5 ms·

The Obsessive Life of the Fisherman Who Discovered the Loch Ness Monster (2020)

2 points by samclemens 5y ago

pvaldes 5y ago
The photo of 1933 looks clearly manipulated even if they repeat several times "trust me, obscure authority figure said that is not". Well; Is easy to spot a curve in the object that continues in the ocean disguised as waves. It lies too high and the contact between the object and the water is unusually regular and quiet. Looks like a stuffed animal with four clamps used to fix it to a wood piece (that would explain why is floating so high).
ecf 5y ago
I’d like to know how one “discovers” a non-existent animal.
- TheTester 5y ago
  By seeing it We believe that there is a lot of extinct species and suddenly we happen to find them this could well be the case
- nautilius 5y ago
  That's how every single claim of discovery has to start.
- _3u10 5y ago
  It can take millennia. Just ask the Vikings / Pliny the Elder / Aristotle about how long it took to find the kraken. It seems we just wait for them to wash up on beaches, and then the land lubbers start believing its real. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_giant_squid_specimens_and_sightings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_giant_squid_specimens_...
  - technothrasher 5y ago
    Is it really fair to equate giant squids with the Kraken? The Kraken is supposed to be the size of an island and capable of devouring massive ships. That sounds orders of magnitude bigger than a giant squid to me. Pliny the Elder and Aristotle seem to be describing giant squids. The Nordic legends seem to be describing a mythical animal that may have been inspired by giant squids but certainly is not the same thing. It seems like it would be similar to say the the Roc has been "found" because we have documented very large eagles. Until we have an eagle that can carry away a fully grown elephant, it's not a Roc.
    - rsj_hn 5y ago
      I thought the Kraken just broke the ships into pieces with it's super-tentacles
    - _3u10 5y ago
      I would imagine that between the people who saw the 'kraken' in small viking ships, and the people who wrote the history of these sightings that some embellishments were made.
- chatoyance 5y ago
  Grainy photographs and elaborate tales are very important.
dandotway 5y ago
> There were porpoises in the loch in 1914. They had entered from the Moray Firth along the River Ness and were a rare spectacle I never knew Loch Ness was connected to the ocean at large, and this helps keep a bit of the mystery alive. I had read that detailed sonar and biomass surveys of Loch Ness concluded there could be no large monster there, because there's not enough food to feed something the size of a whale and anything the size of a whale would have been seen by sonar. But the monster could have a lifecycle like salmon, where it is born in freshwater, goes out to the ocean, and eventually returns to freshwater only to reproduce and then die. Porpoises are kinda like mini-whales (they're air-breathing mammals with voracious appetites which can weigh over 200kg), and a school of porpoises wouldn't travel to Loch Ness unless there was a lot of good eatin' there.
- habeebtc 5y ago
  Normally, the lake is a bit sparse from what I read. suckerfish and arctic char mostly. Maybe some other introduced salmonids, eels. One article suggests sturgeon. However, the migratory salmon and salmonids probably are there once or twice a year in good numbers. A giant creature migrating to and from the ocean, one round trip per year would probably be noticed cruising through downtown Inverness. Or more likely climbing over the Dochfour Weir. There is simply no getting past the weir without being exposed.
  - dandotway 5y ago
    Ahh, so if the monster exists then it must, like the porpoises, only rarely travel to Loch Ness from the ocean, so that few sightings per century can be expected. I thought all alien craft sightings were BS until four separate Navy pilots came forward to say they all saw that white tic tac in 2004. And three of the four pilots have done television interviews, most recently this 60 Minutes one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygB4EZ7ggig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygB4EZ7ggig If not for the link between Loch Ness and the ocean I'd think the existence of the monster could probably be ruled out as attention seeking liars. But now that we know porpoises sometimes make the rare trip from the ocean, we can't 100% rule out the monster never does. Does Dochfour Weir have 24/7 thermal and sonar monitoring and recording? Would Dochfour Weir capture on video and count every single porpoise that passes through at 3am, 365 days per year?
tomcam 5y ago
> A humble Scotsman saw something strange in the water—and daringly set out to catch it—only to have lecherous out-of-towners steal his fame and upend his quest. I... couldn't quite understand the lecherous part...

