The Occult Section

I’m usually pretty bored by lake monsters as a cryptid, as I just don’t see much evidence to support their existence, and most photos of the alleged monster either look like obvious fakes or waves in the water. But I do think a statistical analysis of Loch Ness Monster sightings would be interesting, and similar to what has already been done with Bigfoot sightings. Real or imaginary, the patterns should be very telling.

AN EXPERT delving deep into the history of Nessie spotters is to reveal his findings on the 80th anniversary of the first modern-day sighting.

Dr Charles Paxton, a statistical ecologist from St Andrews University, is working on the first catalogue of all known sightings of the Loch Ness monster in modern times.

The researcher will present his findings at a conference this weekend, organised as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

The special event organised by the St Andrews academic marks the 80th anniversary of the first official sighting of Nessie.

It was in April 1933 that Drumnadrochit hotel manageress Aldie Mackay reported “something resembling a whale” while on the road from Inverness.

Dr Paxton, a research fellow at the University’s Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, is interested in how science handles anomalistic and low frequency data.

He will analyse all reported sightings for consistencies or patterns that could be explained by natural phenomena.

He said, “I am carrying out a statistical analysis of Loch Ness monster accounts since 1933, specifically looking for clusters in terms of what is reported. In some cases there are multiple witnesses, or witnesses giving multiple accounts of the same event, which allow us to test eyewitness consistency.”

There have been more than 1000 recorded sightings of ‘Nessie’ and Dr Paxton has so far sifted through over 800 of these cases.

Although he wryly notes more than a few hotel proprietors among the typical spotters, Dr Paxton says that ‘everyone’ sees Nessie, from ordinary locals to clergymen.

He said: “Everyone sees Nessie from aristocrats and celebrities such as Gavin Maxwell and Compton Mackenzie to ordinary folk and children.

“Professions include cafe and hotel proprietors, chauffeurs, police inspectors, bank managers, students, town clerks, lorry drivers, clergymen, forestry workers, office workers, water bailiffs and fishermen.”

In some cases, spotters saw Nessie more than once.

Dr Paxton said: “These cases are very interesting because they allow us to consider whether certain witnesses have a tendency to see Nessie more than might be expected by chance alone.”

The researcher has trawled through old newspaper clippings, reports, books and records from the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau of the 1960s and 1970s, for all recorded sightings that peaked especially after the infamous ‘surgeon’s photograph’ of 1934.

He explained, “Although the first recorded sighting of a monster-like creature at Loch Ness was by St Columba in 565AD, it was Mrs Mackay’s sighting in 1933 that launched the myth.

“After the initial reports, there were traffic jams all around the loch.. in 1933-1934 the Loch Ness monster became a massive global phenomena.”

The one-day conference ‘Nessie at 80’ is co-organised by author Gordon Rutter, who specialises in the paranormal, and will be held at The Counting House in Edinburgh.

During the special Nessie event, Dr Paxton will be joined by Nessie experts from around the world who will talk about the biology of the Loch, the history of the monster as a folkloric entity until 1933, the post 1933 history and the history of cinematic portrayals of the Loch Ness monster.

Dr Paxton is still analysing the data and will publish his findings in full later in the year.

To me, the more interesting things about this conference would be the history of Nessie in folklore, and how it has been portrayed in the movies, as everything from a gentle horse-like creature to a bloodthirsty dinosaur composed of bad CGI (thanks, SyFy Channel).

Technorati Tags: bigfoot, cryptozoology, debunking, great britain, hoax, lake monster, loch ness monster, media, nessie, News, paranormal, people, picture, scotland, thoughts, UK

If I had a nickel for every story we’ve done here about some blurry photograph of some blob that the photographer was claiming was proof of some as-of-yet undiscovered monster, I’d have…well, maybe a dollar or so. A nickel doesn’t go as far as it used to. But you get the idea. Anyways, here is another story of someone pushing a photograph of a monster, and in this case it’s of the Loch Ness variety. (Thanks to Jessica for using our Submit a Story page to let us know about this story!)

The clearest photo yet of the Loch Ness…something.

