Monday, July 29, 2013

The Loch Ness Monster

Lake Loch Ness-trekearth

Lake Loch Ness-trekearth
Google Images
MATTHEWS, RUPERT (ed.) PAUL ROLAND, KAREN FARRINGTON, LUCY DONCASTER, ANDREW HOLLAND, (2009) The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, London, Arcturus.

The text states that in Lake Loch Ness a creature has been often seen and at times even photographed. (2009: 92). The Monster is nicknamed 'Nessie'.

The first recorded exploit is from the 6th century and from Saint Columbia that allegedly saved a man from an attack from the Monster. (2009: 92).

Sightings have increased since 1933 when a motor road was built along the shores of Lake Loch Ness for the first time and prior to that only the locals had supposedly seen the creature. (2009: 92).

With the road, first hundreds and then thousands of people came to the Lake daily, because of the legend. (2009: 92).

My family too did likewise in our European tour. I wanted an autograph...

Yes I looked for the Monster, I was just a kid. It was a huge industry by then.

The encyclopedia states that the first supposed experience to make news headlines was that of a John McKay just a few weeks after the road work had been completed. He claimed to see 'an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface'. (2009: 92).

There is the famous 'Surgeon's Photo' taken by Dr. Robert Wilson in 1934. Yes, that is the photo above.

On September 1952, John Cobb was attempting to break the world water speed record in his speedboat Crusader on Loch Ness. The water was calm but the speeding boat at maximum speed hit a patch of ripples and Cobb died instantly. Later analysis via films shows the waves were caused by a 'low wake', but no small boat was nearby, so the assumption was the Monster caused the accident. It was assumed swimming submerged but still close to surface. (2009: 93).

This does seem highly speculative blaming the cause of death of a human being on a creature that is not even empirically known to exist.

Reminding me of Aliens but I digress...

The text states that in 1960 a 'holiday maker' (Funny British term for sure) noted this type of activity, as in causing a wake on the Lake and caught it on film. The object that caused it was estimated to be about five feet wide and dived below the surface. (2009: 93).

In July 1963, two fisherman Mr. McL and Mr. C were in a small boat on the Lake angling for salmon. The waves were calm and then the boat was rocked as by a wave and for about ten seconds a long neck topped by head sort of like a dog came out of the water. The creature then sank out of sight. (2009: 93).

In 1970, the 'Big Expedition' from the University of Chicago and Roy Mackal used high-tech sonar, hydrophones and underwater cameras. They found that hydrophones picked up sounds sounding like creatures using 'echo-location pulses' to find food. The hydrophones could also hear bird chirping noises from the deep central Loch and the sonar picked up a large object which did move from side to side which could be a flipper or tail. (2009: 93).

A 1975 photo from a new expedition showed several photos which may have been of the Monster. But determining scale was not accomplished and thus it could not be determined what it was, even with the best photo. Perhaps it was a fish. (2009: 93).

In 2003, a BBC 'Nessie' hunt occurred with 600 sonar beams. This exercise supported the cause of the skeptics. (2009: 93-94).

Another story is that bizarrely the earlier Loch Ness Monster sightings were actually of elephants.

During the 1930s a travelling circus owned by Bertram Mills went to the Lake by the banks and took the elephants for a swim. (2009: 94)

Mills offered a reward for the capture of The Loch Ness Monster once he realized his elephants were a cause of the supposed sightings. (2009: 94)

However, sightings still exist until today (2009) the text states, and not all are from persons involved in the local tourist trade which is a frequent accusation from skeptics and critics.

I reason even if at some point the empirical existence of a creature, likely pre-historic can be reasonably proven, it would not make the creature a Monster.

It may simply be an unexplained creature, previously unknown to modern science.

Or it is a hoax...

Please no one suggest Aliens created The Loch Ness Monster and left it here on earth, I digress...