English Couple Spot Loch Ness Phenomenon
Posted by: John Kirk on October 31st, 2006
The Highland News out of Inverness is reporting that an English couple twice spotted something in Loch Ness during a visit to the area. Here’s the report in full followed by my comments. By, the way, this is the same publication that brought the August sighting of an unknown object off Dores to the attention of the world and led me to investigate.
Nessie at the double
A YOUNG English couple holidaying in the Highlands encountered Nessie not once, but TWICE, during their stay.
But although they feel fortunate to have spotted the legendary Loch Ness Monster, they say lady luck was not smiling on them as they did not manage to capture her on film.
Nick Thurston (32), of Frome, Somerset, a former Wiltshire Constabulary employee now working for Vodafone, and his fiance Emma Louise Jones (22), won a two-day holiday in Inverness and decided to stay for two weeks.
The couple admit to being intrigued by the legendary monster but were sceptical prior to visiting that anything prehistoric could exist in the year 2006.
They booked a trip with Jacobite Cruises on the loch and set sail on Friday, October 6, on a trip which would sway the opinion of at least Emma Louise who was the most sceptical out of the two.
She said: ‘As we sailed along I saw a hump, much like that of a bridge, which was dark brown in colour and was relative to Urquhart Castle.
‘I shouted to Nick to get the camera, but he was unfortunately not quick enough to capture what I had seen, and then the drizzle started to come down and the mist closed in.’ Nick was not over enthused at the sighting, but Emma Louise remained convinced she had seen Nessie.
The following week, the couple decided to visit Ben Nevis, and as they drove down the lochside road to Fort William, just after Urquhart Castle, the incredible happened.
Said Nick: ‘I noticed what looked like a rounded dark tree stump that appeared to be around 1-2 metres protruding out of the water, which was very close to the banks opposite the castle. I only realised this was more sinister when I saw something like Emma had described previously that was also raised and appeared black or extremely dark brown in colour.
‘This rear raised section was around 3-4 metres behind the raised stump, but there were no other sections.
‘I yelled to Emma to quickly grab my camcorder from the rear passenger seats, which resulted in something of a disagreement. Emma thought I had lost my marbles as we were in a very precarious position on the road with a very deep loch just below us.
‘The glimpse that I caught only lasted for around five or six seconds, but it was enough to convince me wholeheartedly that this was no collapsed tree, wave, human, boat, seal, dolphin or catfish.
‘The tree trunk-like stump very slowly and gracefully submerged beneath the water within a matter of seconds at which point I was completely shocked and dumbfounded, as anyone would be!’
He said they were unable to stop as there were no parking places. Nick stressed: ‘I can now firmly say hand on heart that I have witnessed something remarkable that I would argue about until the day I die!
‘I know what I saw and that’s all that matters to me – people can believe me or not as it really does not bother me!
‘I can say to myself that I saw something very, very unusual that was alive and could well have been something that we do not yet know about! If only I could pop into Boots and get my memory processed – that will be the day should it come in my lifetime!’
He said work colleagues and customers remain reserved about his sighting, but a few believe there is something lurking in Loch Ness.
‘I am so convinced that I have seen something that could well be the supposed Loch Ness Monster that I would happily take a lie detector test to prove that I am not fabricating what I saw,’ he says.
Nick and Emma Louise plan to return to the Highlands next year, hopefully for another close encounter of the Nessie kind.
Firstly, I want to observe that quite a few recent sightings I am aware of, have been by English visitors (including the two witnesses above) rather than by local Scots and quite a few English people transp[lanted to the Highlands who live around the loch. I note from my visits to Loch Ness that the local people are extremely good at identifying extraneous phenomena in the loch and are hesitant to say they have had a sighting of an unknown creature unless they are absolutely certain.
Both the above sightings were very brief and the second was of something on the opposite side of the loch. The loch can be as wide as two miles at some points so for a person on one side to see something near the opposite shore without magnification can really take some doing. It is interesting to me that Nick Thurston said: ‘I noticed what looked like a rounded dark tree stump."
It is therefore then distinctly possible that Nick did see a tree stump which then became waterlogged and sank. It is equally possible that Nick did see an unknown creature, but as he was such a long distance from the opposite shore, how sure can he be of the identity of the object?
I hope it was an unknown creature that Nick Thurston saw, as many Cryptomundo readers will know that I have very strong reservations that there could be an unknown animal living in Loch Ness. However, I am open enough to say that I would love to be proved wrong about this creature. It’s a bit of an icon of the Scottish Highlands and adds to distinctive splendour of one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We’ll just have to wait and see if a body of one of these creatures ever washes up, as this is the only proof of the Loch Ness phenomenon that is acceptable to science.
About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.
Nessie remains elusive doesn’t she (or they)? It seems to me that a large dinosaur-type creature would be more likely found in warmer waters and more tropical areas. I can imagine such a creature being found in the warm waters of the South Seas, but not in a chilly Scottish Loch.
I think Nessie is actually the result of mistaken identity. I wanted to belived for years.
