Posted on 10/31/2006 5:23:30 PM PST by pcottraux
English Couple Spot Loch Ness Phenomenon
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 By Laurence Ford Published: 26 October, 2006
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.
The monster is apparently for real! For I saw it on the TV with my own eyes.
There's not enough plankton in Loch Ness to support even medium sized fish.
That's just the beginning.
Also, should the Loch Ness Monster really exist, it probably wouldn't fair too well in such chilly water. In all likelihood, it would prefer much warmer climates (the tropics, for example).
The real problem with the creature's existence is air. A creature that big would need to come up for air...a lot. Were this the case...and especially if there were a colony of them...not only would sightings be far more common, it would actually be impossible to look at the Loch WITHOUT seeing a monster.
However...
I still don't want to rule out other possibilities, or to conclude that undiscovered lake/ocean monsters do not exist at all. Who knows? Could be SOMEthing out there, in Loch Ness or elsewhere.
Maybe it's the ghost of a dinosaur?
Hmmm...now there's a thought.
If I saw Nessie, I'm not sure I'd stick my neck out to report it.
[rimshot!]
Nessie is just a "horse eel".
*snicker snicker*
You think so?
Yes, although there are some unique details in some of the sightings, I think that "horse eels" are the (ready for this?) mane explanation.
Oh, you're on a roll tonight.
Do horse eels definitively exist, or are they an unrecognized/cryptid speicies? Personally, I agree with you that that would sound like the most likely explanation.
Too bad our plesiosaur can't speak English. She seemed most impressed with Nessie.
And we really weren't there for all that long.
Cryptid. Years ago (30?) I read a book on Nessie (perhaps by Bauer, not sure about that though) which discussed this, and described attempts to find remains of a recently dead specimen which had reportedly died after getting stuck in the sluice gate in one of the old locks (not lochs, part of an old canal), in Ireland. The author(s?) was unable to find the remains, alas. But there was also a discussion (perhaps in the same chapter, or perhaps in another book) regarding various medieval accounts of the slaying of these Great Worms in various English rivers.
:')
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.