Nessie and Adrian Shine
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 4th, 2007
Fox and Friends had Loch Ness researcher on their show this week. Here’s the YouTube video:
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.
Well, that was quick. Not too bad, though I noticed they didn’t seem to want to let him finish a complete sentence.
I noticed that to, about not letting him finish a sentence. I thought that it was common knowledge that the surgeons photo was a hoax ever since the man who created it admitted to it. But it sounded like the reporters didn’t have any idea about it. It also seemed like they were not taking him to serious. More or less filler time till the next commercial I guess.
The FOX people seemed to me to be superficial in their queries regarding Nessie. You have to love Shine’s beard, ‘tho.
I thought the last sentence by Mr. Shine (a plug for visiting Scotland) sums up the situation pretty well: ‘Nessie’ is to Scotland what Mickey Mouse is to Orlando. It’s become a figurehead, but they’re both equally (un)real. When you analyze all the ‘evidence’ it’s pretty clear nothing terribly mysterious is going on in Loch Ness: maybe some big eels flopping around occasionally, toss in a sturgeon or seal, a swimming deer. Once the Dinsdale footage was almost certainly shown to be a boat (and *definitely* does not show a submerged creature – the physics of reflection proved that) , plus the AAS photos were apparently enhanced to a phenomenal extent (early Photoshop manipulation i dare say), my interest in Nessie as a creature evaporated to nothing. And this from someone, who as a young high-schooler could not WAIT till the National Geographic came out with the astounding photos and article. I can still recall how excited i was when i picked up that issue ; still a nice memory, although bittersweet at this point in time.
Frankly, I thought the Scottish promotion from Shrine was quite funny, as he is from London and not Scottish.
Also, the Dinsdale footage has not been “proven” to be a boat, and the “deathbed” confession about the “toy submarine” is a joke.
While no one seriously thinks that the “diving otter” photo is Nessie, neither do a great many people think it is a “hoax.”
This “hoax claim” comes out of a feud between families, and itself is one of the biggest Loch Ness hoaxes of recent years.
I never understood this “deathbed confession” thing. the guy’s dying and he said it was all a hoax – so what? Where’s his proof? To just assume that because a dying guy says something, it somehow HAS to be the truth is quite a leap in my opinion.
For the record there was not one surgeon photo but two. The other one is not as clear and it only shows one thing. The images are not the same, making it impossible to be a carved item attached to a toy submarine. Better yet there were no toy floating submarines in 1934. Plastics were seldom used in toys for another decade. Tin was not in use yet. If there were any toy subs they would be cast metal not exactly flotation devices. were there any wooden toys they would show on the surface along with the top heavy head and neck.
If it were in inanimate object something significant would have to show on the surface to support such a structure. We cant go on just believing everything were told pro or con.
The guy died two (2) years after he allegedly made his claims. Part of how silly this “story” is, of course, is that there was no “deathbed” confession.
Rather annoying that the reporters wouldn’t let him finish his sentences properly. I have never cared too much about Nessie so I don’t know too much about it. However, Mr. Shine seems to be a reasonable man with reasonable theories.
By the way, has anyone else heard that the famous Nessie photo is in fact a circus elephant taking a bath. Could be an elephant’s trunk but I guess that is a long shot as well.
I was gonna say the surgeons photo isn’t neccesary a hoax and for the reasons others have already given. As far as I am concerned it represents good evidence. The story of it being a hoax is of course the actual hoax. It is the Loch Ness equivalent of the Patterson/Gimlin film (if a lot less “exciting”) and of course a lot of people claim that is a hoax as well. Media sensalationism getting the wrong end of the stick, as usual. 🙂
Perhaps it was a juvenile Nessie creature.
The deathbed “confession” was released two years AFTER the persons death.. So now way of confirming the confession. Unless you believe everything the family said. There is actually 4 photos, 3 of which showed an object. (the 4th only showed ripples) One is the famous photo. The other two of which showed the “whatever” in the process of diving.
Plastics were being used for toys in the first decade of the 20th century. Tin mechanical toys were popular for many years before that. And if you watch the PBS show Antique Roadshow, these early tin moving toys are very valuable. But the seldom seen photos (I found them in only one book years ago) show that if it had been a tin submarine with a head/neck mounted on it, the angle of the dive would have exposed the back end of the toy as the neck and head moved forword and down.
