Never Stop Asking Nessie Questions
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 10th, 2007
Before this bit of news gets too old, I want to mention the seemingly funny media mentions last week about tourists in Scotland asking silly questions. The media had a bit of laughter over some questions from visitors, and, of course, Nessie was right up there at the top.
According to a Travel Connect article entitled “Tourists Ponder Loch Ness Monster’s Feeding Times,” the tourism agency VisitBritain compiled “some rather puzzling queries from befuddled travellers.”
As the headline to their article gives away, one inquiry they highlight dealt directly with the topic:
One such visitor was evidently unfamiliar with the discipline of Cryptozoology when asking: “What time of night does the Loch Ness monster surface and who feeds it?”.
On the face of it, perhaps this question does sound ridiculous, but why won’t people ask at least part of that question? Maybe someone with an inquiring mind would wonder if any locals knew if there has been any regular feeding behavior observed. Have sightings belied any patterns? Maybe no one is out there feeding Nessies old bread crumbs, but wondering about feeding patterns is a logical part of cryptozoology.
A cryptozoologist out there needs to download all the sightings and times of observations for the hundreds of years of sightings of unknown animate objects at Loch Ness, and do an analysis of times and what behaviors were noted. Roy Mackal’s 1976 book The Monsters of Loch Ness has two eyewitness observation charts, on pages 224 through 264, filled with detailed specifics, compiled in the pre-desktop personal computer era. Those charts cry out for comparative data analyses.
If you do it, please let me know what you discover.
Never stop asking questions.
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.
Personally I think that the only sensible things about “loch ness monster” are in the website of Richard Raynor.
After 40 years of search there is not a single piece of evidence about a strange animal in Loch Ness.
“Single piece of evidence” depends on your viewpoint and upon your definition. To my mind, there is much good evidence, including predation marks upon salmon, and not even touching on purported physical remains.
An unknown large fish if found in Loch Ness is still a cryptid. AND the Loch Ness Monster need not be even a permanent resident. Monster sightings are made while the creatures are going into and out of the River Ness while it is in flood.
I guess I believe because I want to. I really have nothing much else to go on. The rest of the world is getting to be a violent, troubled place. Wondering about things like this reminds me of being a child and wanting to go to Africa to see everything from King Kong to giant snakes.
Happy new year and peace.
Lorenzo Rossi-
“No evidence” is somewhat of an exaggeration. There’s the videotape footage that was submitted to the CFZ, for instance.
There’s something there. Whether it’s a seal or something else remains to be seen.
Loren, I see you’re using the surgeon’s photo atop this piece.
To me it still looks most like a silhouette of some bloke’s arm and hand, but one thing I’m certain of, is it is NOT an image of a toy submarine modified with plastic modelling material – that story was most certainly a hoax.
As a kid I was in to making such modified contraptions myself, and the few I actually managed to make that could actually balance themselves in the water without sinking would immediately topple over the moment the water was even slightly disturbed.
It is interesting to think about feeding habits of the alleged creature, but I think first it would be helpful to try to ascertain a little more information about just what excactly it is if it indeed exists. It is not even known if it is a mammal or a reptile, a fish, or what. In my opinion, a little more basic info, like what type of animal it is and even whether it is nocturnal or diurnal in neccesary before starting to try and delve into its feeding patterns.
I have looked at weather records for the Loch Ness area going back to 1833, one of the first recorded sightings of Nessie (There may be have been others but it is the first properly documented I could find) up to 2006, and discovered that whenever there is a particularly bad winter there are more sightings in the spring and summer months. May be significant, I don’t know. I just wish I had more time to pursue it. One day I may have 🙂
I agree, but my main peeve with the LNM is the constant reference to it whenver the media or even books discuss the plesiosaur. I was reading an old Discover magazine (where one would expect a higher level of professionalism) and the article referred to a plesiosaur fossil find on Vancouver island as a ‘Loch Ness Monster-like animal’ (!!!).
This reference has apparently entered into our collective senses as a proper way to explain the morphology of this type of marine reptile to the masses.