eyewitness descriptions of things people saw on the loch: All of a sudden people started reporting seeing monsters with necks exactly as depicted in the film. “Nobody reported seeing 20-foot long necks until after that film came out,” he said. Unless the Nessie monsters had somehow seen the film and changed their appearance to fit what people were expecting them to look like, this was a clear example of how pop culture influenced the public’s sightings.
He said a few years earlier he had been contacted by a woman offering a video of what she thought was the neck of the Loch Ness monster, low in the water. “She’d come out to the loch on holiday and had a video camera with her. She was out by the castle”—the ruins of Urquhart Castle, the most famous and most photographed spot on the lake—“on a tour, I think it was, and she’d panned along the shore and countryside. She didn’t think a thing of it at the time.” It wasn’t until she and her husband returned home that they watched the video of their vacation and noticed a long, dark, indistinct form seeming to come vertically out of the water. They were sure she had accidentally filmed the Loch Ness monster’s neck; what else could it be?
“It was a boat mast,” Feltham said with a weary smile. “Clear as day, a boat mast. You don’t see the rest of the boat because she was taping the hills instead of the water, but there it was.” At Loch Ness—as at many reputedly monster-haunted lakes around the world—the bulk of lake monster sightings are made by tourists. If the creatures live in the lakes, one would think the people who spend the most time on the lakes would be more likely to see them than someone who’s only at the lake for a few days. Over and over I have interviewed fishermen and boat captains who have crisscrossed lakes daily (sometimes several times daily) for years and decades and never seen anything unusual. Feltham’s story provided part of the explanation: People who are around the lake often recognize normal features of the lake that weekend tourists might mistake for a monster head or neck (unusual wave patterns, masts, floating logs, swimming deer and so on).
Benjamin Radford
A minibus wrapped in faux wood paneling is part tourist shack, part library, part monster research facility and all home to Steve Feltham. One of the most popular theories about what the Loch Ness monster might be is a dinosaur-like plesiosaur. There are myriad problems with this theory, including that plesiosaurs died out millions of years ago and that Scotland’s lochs are only about 10,000 years old. Feltham rejects that suggestion, offering instead his best guess: Nessie are probably fish, most likely catfish.
I asked how he would feel if he was proven correct—if, after all the monstrous speculation and blurry photos, the world-famous Loch Ness monster really did turn out to be an ordinary catfish (albeit a large one). How would he feel if, after spending 20 years of his life searching for the mysterious beast, the monster turned out to be something most people can find in their local supermarket? He thought for a few moments and answered in a soft voice. “I guess I’d be philosophical about it,” he said as his sweatered shoulders betrayed a slight shrug.
I bought one of his Nessie sculptures, shook his hand and wished him luck. As I left Feltham’s van / home / research center on the windy shores of the small, cold lake in Scotland, I couldn’t help admiring his dedication. People should pursue their dreams and quests—but realize that they can come at a high cost.
When we hear news stories about Bigfoot or Nessie or ghosts (whether we believe in them or not), it is easy to forget that some people—in some cases, many people—are completely convinced they exist. Some hardcore enthusiasts spend precious years of their lives (and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars) searching in vain. The line between casual interest, serious hobby and outright obsession can be a fuzzy one.
I realized that Feltham and I were in many ways more alike than different. There are millions of people around the world who are interested in unexplained mysteries, yet you can count the number of serious, scientific investigators on one hand. Not the weekend warriors who go on camping trips looking for monsters or to cemeteries at midnight looking for ghosts, but people who have spent years and decades writing, investigating and researching the topics. For better or worse (I’m not sure which), Feltham and I were part of an exclusive club.
Benjamin Radford
Feltham, the world’s only full-time Loch Ness monster researcher Of course I didn’t quit my job, leave my friends and family, and go live alone in a minibus on a clammy Scottish lakeshore for my research. I liked to think that made me more grounded than he was, but maybe we aren’t so different. Part of me admired his certainty and wished I had the courage of his convictions. If I were as convinced as he that some strange creatures existed out in the loch—and that I’d discover their nature if I moved there and devoted my life to searching for them—would I do it?
