Seljord Serpent Filmed: Blobdracontology?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 5th, 2008
Selma, the so-called “Sea Serpent” that lives in Lake Seljord (Seljordsvatnet) obviously would have to be a Lake Monster, akin to the Loch Ness Monster. The location is near the inland town of Seljord, a municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway. The town’s coat-of-arms was created in 1989, and shows the “sea serpent Selma.”
According to most who have seen the supposed watery cryptid, Selma resembles a giant eel. The first eyewitness accounts date back to the 18th century.
This is video of the “Seljord Serpent” or Selma, which was taken at Lake Seljord, Norway, by Adam Davies and Andrew Sanderson.
Davies, author of Extreme Expedition: Travel Adventures Stalking the World’s Mystery Animals, writes:
“Between 7 and 9 second in, there is a distinct white line approx 1/3 of the frame down (using the shoreline as your starting point). The barbs of the tip are visible as it breaks the surface of the lake.”
Can anyone capture the frame that shows the creature the best, and send it to me (lcoleman@maine.rr.com), for posting here at Cryptomundo? Can computer enhancement of the images reveal the monster in the medium? See below for my updates, posted as they come in, of such attempts at enhancements. (Realtime cryptozoology, folks.)
Of course, this may turn into an exercise in blobdracontology, the study of the fuzzy images of lake animals unknown to science!
Above, an Ogopogo souvenir I captured in British Columbia in 1975. Does Selma look like this replica cryptia?
+++++++++UPDATES+++++++++++
First Attempt:
Please go and click here, then again click on the series of images to see some larger versions of the frames.
Thanks to Andreas Müller from Germany.
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.
Really!!?? That’s supposed to be footage?
I am fairly handy with photoshop and a few other adobe image programs…I examined the frames at :07, :08, :09 & :10 and I can’t see anything there that would indicate sea serpent or lake monster…maybe someone else can see something…I certainly hope so
Why is the camera here shaking worse than possible footage of bigfoot. With water video you would expect to see at least something suspicious in the video. Entirely disappointing.
I’m sorry but I can’t see a thing. I wouldn’t have even bothered showing this to anyone if it were my video.
I see lots of white lines
):
What the hell was that supposed to be again? Made me dizzy watching.
Wow. My brother took footage of whale tails from a boat crashing along the pacific that was clearer than this. And when something surfaced there was no question that SOMETHING was there (although frankly, if I didn’t KNOW it was a whale I’d have had no idea what it was.)
Really, unless I’m missing something significant, this footage is pretty sad.
Reminds me of “Cloverfield”, but at least in that you did see part of the monster!
Tip? Barbs? Where? Even on the stills you link to, with handy arrows pointing to…nothing I can differentiate from the rest of the water.
(sigh) useless 🙁
MAN……that was the worst video that I have seen to date. I refer back to my statement of a few years ago…………”LEARN TO — USE YOUR CAMERA BEFORE GOING OUT TO FIND THE CRITTERS”.
Absolutely amazing!
Not.
It’s not that bad, it’s just that the resolution is much too low to see what they were trying to film. You could probably get some crisp frames from the original video, assuming it wasn’t filmed with a cameraphone.
This video is a shame…
How one can distinguish a cryptid white line from a bajillion white lines created by waves is beyond me.
I think we’re stretching too far here, folks.
Sorry, but I can’t see anything on the stills or video I can distinguish from whitecaps or what, in one frame, looks like a momentary wake that may be a fish breaking surface. I’m not doubting the sincerity of the guys who thought they spotted something important, but I can’t see how this video reinforces their account. Indeed, claiming the video shows things no one else can see will likely lead to people giving them less credibility.
I think the basic idea is that these men could see the animal clearly with their own eyes, they just weren’t able to capture it on video.
I’m quite willing to believe that the person holding the video device (I hesitate to call them a videographer as that implies a degree of skill that cannot be said to exist in this case) actually saw something and was trying to get a clip of it. The fact that its technical quality is of such low quality at least point to the possibility that it’s not a blatant attempt at a hoax, since a hoax typically should be at least ambiguous and even suggestive, which this exmple is not.
The long tradition of an “eel like” creature certainly sounds consistent with the best reports from a number of similar cold, deep, mud bottomed, lakes with ancient connections to glaciers and the deep alluvial deposits of the ocean, which across the northern landmasses consituted a widespread habitat, at one time as abundand and characteristic of the north as salmon streams are today. If these were to be found to be eels, it would make natural sense as this kind of habitat, one to which certain populations could have adapted, taking advantage of the cold stable mud to live in a form of suspended animation, while waiting for environmental signals (the occasional dead animal to sink within’ range) to arouse them from the long sleep, to feed and reproduce before retreating for years or longer, beneath the silt, conserving their energy, as this was the typical landscape for the greater part of our northern continents’ ecosystems last few million year long history.
I’m presuming that here in this Norweigian fjord, as in Lock Ness, no researcher has purposely anchored the carcass of a large animal onto the bottom to see what kind of scavanger, if any, shows up to feast, have they?