I think it’s conceivable that lake monsters such as Nessie, Morag, and so one, and the traditions of the Dobhar Cu, Kelpie, and Pictish Beast, along with Heuvelmans’ long-necked seal, may all represent the same animal- One usually smaller than the 30-foot monsters that get reported, and capable of traveling across land. This eliminates the need for a lake to be able to sustain a population of such creatures, so long as lakes and coastal regions in the area are capable of doing so. It also explains the many land sightings of cryptids in that area. So perhaps there are times when Loch Ness has no Nessie(s), and other times that it does.
Just food for thought…
Nessie is a curious case. As time goes on, I come more and more into the camp of those who theorize that if it does exist, it is more likely to be mammalian than reptilian. I’m sure that the vast majority of sightings, especially those of visitors, are misidentifications of other things. But there are still the core of cases that seem to me to be true anomalies, and represent something we have yet to be able to adequately define. It may be a living creature, it may be something else, but I think there may well be something going on there.
Yes, I think the majority of sightings represent what are called soliton waves, waves that can start out small but combine to form a single, impressive wave that seemingly comes out of nowhere. These can be caused by wind, air pressure, etc., and can also disturb silt and debris on the lake floor, perhaps causing sunken logs to briefly rise near shore, only to sink once the wave has passed. This could be why we have so many lake monsters, because so many lakes are prone to generating soliton waves.
Now, do I believe that ALL lake monster sightings are just debris churned up by these waves? No, I do not. There have been some exceptional cases, with multiple witnesses, and so on. Further, the fact that all the lake beasties I mentioned earlier all appear rather similar and come from the same geographic region is at least suggestive of some sort of animal being behind part of the phenomenon.
If this was WW11, I would say it was a German U-Boat that got lost.
I long ago gave up on the notion of “lake monsters”. After all these years and all of the many investigations and expeditions, I feel that it is safe to say that what we are talking about here is either:
A)Misidentification of known species -or-
B)Some form of natural phenomenon that is playing tricks on people.
Land locked bodies of water are just not feasible places for large, presumably predatory creatures to live and earn a living (i.e. eat and breed). That is not to say that there are no surprises left in the world’s lakes but I think that one can say with certainty that “monsters” are not among them.
Also the notion of aquatic mammals or semi-aquatic animals seems highly unlikely. An animal like the ones that have been described would be pretty hard to miss lounging along the lakeside. If we were dealing with a creature that is capable of leaving the lake, then surely it would have been seen or captured by now so I think that we can dismiss that argument out of hand.
Now sea serpents are a horse of an all together different color. Within the Earth’s oceans many things are left to discover.
The military could clear this whole thing up in one go with it’s sub-hunting capabilities…but, what’s the fun in that?
With all of the intense scrutiny of the Loch over the past few decades, if there was something there it would have been found by now. I have spent hours looking at the water on Loch Ness and vouch for wave effects and water colour variations that could confuse or delude expectant visitors to the infamous loch. An extended elaborate publicity campaign would seem to be the answer but then you have personal connections that make you think again. Australian friend Jon Brusey’s great uncle Gregory, living as a monk at Fort Augustus abbey, claimed to have seen the beast 4 times. I have no reason to doubt this highly religious man who passed away in 2001. So then I have gone in a full circle and the mystery remains.
I agree with those that theorize that Nessie is only semi-aquatic and takes brief stints on land. As to what it is? I doubt a plesiousaur or any type of reptile, not that these don’t exist anywhere. I just don’t see Loch Ness as a likely spot for one. But then again what do I really know about where a plesiosaur would choose to make its home?. Some type of mammal, I think this is a possibility.
I have concluded that Nessie is a sub-speices of Cryptoclidus, that has access to the Atlantic Ocean. According to one list, most sightings occur between July and August. Perhaps most of these animals in the loch migrate to warmer climates during colder months.
Operation Deepscan took place in October, not a very good month for sightings.
We need a new expedition in the summer.
If a person sees what looks like a tree stump and it acts like a waterlogged tree stump, it’s reasonable to assume that it’s a tree stump. If the witnesses had never heard of lake monsters, they most likely would have never mentioned it.
When I was a child and the famous underwater “flipper” picture was taken, I was a believer. Now, after so many years, so few developments and all the interesting things that have been learned about lake “weather” it will take something along the lines of a Roy Mackal biopsy crossbow sample to convince me.
It does sound an awful lot like it was a tree stump. Ness has been searched for 75 years, and still little or nothing.
Isn’t it more likely that the Loch simply has more visitors between July and August? More people mean more sightings.
Hi all! Just to say that I know what I saw was certainly alive and was very close to the Bank probably 10 feet from it! I had an excellent view from my car of what resembled a tree like stump some 100 feet away on a calm blue sunny day, directly beneath us in the Loch.
I was very reserved about the idea of something unexplained lurking beneath the water after visiting the exhibition a few days prior, but I know wholeheartedly I saw a creature that I cannot explain!
I honour your opinions and a lot of people I work with do not believe me, but I know, and that’s all that matters!
I’ll be back next year with a different frame of mind!
All the best to you all! Nick and Emma Louise. x