Maybe his obsession will pay off; maybe one day I’ll pick up a copy of the New York Times or the Albuquerque Journal to see a front-page story with a big color photo of Feltham, beaming his triumphant smile next to a monstrous beast he’d captured or found in the loch. Maybe he will go down in history books as having solved the most famous lake riddle of all time.
But maybe he won’t.
Whether plesiosaur, monster or catfish, there’s a certain irony in that if the Nessie creatures truly are an endangered species, they might live and die without ever having been proven to exist. Stories and eyewitness reports of the Loch Ness monster will continue—with or without any actual creatures in the lake. Tourists will continue to mistake floating logs, boat masts, fish, wakes and other normal lake phenomena for potential monsters. The existence of lake monsters, like that of Bigfoot and ghosts, cannot be disproved. It only takes one live or dead monster to prove forever that they exist. And until that time, Steve Feltham will continue his search.
Benjamin Radford has investigated mysterious and unexplained phenomena for more than a decade. He is a columnist for LiveScience.com and Discovery News and managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. His latest book is Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries , available at his website: RadfordBooks.com.
http://alibi.com/index.php?scn=feature&di=&story=32962
Life on the Loch
The lonely hunt for truth and monsters
By Benjamin Radford
Steve Feltham’s eyes and smile grow wide when the subject of the Loch Ness monsters comes up. “I think they’re out there, certainly,” he says, though he adds with a hint of sadness that it may not be true for much longer. He estimates there are probably a half-dozen creatures left in the lake (down from dozens in earlier eras) and will be fewer each passing year: “Sightings have declined. They’re gradually dropping off of old age, I think.”
I found Feltham more or less by accident. I was at Scotland’s famous loch for about a week in 2006 following a speaking engagement in London. There I discussed my original research into “America’s Loch Ness Monster,” the creature supposedly inhabiting Vermont’s Lake Champlain. I had spent much of the day near Inverness, conducting a series of experiments to judge the size and distance of unknown objects in lake waters. But by mid-afternoon, the weather had grown too Scottish, and I had to pack it up.
Benjamin Radford
The author looks over the loch Instead of experiments, I walked along a chilly beach near the town of Dores, where, to my surprise, I found about 20 Loch Ness monsters. They were mostly red, green, purple and blue. Some were perched on rocks, others on little clear acrylic ice cubes, all on a wooden shelf supported by a waist-high tree stump. They were only a few inches high, and had big, cute eyes. Above them was a multicolored, hand-drawn sign that read, “Nessie Models For Sale.” Just behind that lay a converted minibus with faux wood paneling and a giant logo that read, “Nessie-Sery Independent Research.”
It’s part tourist shack, part library, part monster research facility and all home to Feltham, the world’s only full-time Loch Ness monster researcher. Feltham, with his easy grin, a shock of gray and white hair, and clipped British accent, is a fixture at Ness. He’s lived on its shores since 1991, when he abruptly moved from England. The vehicle, which is not much bigger than some walk-in closets, has everything he needs: a sparse bed, a desk, a tiny sink and a cooking burner. The walls are plastered with posters, photographs, maps and shelves with Loch Ness-related books and papers. (I was pleased to see some of my own articles and research on his shelf.)
Being both in the very shallow pool of serious lake monster researchers, we talked shop for an hour, swapping stories, research findings and theories about our elusive prey. He asked me about some of my lake monster investigations (a dozen or so of which appear in my 2007 book Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most Elusive Creatures), and he gave me a tour of his place.
I perched on a tiny stool, and Feltham told me his story. He spoke of a fairly ordinary childhood and rattled off a list of his previous occupations: “I was a potter for a while. Then I installed alarm systems. You know, peoples’ houses, commercial, all that lot. And, I’m an artist, of course,” he quickly added, gesturing to the Nessie figurines. He sculpts them in his spare time (which he has a lot of) to earn a living, selling them for £10 each (about $15).