There was a history channel (I think) program about 10 years ago, that showed enhansement of one of the frames. And that showed a body that curved around under itself. Imagine a submarine on the surface in clear water, where the subs hull showed the circular shape of the sub
This clip represents a lot of what I hate about the way these researchers are portrayed on more mainstream news shows. The interviewers are sarcastic and their tone is condescending and a bit belligerent. On top of that, they barely let him finish what he is trying to say and make dumb jokes at his expense. I’m also a little irked by the people in the background through the window waving and goofing around during the interview. I am sure that would not have happened if this was an interview of some politician or eminent mainstream scientist. This kind of treatment of the subject of cryptozoology only ends up reinforcing the subject as kind of a joke in the eyes of the people that view these programs. Dissappointing.
What on earth was the issue with those presenters? They were acting like a group of bullies picking on the intelligent kid at school. That could have been so much better…
Also, he was ‘plugging’ Scotland because he has spent so much time there and loves it, I also love Scotland despite coming from London myself and I make a point of visiting as often as possible, I also make a point of telling people to go there and learn about the country as it’s a very inspiring landscape with a great deal of culture and mystery. I remember being at the loch at the time of filming one of the loch ness quests though unfortunately didn’t get to meet him or any of the rest of the team.
Let’s hope next time there is an interview like this, that it’s conducted by mature adults so that genuine questions and answers get shared instead of their playground nonsense.
ok
I stand partially corrected. Saying tin toys were not in use in the 30’s was way off (trying to make a point) I myself recently had a Toonerville Trolly toy from the 20’s a great tin windup. My point should back been better stated in that there were few water toys. All were surface sitting windups. The only Submarine I know of is one by Ives in the late 20’s probably still available in the 30’s. Again a keywind with a propellor that would allow in water and in time sink but not stay just below the surface.
Plastics were not in use in commercial toys in the early part of the century. Celluloids were used in the 30’s and 40’s for thin skinned extremely fragile items like football players on a stick or betty boop dolls. Certainly not in any type of vehicle toy. Plastics as we know it wasn’t even used in soldiers etc till the 40’s. It was cheaper and easier to make most toy (vehicle) from metal till mid century. As I remember the death bed confession stated a plastic sub. Plastic pieces weren’t even used in board games at this time, they were mostly wood.
The point I was trying to make is that we cant believe everything we see on these TV clips or the Mockumentaries that are popular at this time. The current inexhaustible supply of books and magazines are filled with misinformation all slanted in the direction of the writer. What I am saying is take the time and dig below the surface. Ask the people like Loren, Craig etc.that have done the time looking into these things. Hear all sides.
Thanks
And while we are on the subject, there are hundreds of accounts in Ness that are shoved aside, forgotten or just plain ignored, that have plenty of weight and have never been explained.
Plenty of head/neck accounts (and no eels do not rise up out of the water to such heights…even the big mutant kinds that have been attributed to Loch Ness AND have also never been seen—you can’t sell giant eels, especially when they have not been seen or caught).
And thanks Loren for chiming in on the Dinsdale footage…no it was not ever proven as a boat…oh there were a couple of guys that did an experiment with a boat and a camera in roughly the same location, but it did not prove that the footage was of a boat.
I think Nessie was the jumping off point into Cryptozoology for many of us…I know it was me. It opened the door for cryptozoology when I was a kid, and Loch Ness and Bigfoot both (and the yeti) were the flagships of cryptids back then!
Doesn’t mean Nessie isn’t out there, it just means that Nessie’s hay-day has taken a back seat to new cryptids and resurgences of older ones.
There are still new sightings on the Loch every year, though as I said, they do not get much air play these days.
Adrian Shine is an interesting guy and he has done as much research on the Loch as anyone else I can think of.
SHJ
Leave it to ultra-conservative Fox News to depict a man speaking about science as a sideshow freak. The three buffoons interviewing (by ‘interviewing’ I mean ‘interrupting’) Mr. Shine should go back to worshiping the beady-eye, cackling hominid in the White House and let scientists and researchers go about their jobs in peace.