The Strangest Nessie Story Of All?
Posted by: Nick Redfern on February 16th, 2013
Glasgow Boy gives us an excellent overview of what just might be the strangest Loch Ness Monster-themed sighting of all.
GB starts as follows…
“This strange tale is told by the witness, Lieutenant McP Fordyce, as he related it to The Scots Magazine back in June 1990. This account took place a year before the Loch Ness Monster first began to appear in newspapers.
“‘In April l932 while living in Kent, my fiancee and l travelled to Aberdeen to attend a family wedding. At the conclusion of the function, rather than return south straight way, I decided to show her a little of my native land. We cut across to Inverness where preparations appeared to be in full swing for a Highland Gathering.
“‘After dinner in the late evening we took a stroll through the the town. and saw men in shop doorways and at street corners practising on their bagpipes. The air was full of sublime music (my version), rent with strange, wild sounds (her description although she never expressed it at the time!).
“‘The following morning we set off on our journey back to England. The weather was fine, a beautiful spring day, and we had a lovely run by the side of Loch Ness as far as Foyers where we spent a short while admiring the famous waterfall. Shortly after leaving Foyers, the road to Fort William turns away from the lochside and runs through well-wooded country with the ground falling slightly towards the loch.”
And, it’s at this point that a weird creature loomed into view. In fact, a really weird creature…
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
I love this story it brings you back to a time when the world was still wild enough that a large animal could live unknown and unseen alongside people only to be glimpse by a very few.these few tell their story or choose not to.one can hope that this creature may still be alive at lochness and other habitats
That story has escaped me–never heard it before…and I don’t even have an idea–sounds like it falls into the chimera category…an amalgamation of animals being used to describe something out of the norm.
My first thought is that they did see some form of mammoth–Nessie has been described with flippers and appendages but never long legs–all of the on land sightings I’ve read give me the indication that Nessie is awkward on land, either scooting or flopping across land like a pinniped or seal, not walking. The hair or fur could be because it was mammalian.
Dunno–just makes me scratch my head…
A horse being led across the road by a 1932 deer poacher, seen at a distance of about 150 yards or a terrestrial four-legged unknown animal the size of a camel? In Scotland.
Some people think unicorns when they hear the sound of hooves. I think horses. Mr. Fordyce saw a horse.
It’s not a horse, I think we can be sure of that. The distance of 150 yards was the first point of visual contact and he was travelling at 25mph (12 yards /sec), he braked, got out and followed the creature. Plenty of time to eliminate the usual suspects.
silverity:
I also did the mph math. 12.5 seconds. Except Fordyce also had to slow down, come to a full stop, pull up the parking brake, open the car door, get out, walk around the car and only then could he follow the animal. About 20 full seconds. By then this creature even traveling at 2.5 mph would have been over 70 feet away “in this wooded section.” And viewed directly from the rear.
I hear horses, but you are welcome to hear unicorns.
Corrick, you may say “horse” but proving this suggestion has “legs” is a different matter. People do no normally mistake horses for monsters. You have to give a reason why some who had probably seen horses a lot of times suddenly sees a monster instead of a horse.
Saying so doesn’t make it so.
silverity
Logic-wise you have it backwards. I don’t need to give reasons. Horses are common in Scotland. Terrestrial ‘monsters’ the size of a camel are not. It’s up to you to provide plausible reasons not me.
I am not proposing to provide plausible reasons for it being an unknown creature, my point is that your explanation on its own is implausible.
If you wish to apply Occam’s Razor, it would be more plausible to suggest the witness merely made up the story.
Applying Occam’s Razor:
1. An imperfect eyewitness account.
2. A misidentified horse
3. A hoax.
15. An elaborate prank carefully staged by Fordyce’s friends.
30. An escaped giraffe from some Scottish Lord’s menagerie.
58. An unknown large terrestrial animal roaming the Scottish highlands.
I’m very comfortable with 1 and 2. You seem comfortable with 58.
So be it.