Actress Encounters Nessie
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 28th, 2009
Sexy star Vicki Michelle got a surprise recently at the Scottish lake.
“’Allo ’Allo!” actress Vicki Michelle took a pleasure cruise on Loch Ness and had a close encounter with Nessie herself.
The actress was appearing in the stage version of the classic telly comedy at the Eden Court in Inverness.
And she and the rest of the cast got more than they bargained for when they enjoyed a sightseeing trip on the loch’s Jacobite Queen cruise ship. The cast, including television series favorite Vicki Michelle, had been taking a break from performing last Thursday, May 21, 2009, when the spot was made.
The boat was on its way to Urquhart Castle when the crew picked up a strange signal on their sonar. The unusual readings on the ship’s sonar screen (actual video capture above) occurred between the village of Dores and Urquhart Castle.
Michelle dashed below decks for a look, and was amazed to see five mysterious “arch shapes” on the screen.
The boat’s skipper said he’d never seen anything like it in his time on the loch. According to the skipper, John Askew, it was the first time in his 15 years of working on the loch that he picked up such images on any of the Jacobite fleet’s sonar screens. Monster-hunters plan to investigate the sighting further. The images have been sent for scientific analysis.
Michelle, who plays saucy waitress Yvette (above) in “’Allo ’Allo!”, said May 27, 2009: “Perhaps Nessie’s a fan of the show!”
She added: “I caught an arch shape on the monitor, followed by four more. The whole cast had been hoping to see something on the trip. And if it was Nessie, that positive energy probably brought her out. In all seriousness, whether it was Nessie or not, we all definitely saw something on that monitor.”
Cast members of the TV-turned-stage show “’Allo ’Allo” were said to be “more than a little shocked” while cruising on the loch where they believe they caught a glimpse of a “Nessie-shaped image” on their vessel’s sonar screen.
Interestingly, various papers have quoted Loch Ness researcher Adrian Shine’s reaction differently.
The following remarks were published by the Scottish Daily Record: “This has got me puzzled. It has every appearance of a genuine sonar contact. It certainly adds to the Loch Ness mystery and will be the subject of further investigation.”
Speaking of acting, you may recognize Adrian Shine from his Toyota truck commercial, which use to be available on YouTube.
But Adrian Shine, who moved from London to investigate the monster mystery, is a skeptic. Loch Ness Project’s Shine was recorded by the Aberdeen Press and Journal to have noted: “This has got me puzzled. The fact there’s five items on the screen can be explained – a single object often appears again as an echo.”
The “‘Allo ‘Allo!” stage play, starring Vicki and Hi-De-Hi’s Jeffrey Holland as Rene, was on in Inverness from May 18 to 23, 2009. The cast are now continuing their UK tour.
Vicki Michelle (born 14 December 1950 in Chigwell, Essex) is an English actress best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the television comedy series “‘Allo ‘Allo!” – a role in which she is still active with the touring cast of the stage show based on the television series.
After spending much of 2008 on tour with the “‘Allo ‘Allo!” stage show, Michelle took a break to pursue various other projects, including appearing as the “Wicked Queen” in a pantomime production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which ran until January 11, 2009 at the Hull New Theatre. She rejoined the cast of “‘Allo ‘Allo!” in March 2009, reprising her role as sexy waitress Yvette. Michelle has made several appearances in the British soap opera “Emmerdale” as Patricia Foster, mother of Jonny Foster – a role which she is set to reprise early in 2009.
Her film roles have included that of Glenys in the 1976 comedy film The Likely Lads, as well as playing an English hitchhiker in Alfie Darling. She also appeared in the infamous adverts for Harp Lager in the early 1980s. The slogan was “Sally O’Brien and the way she might look at you.” It caused uproar when it was discovered that the actress playing Sally O’Brien was English. In 2007 she appeared in a “Children In Need” special of “Hotel Babylon.” In 2008 she appeared on the BBC’s cookery programme, “Celebrity Masterchef.”