2 points by samclemens 5y ago

The photo of 1933 looks clearly manipulated even if they repeat several times "trust me, obscure authority figure said that is not". Well; Is easy to spot a curve in the object that continues in the ocean disguised as waves. It lies too high and the contact between the object and the water is unusually regular and quiet. Looks like a stuffed animal with four clamps used to fix it to a wood piece (that would explain why is floating so high).

ecf 5y ago

I’d like to know how one “discovers” a non-existent animal.

TheTester 5y ago
By seeing it We believe that there is a lot of extinct species and suddenly we happen to find them this could well be the case
nautilius 5y ago
That's how every single claim of discovery has to start.
_3u10 5y ago
It can take millennia. Just ask the Vikings / Pliny the Elder / Aristotle about how long it took to find the kraken. It seems we just wait for them to wash up on beaches, and then the land lubbers start believing its real. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_giant_squid_specimens_and_sightings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_giant_squid_specimens_...
- technothrasher 5y ago
  Is it really fair to equate giant squids with the Kraken? The Kraken is supposed to be the size of an island and capable of devouring massive ships. That sounds orders of magnitude bigger than a giant squid to me. Pliny the Elder and Aristotle seem to be describing giant squids. The Nordic legends seem to be describing a mythical animal that may have been inspired by giant squids but certainly is not the same thing. It seems like it would be similar to say the the Roc has been "found" because we have documented very large eagles. Until we have an eagle that can carry away a fully grown elephant, it's not a Roc.
  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    I thought the Kraken just broke the ships into pieces with it's super-tentacles
  - _3u10 5y ago
    I would imagine that between the people who saw the 'kraken' in small viking ships, and the people who wrote the history of these sightings that some embellishments were made.
chatoyance 5y ago
Grainy photographs and elaborate tales are very important.

dandotway 5y ago

> There were porpoises in the loch in 1914. They had entered from the Moray Firth along the River Ness and were a rare spectacle I never knew Loch Ness was connected to the ocean at large, and this helps keep a bit of the mystery alive. I had read that detailed sonar and biomass surveys of Loch Ness concluded there could be no large monster there, because there's not enough food to feed something the size of a whale and anything the size of a whale would have been seen by sonar. But the monster could have a lifecycle like salmon, where it is born in freshwater, goes out to the ocean, and eventually returns to freshwater only to reproduce and then die. Porpoises are kinda like mini-whales (they're air-breathing mammals with voracious appetites which can weigh over 200kg), and a school of porpoises wouldn't travel to Loch Ness unless there was a lot of good eatin' there.

habeebtc 5y ago
Normally, the lake is a bit sparse from what I read. suckerfish and arctic char mostly. Maybe some other introduced salmonids, eels. One article suggests sturgeon. However, the migratory salmon and salmonids probably are there once or twice a year in good numbers. A giant creature migrating to and from the ocean, one round trip per year would probably be noticed cruising through downtown Inverness. Or more likely climbing over the Dochfour Weir. There is simply no getting past the weir without being exposed.
- dandotway 5y ago
  Ahh, so if the monster exists then it must, like the porpoises, only rarely travel to Loch Ness from the ocean, so that few sightings per century can be expected. I thought all alien craft sightings were BS until four separate Navy pilots came forward to say they all saw that white tic tac in 2004. And three of the four pilots have done television interviews, most recently this 60 Minutes one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygB4EZ7ggig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygB4EZ7ggig If not for the link between Loch Ness and the ocean I'd think the existence of the monster could probably be ruled out as attention seeking liars. But now that we know porpoises sometimes make the rare trip from the ocean, we can't 100% rule out the monster never does. Does Dochfour Weir have 24/7 thermal and sonar monitoring and recording? Would Dochfour Weir capture on video and count every single porpoise that passes through at 3am, 365 days per year?

tomcam 5y ago

> A humble Scotsman saw something strange in the water—and daringly set out to catch it—only to have lecherous out-of-towners steal his fame and upend his quest. I... couldn't quite understand the lecherous part...