Benjamin Radford
“Nessie Models For Sale” Growing up, he’d always been fascinated by Scotland’s Nessie but never seriously pursued it. When he installed residential burglar and fire alarms in London, he said he’d usually make small talk with the owners, who were often elderly. As old folks are often wont to do, the pensioners shared stories of their lives. Feltham noticed a common theme: Many expressed regret at not having followed the dreams of their youth. One retiree had spent years working in a pastry shop and always wanted to open his own bakery but never did. Another woman once had dreams of moving to America and pursuing a career in dance or theater; instead, she spent 30 years in a comfortable but unfulfilling office job. Feltham took that as a sign that he should seize his dream of searching for the Loch Ness monster and dedicate himself to it full-time. He quit his job and left his friends, family and life to drive to Loch Ness to live alone in a van and spend all day, every day, looking for the beast (and greeting the occasional tourist).
I knew better than most people what a bold move that was. A monster in Loch Ness, or any other lake, is a possibility, but a remote one given that there’s no hard evidence they exist. No such creatures have ever been captured. If they exist (and there would have to be dozens of them in the lake to sustain a breeding population), they have miraculously managed to avoid leaving any teeth, bones or carcasses.
Loch Ness has been searched for more than 70 years, using everything from miniature submarines to divers to cameras strapped on dolphins. In fact, just three years earlier, a team of researchers sponsored by the BBC undertook the largest and most comprehensive search of Loch Ness ever conducted. They scoured the lake using 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation. One of the lead searchers, Ian Florence, was quoted in a BBC news release: “We went from shoreline to shoreline, top to bottom on this one, we have covered everything in this loch, and we saw no signs of any large animal living in the loch.” No monsters, no nothing. I asked Feltham what he thought about that.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “It was flawed,” he sniffed. “Yes, it made the papers, but they didn’t scan [the loch] all at once, so to me the results are suspect. They searched it over three days in three parts, so the animals might have moved around between the searches.”
Benjamin Radford
The ruins of Urquhart Castle, the most famous and most photographed spot on the lake I understood his point, though it seemed unlikely to me that such a thorough search had somehow missed a half-dozen or more large creatures. I didn’t challenge him on it. Though I was used to being the skeptic when it came to eyewitness reports, Feltham shared my doubts about many sightings. He explained that many “eyewitness” sightings of Scotland’s famous lake monster can be traced back directly to Hollywood movies about the creature. He had no doubt that eyewitnesses sometimes describe seeing things they only really saw in fiction: “You remember the movie here on the loch that came out? The one with Ted Danson? Well, there’s a scene at Urquhart Castle that shows two Nessies there with long, thin necks.” That scene, Feltham told me, changed real-life eyewitness descriptions of things people saw on the loch: All of a sudden people started reporting seeing monsters with necks exactly as depicted in the film. “Nobody reported seeing 20-foot long necks until after that film came out,” he said. Unless the Nessie monsters had somehow seen the film and changed their appearance to fit what people were expecting them to look like, this was a clear example of how pop culture influenced the public’s sightings.
He said a few years earlier he had been contacted by a woman offering a video of what she thought was the neck of the Loch Ness monster, low in the water. “She’d come out to the loch on holiday and had a video camera with her. She was out by the castle”—the ruins of Urquhart Castle, the most famous and most photographed spot on the lake—“on a tour, I think it was, and she’d panned along the shore and countryside. She didn’t think a thing of it at the time.” It wasn’t until she and her husband returned home that they watched the video of their vacation and noticed a long, dark, indistinct form seeming to come vertically out of the water. They were sure she had accidentally filmed the Loch Ness monster’s neck; what else could it be?