I have watched this video 5 times.
I don’t see anything either.
WHAT!
did Selma attack the boat at the end? at least *that* would explain the terrible shaking 🙂
Ummm. Are you kidding me? What the heck is that suppose to be showing?
I’m afraid I can’t help you either. I’m way too sea sick after watching that video. I’m going to lay down now.
Looks like Davies and Sanderson saw “it” but were unable to film it properly. Too excited, I guess.
Nice try, though. Sort of…
Evidence such as this, and I use the term loosely are what give people who believe in the possibility of such creatures a bad name. To me it just looked like waves breaking in a line. I’ve seen something similar on lakes and at the beach, you’d swear there was something in the water, but wait until a similar set of waves comes along and there it is again.
Where am I going wrong? Zip – nada – nothing –
I didn’t see anything on the video or the stills 🙁
Pretty lame…….
NOw did these guys say that they saw more of the thing than they caught on vid, or did they just shoot the vid and think that Selma is what they got?
I have been out in the Atlantic Ocean with 15-25 foot swells and had less camera shake on that video footage, than this video contains.
Seriously, the water looks relatively calm to me and the camera shakes as if the videographer were trying to balance and counterbalance against a violently yawing boat. Either that or the cameraperson is intentionally trying to create shakiness. Uh, the water looks pretty calm to me there mate! A little uncalled for if you asked me. And whatever is in the water appears to be nothing more than a ripple. Maybe it is a ripple from a bit of wind starting to kick up against the calm water or perhaps it is rebound wake from a passing boat. But a cryptid? I would not even waste my time enhancing such garbage. I believe this one to be fraudulent. It is definitely an attempt at deception or wishful thinking.
In conclusion, a great example of, how did Loren phrase it, ah yes, blobdracontology! It is a perfect example of that. I was going to try and enhance a frame for the fun of it and the amusement of others, but I did not know where the entrance hole or exit hole of the bullet should go. And secondly, I might be coming out with a book and DVD on the massacre of Selma and family. So I don’t want to show the bullet hole or hernia on the beast too early.
How can someone post a vid like that? Even my old aiptek pencam is doing better, not to speak from the brilliant vids all of my cams from minolta via sony to canon can do.
If someone is shaking like that, I presume he doesn’t want me to see, cause there is nothing to see..
Any vid with a quality like that is disqualified. There is just no reason nowadays to shoot in quality like that.
Hello! First time I’ve ever posted there I think, though I’ve been reading for quite some time. “Selma” is one of my favorite cryptids and creatures of modern(ish) legend. I do believe (or want to) that there is something, or has been something strange there. This said, I do not entirely trust this Sundberg character and his expeditions. I post this link (not sure if links are allowed, but I’ll go for it anyway) to an article I read awhile back about someone’s personal experience with GUST and Sundberg. I know nothing of the credibility of the author so of course it does not serve as any concrete balance tipping element but I must say that in the past I have come to be quite disgusted with many of the people working in this and similar fields so it does not seem surprising. Give it a read if you are so inclined and see what you think. I admit I am not as up on the constant study of such matters as I used to be or as I’m sure many of you are -so if this is old news I apologize.
http://www.strangemag.com/serpentstale.html
Otters. Swimming in a line.
I do not See anything.
There goes lunch anyway, I submit for your peer review:
I’m not vitriolic: A study in comments to video posting of lake monsters.
Comments directed at the videographers and not the footage or out and out call this a hoax:
mantis responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Really!!?? That’s supposed to be footage?
MadMatt32171 responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I’m sorry but I can’t see a thing. I wouldn’t have even bothered showing this to anyone if it were my video.
dogu4 responds:
(I hesitate to call them a videographer as that implies a degree of skill that cannot be said to exist in this case)
wolfatrest responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Evidence such as this, and I use the term loosely are what give people who believe in the possibility of such creatures a bad name.
PhotoExpert responds:
June 6th, 2008 at 2:52 am
…Either that or the cameraperson is intentionally trying to create shakiness.
… I believe this one to be fraudulent. It is definitely an attempt at deception or wishful thinking.
steelcut responds:
June 6th, 2008 at 5:58 am
How can someone post a vid like that?… …If someone is shaking like that, I presume he doesn’t want me to see, cause there is nothing to see..
–This next set are redundant and also spaced far enough apart that they weren’t posting at the same time, suggesting all we have time for is commenting how bad photos are or how important our opinions are on topic, even if they have already been expressed.
jodzilla responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
WHAT!
jamesrav responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
did Selma attack the boat at the end? at least *that* would explain the terrible shaking
DARHOP responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Ummm. Are you kidding me? What the heck is that suppose to be showing?
HOOSIERHUNTER responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I’m afraid I can’t help you either. I’m way too sea sick after watching that video. I’m going to lay down now.
ttongue1 responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Where am I going wrong? Zip – nada – nothing –
cmgrace responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I didn’t see anything on the video or the stills
Macleod responds:
June 5th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Pretty lame…….
Allan_Quatermain responds:
June 9th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I do not See anything.