Monster Hunting

Thu 17 November 2011

Monster Hunting

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 21:41

On the 12th of November in 1933, Hugh Gray took the first known photo of the Loch Ness Monster. Reports of a “water beast” in the area go all the way back to Saint Columba, who in the 6th century CE was travelling through the area to meet a Pictish king and spotted a local man menanced by the water beast. Columba subdued the creature with a sign of the cross and a command.

However, interest in the water beast did not peak until 1933, when a road was built along the shore, giving clear views across the loch. The first reference of a “monster” dates from this time and there were many sightings, including a motorcyclist who claimed to have almost crashed into the thing as it crossed the road back towards the loch.

And then on the 12th of Novemember, Hugh Gray snapped this photograph on his way home from church. He said that he’d spotted this “object of considerable dimensions” splashing in the water. Skeptics have suggested that the blurry snapshot appears to show a dog swimming through the water, quite probably Gray’s own.

However, as a result of the photograph in the Daily Express, the Secretary of State for Scotland ordered the police to prevent any attacks on the monster.

In the early 1970s, a number of murky underwater photographs were taken which could possibly have shown a large rhomboid flipper.

Loch Ness Monster – Wikipedia

On the basis of these photographs, British naturalist Peter Scott announced in 1975 that the scientific name of the monster would henceforth be Nessiteras rhombopteryx (Greek for “The Ness monster with diamond-shaped fin”). Scott intended that this would enable Nessie to be added to a British register of officially protected wildlife. Scottish politician Nicholas Fairbairn pointed out that the name was an anagram for “Monster hoax by Sir Peter S”.

It is now clear that the flipper photograph was highly retouched. The original appears to show bubbles or sediment in the water.

The evidence against Nessie continues to mount. The BBC used satellite navigation technology to search the loch and found no trace of a monster. There’s never been a corpse or carcass or even a bone found that could be attributed to such a beast. And naturalists have said that Loch Ness could not sustain an animal of that size, let along a dozen breeding pairs needed to sustain the population.

Seventy-eight years later in 2011, these photographs were ALL taken for the first time on the 12th of November and not a SINGLE ONE is a hoax. See for yourself!