A man who has hunted the Loch Ness Monster for nearly three decades believes he has snagged the best photograph of – and some important new information on – the legendary creature.

George Edwards, a devoted Nessie hunter who leads searches for the monster with his Loch Ness Cruise business in Drumnadrochit, Scotland, just publically released a photograph of a gray creature with a mysterious hump schlepping toward Urquhart Castle.

“I’m convinced I was seeing Nessie as I believe in these creatures. Far too many people have being seeing them for far too long,” he told the Inverness Courier.

After watching what he says was the monster for 5 to 10 minutes from his boat, the Nessie Hunter IV, Edwards says the animal descended beneath the loch’s famously deep, dark waters.

“I hung around for a good half an hour and used the deep scanning sonar to try and pick it up, but I’m afraid I had no luck at all,” he told the paper.

The Courier reports the man took the photograph in November of last year but felt that he should wait to go public with the picture.

“I did not want to mention my sighting until I was sure that I had not photographed a log or something inanimate in the water,” he said. “I have friends in the U.S.A. who have friends in the military.”

Those friends analyzed Edwards’ picture, and, according to him, “have no doubt” that he photographed an “animate” object in the water.

“I was really excited as I am sure that some strange creatures are lurking in the depths of Loch Ness,” he told the local paper.

Although he says this doesn’t necessarily prove the monster’s existence, it does give hunters some ammunition against naysayers.

The photograph “does prove what Nessie isn’t — a sturgeon, which is a fish that has been put forward as one of the main explanations as to what Nessie could be but this hasn’t got a serrated spine like the sturgeon,” he said.

I do appreciate Mr. Edwards stating that he does not believe that this photo proves the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. But it really does nothing to help the search, either. At the end of the day, it’s just a dark blob that could be anything. The resolution is not nearly good enough to see if there are spines on its back, like a sturgeon, or if they are absent. There is also no sense of scale here, and this photo looks like it was taken at a fairly high elevation. Lastly, and while this doesn’t prove that it’s a hoax, I’m always supsicious of people who miraculously catch photos of monsters when they themselves run a for-profit monster hunting business. I blogged back in 2011 about some competing Loch Ness Monster hunting business in Scotland, and publicity like this is sure to drum up business.

Technorati Tags: cryptozoology, debunking, george edwards, great britain, hoax, lake monster, loch ness monster, media, News, paranormal, people, picture, scotland, supernatural, thoughts

I may be an armchair cryptozoologist, and I believe in the possible existence of a great many things, but one creature that I’m really on the fence about is the Loch Ness Monster (and other lake monsters). On the one hand, there is definitely something being seen in lakes around the world, with many of those reports dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. Most lake monster sightings all happen within a specific latitude on the globe, which points to something real, something flesh and blood. But is it a dinosaur? I’m not too sure about that. Most of the photos are dubious at best, and the rest have been proven to be hoaxes or misidentifications. Most of the lakes that supposedly have “monsters” in them don’t have enough of a food supply to adequately feed an entire breeding population of dinosaurs.

But AOL News is reporting that a lake in England has its own monster now.

The dental benefit plans for American lake monsters are far superior...

The hunt is on for a new lake monster — not at Scotland’s Loch Ness, home of the fabled “Nessie,” but this time in nearby England.

Sky News reports that monster hunters are using sonar to try to find the elusive animal that reportedly lurks in the 220-foot-deep, 10-mile-long lake.

Lake Windermere, located in the northern part of England, is a popular holiday and summer home destination and is bordered by two towns, Ambleside and Bowness-on-Windermere — hence the clever monster nickname, Bow-Nessie.

Some suggest its name comes from the bow-like wave it has been reported making as it glides through the water.

One witness, hotel owner Thomas Noblett, said he had a very close encounter with Bow-Nessie. “All of a sudden, I felt something brush past my legs like a giant fish. And then I was lifted up by a 3-foot wave. I’ve no idea what it was.”

As a new legend is born, it probably won’t hurt local tourism, either — Bow-Nessie T-shirts can’t be too far away.

Technorati Tags: cryptozoology, england, great britain, humor, lake monster, loch ness, loch ness monster, media, News, paranormal, thoughts, UK