Vicki Michelle also appeared in the occult classic Virgin Witch, which has the alternative title, Lesbian Twins.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I am surprised this got the attention it did as there is clearly an echo beneath the loch bottom. I see this all the time when boating in the Lake Erie, but never a vertical line repeated like this. It’s unlikely a series of Nessies are doing synchronized swimming in a vertical line (one beneath the bottom).
I have seen some peculiar things when the transducer goes is out of water due to wave action. In my boat it’s to the side.
To be honest, this “encounter” got attention because an attractive celebrity was involved. And then the media went to a celebrity skeptic for his opinion, to balance the story. SOP.
I’m glad that voluptuous sort-of-celebrities are on the case. This greatly enhances the repute of crypto, worldwide.
(At least we can tell what those photos show.)
It helped that she showed serious crypto chops.
Would she like to come stake out a certain Pennsylvania cornfield? We need to retake some shots.
Oh boy! Vicky Michelle was a huge schoolboy crush of mine back in the 1980s.
Allo Allo is a perennial British t.v favourite and is still shown on t.v to this day.
Very interesting comments by Adrian Shine too. I thought he had all but given up being intrigued by anything ‘extraordinary’ in Loch Ness.
dambert.
I dont understand your explanation, could you clarify please for my benefit? It would be much appreciated
Might Viki be lying about her age and shes actualy in her 80’s. I mean look at her, I did and am stirred strangely !
My impression of Adrian Shine is that he his not a sceptic in a general sense but doesnt think the case is made for Nessie. He used to, but was put off partly by his view based on research that there wasnt enough food in the loch to support our dear one. At least he found the sona interesting.
I wonder if there is a role for Cameron from Terminator in this ? Her analytical mind would surely be of great benefit.
I too was surprised to hear Shine being tagged as a “skeptic.”
I guess it would have been better if Loren had added “open-minded” in front of “skeptic.” That would make more sense.
Who’da thought it, anyway. Whatever temperament evidence-wise Shine IS ultimately, a debunker he is not…
In other news…
This definitely reminds me of the famous “Redwoods Footage” and the Playboy bunny that allegedly saw Bigfoot—Anna-Marie Goddard. In both instances sexy centerfold-type women saw a cryptid—will Michelle be ridiculed for her sighting as Goddard ultimately was? Hopefully not.
Arch shapes indeed!! 😛
Norman-uk
I feel its possible that the sensitivity on the sonar may have briefly increased then decreased to get the impression noted on screen. If I overly increase the sensitivity on my fish finder, I can see images beneath the lake bottom. From the surface to the lake screen, with an overly active sensitively there would be numerous marking, but it would be noise. Not clean arches like the screen.
I have never heard of a fish making an echo numerous times from the surface to even beneath the bottom, but this is not a fish, and I am just a weekend fisherman in a lake much shallower than Ness with. I do know if I do not set my sensitivity properly, I get a screen full of noise.
The thing is – the marks above and below the arch are clean, which I admitt may cast doubt on my belief that it was a case of a few seconds altering the sensitivity and then bringing back to the proper settings.
Some of the time, we can get weird results on the fish finder in rough water conditions. So you can get an instant of noise without touching the sensitivity for the cases where transducer is effected by a large rolling wave. The transducer in my father’s boat is close to the beam and it can be out of the water briefly in very rough conditions.
Even though I concede there are problems my theory of altering the sensitivity for a few seconds, I think it should be considered.
I don’t think sonar is the most reliable tool for cryptozoology.
My question are:
What is the make of sonar?
How does sonar act when a like a whale shark, or a whale react when it gets beneath the transducer? Does it produce numerous echoes like we see on the screen?
How do fisherman who fish depths similar to Loch Ness feel about the picture?
Just about every monster film has an attractive woman in it. If you look back, myth is filled with instances of maidens being sacrificed to or carried off by some kind of entity.
I suggest that a hot woman be included in all future expeditions. Maybe there’s something to this. I wonder what they did with the Martini girl billboard from Monaco that had to be taken down (causing distraction and a wreck). It could be stationed at Loch Ness!