“It was a boat mast,” Feltham said with a weary smile. “Clear as day, a boat mast. You don’t see the rest of the boat because she was taping the hills instead of the water, but there it was.” At Loch Ness—as at many reputedly monster-haunted lakes around the world—the bulk of lake monster sightings are made by tourists. If the creatures live in the lakes, one would think the people who spend the most time on the lakes would be more likely to see them than someone who’s only at the lake for a few days. Over and over I have interviewed fishermen and boat captains who have crisscrossed lakes daily (sometimes several times daily) for years and decades and never seen anything unusual. Feltham’s story provided part of the explanation: People who are around the lake often recognize normal features of the lake that weekend tourists might mistake for a monster head or neck (unusual wave patterns, masts, floating logs, swimming deer and so on).
Benjamin Radford
A minibus wrapped in faux wood paneling is part tourist shack, part library, part monster research facility and all home to Steve Feltham. One of the most popular theories about what the Loch Ness monster might be is a dinosaur-like plesiosaur. There are myriad problems with this theory, including that plesiosaurs died out millions of years ago and that Scotland’s lochs are only about 10,000 years old. Feltham rejects that suggestion, offering instead his best guess: Nessie are probably fish, most likely catfish.
I asked how he would feel if he was proven correct—if, after all the monstrous speculation and blurry photos, the world-famous Loch Ness monster really did turn out to be an ordinary catfish (albeit a large one). How would he feel if, after spending 20 years of his life searching for the mysterious beast, the monster turned out to be something most people can find in their local supermarket? He thought for a few moments and answered in a soft voice. “I guess I’d be philosophical about it,” he said as his sweatered shoulders betrayed a slight shrug.
I bought one of his Nessie sculptures, shook his hand and wished him luck. As I left Feltham’s van / home / research center on the windy shores of the small, cold lake in Scotland, I couldn’t help admiring his dedication. People should pursue their dreams and quests—but realize that they can come at a high cost.
When we hear news stories about Bigfoot or Nessie or ghosts (whether we believe in them or not), it is easy to forget that some people—in some cases, many people—are completely convinced they exist. Some hardcore enthusiasts spend precious years of their lives (and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars) searching in vain. The line between casual interest, serious hobby and outright obsession can be a fuzzy one.
I realized that Feltham and I were in many ways more alike than different. There are millions of people around the world who are interested in unexplained mysteries, yet you can count the number of serious, scientific investigators on one hand. Not the weekend warriors who go on camping trips looking for monsters or to cemeteries at midnight looking for ghosts, but people who have spent years and decades writing, investigating and researching the topics. For better or worse (I’m not sure which), Feltham and I were part of an exclusive club.
Benjamin Radford
Feltham, the world’s only full-time Loch Ness monster researcher Of course I didn’t quit my job, leave my friends and family, and go live alone in a minibus on a clammy Scottish lakeshore for my research. I liked to think that made me more grounded than he was, but maybe we aren’t so different. Part of me admired his certainty and wished I had the courage of his convictions. If I were as convinced as he that some strange creatures existed out in the loch—and that I’d discover their nature if I moved there and devoted my life to searching for them—would I do it?
Maybe his obsession will pay off; maybe one day I’ll pick up a copy of the New York Times or the Albuquerque Journal to see a front-page story with a big color photo of Feltham, beaming his triumphant smile next to a monstrous beast he’d captured or found in the loch. Maybe he will go down in history books as having solved the most famous lake riddle of all time.
But maybe he won’t.
Whether plesiosaur, monster or catfish, there’s a certain irony in that if the Nessie creatures truly are an endangered species, they might live and die without ever having been proven to exist. Stories and eyewitness reports of the Loch Ness monster will continue—with or without any actual creatures in the lake. Tourists will continue to mistake floating logs, boat masts, fish, wakes and other normal lake phenomena for potential monsters. The existence of lake monsters, like that of Bigfoot and ghosts, cannot be disproved. It only takes one live or dead monster to prove forever that they exist. And until that time, Steve Feltham will continue his search.
Benjamin Radford has investigated mysterious and unexplained phenomena for more than a decade. He is a columnist for LiveScience.com and Discovery News and managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. His latest book is Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries , available at his website: RadfordBooks.com.
Loch Ness Monster in "Google Earth."
Here is an image from "Google Earth" which I suspect shows the famous monster! The site is at the northen end of the loch, almost at the end of the Loch. You can see a neck and head, which is looking behind itself. And either a large tear drop shaped body; or a large serpentine body, curling down into the lake. If it's a plesiosaur type body, it looks like it has patterning on its back! :shock:
Considering that there are stories of the creature in the water, as well as out of the water. How does the creature breath? Does it inhale water through its neck; to lungs which removes the oxygen?
Link
Link is dead. No archived version found. Cannot verify if it's the same image as noted earlier.
EDIT: H-u-g-e pic turned into link by WJ.
Here is an image from "Google Earth" which I suspect shows the famous monster! The site is at the northen end of the loch, almost at the end of the Loch. You can see a neck and head, which is looking behind itself. And either a large tear drop shaped body; or a large serpentine body, curling down into the lake. If it's a plesiosaur type body, it looks like it has patterning on its back! :shock:
Considering that there are stories of the creature in the water, as well as out of the water. How does the creature breath? Does it inhale water through its neck; to lungs which removes the oxygen?
Link is dead. No archived version found. Cannot verify if it's the same image as noted earlier.
EDIT: H-u-g-e pic turned into link by WJ.
Last edited by a moderator:
McAvennie
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2003
- Messages
- 3,998
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/vie ... and-well-/
To me it looks like waves caused by the wake of a boat. You can even see a kind of line nearer that would line-up diagonally with the waves.
It mentions there were other pictures taken, would like to see the series of other images. Cannot see that a humped beast would hang about above the surface long enough to let you take several pics.
Had a quick Google but couldn't see any sign of other images yet.
To me it looks like waves caused by the wake of a boat. You can even see a kind of line nearer that would line-up diagonally with the waves.
It mentions there were other pictures taken, would like to see the series of other images. Cannot see that a humped beast would hang about above the surface long enough to let you take several pics.
Had a quick Google but couldn't see any sign of other images yet.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Doesn't look anything like a boat's wake to me, and I've spent many years working on boats of all sorts. It's obviously quite distant, and waves that size couldn't be any kind of wake. But it doesn't look much like an animal either. Maybe a pod of several animals...? But that's unlikely, since white creatures in the loch would surely have been reported before now...McAvennie_ said:
But the image presented is too small to draw conclusions. Not only would I like to see other pics from this encounter, I'd like to see much larger versions.
McAvennie
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2003
- Messages
- 3,998
Pic from Inverness Courier
Pic from Daily Express
It was apparently a mobile phone camera that took it, and this image - either another from the series - or the same one zoomed out, shows exactly how far away the guy was taking the picture.
Something doesn't look right. Can't think what it would be other than Photoshop.
I still maintain that you can see a line nearer that would line up as a boat's wake, but, granted, pics of boats wake on Loch Ness do not usually show up white like surf.
EDIT:
Have added the two pics. I'm fairly proficient in PhotoShop, and having opened both images, the pixellation on the Courier image is so great when zoomed in that I do not think the Express image is simply a cropped version of the Courier one.
Thus, I would surmise that the Courier image is the first one, and that the Express one is a second photo that has been taken using a zoom. When increased the wide shot is far more pixellated than the close-up one, which to me suggests it would be very hard to crop the wide image to create the close-up and still produce a better resolution.
What is strange is that, if that is the case, the 'monster' remains in the exact same spot for the wide shot as it does for the close-up. It has not moved an inch. Is there any mammal, especially water-bound, that would remain so rigidly in one position long enough for someone to take a photo, then zoom in (on a camera phone remember) and take another without it having moved.
So, for me, it seems that what has been photographed is a solid object that is inanimate. What though?