Sunday 7 August 2016

A Review of Darren Naish's "Hunting Monsters"




It appears that the latter end of this year will have more than its fair share of book reviews as several books on the Loch Ness Monster make their way to the publishers. In that light, I thought I would get one review out of the way that has lain in the form of written notes for some months now.

I refer to Darren Naish's "Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths" which was published in Kindle format back in January this year. As you can guess from the title, the mode is very much debunking the "myth" and presenting the sceptical view of "reality".

Darren's ebook comes after a similar publication from 2012 entitled "Abominable Science!" by Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero. That book was praised to the skies by the sceptics but when a closer look was taken by those who did not have a vested interest in the book, things began to fall apart. My review of that book can be found here.

Is this book any better? I would say it is, though the presented "reality" against the "myth" of the Loch Ness Monster is again far from conclusive. Compared to "Abominable Science!", there is more attempts to be original in the thinking behind sceptical interpretations of Nessie cases. However, it has to be said, that a lot of that thinking seemed to originate from sources other than Darren. 

The book begins with an assertion that the diversity of creatures described points more to human imagination than actual animals awaiting discovery. The book seems to present us with an either/or choice here, but it is not as simple as that. My alternative opinion is that differences in monsters described is down to various factors.

Firstly, witnesses do not always get the details right. Even though they may have seen something large and alive, the finer the detail described, the greater the room for error. This is especially so at greater distances and other conditions which disturb a clear view. Also, it is clear that some of the 1800 or so accounts will be tall tales. If you have someone fabricating their account, then they could describe almost anything that muddies the waters and corrupts the database. 

Roy Mackal, in his book, "The Monsters of Loch Ness", took the position that 90% of all sightings were fake or misinterpretation. I do not personally think the percentage is that high, but if it was that close, it is no surprise that non-monster accounts contribute to an unclear picture.

Again, the King Kong film is raised as an influence. I covered this in my review of "Abominable Science!". Suffice to say it is not a convincing theory. Some mistakes began to surface as I read through the book. For example, in "showing how things were afoot at the loch at the time" before the famous Spicer report, Darren mentions the 1932 Fordyce land sighting. However, that story was not made public until 1990 and had nothing to do with the mood "at the time".

The aforementioned Spicer story is examined and I wish to point out an example of exaggerated narrative from Darren. Of this sighting he says:

Over the years, the description became increasingly sensational. It started out as 2– 2.5 m in length but gradually increased to 9m.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of subliminal language that implants the wrong kind of impression into the mind of the reader. Darren appears to be trying to demonstrate that monster stories grow with the telling. However, he is completely wrong. The first account from the 4th August 1933 does indeed state the size of the creature as being 6 to 8 feet. However, the "gradual" part is not true.

The truth rather lies in Rupert T. Gould's book, "The Loch Ness Monster and Others", published about 10 months after the Spicer event. Gould quotes a letter to him from George Spicer which states:

After having ascertained the width of the road, and giving the matter mature thought in every way, I afterwards came to the conclusion that the creature I saw must have been at least 25 feet in length.

It's as simple as that. George Spicer re-evaluated based on the width of the "ruler" the monster had been seen crossing over - the road. Why Darren Naish omitted this detail is not clear. After all, he quotes Gould in regard to this case. In the context of such inaccuracies, I noticed one withering reviewer of this book on Amazon declare this:

"Anyone who actually believes in the Loch Ness monster ... should read this - it would help them to grow up.

Now I don't know if this reviewer could even find Loch Ness on a map, but one gets the impression that such reviewers have a picture of "believers" running to their caves in fear of such cutting sceptical books exposing their so-called psychological deficiencies. The truth is that a lot of these reviewers know little about Loch Ness and its Monster and assume these like-minded authors speak with unerring accuracy on Loch Ness matters. They don't. Period.

Whereas Loxton and Prothero seemed to not go beyond 1994 in sceptical Nessie thinking, Darren presents more modern interpretations - such as the famous Hugh Gray and Peter O'Connor photographs. He suggests Hugh Gray photographed a swan and Peter O'Connor used his canoe to fake the well known hump picture. 

Well, I looked at the Gray and O'Connor theories and put a bullet through them here and here. Advocates of a large, exotic species in Loch Ness need have no fear of such theorising by sceptics. In fact, I enjoy dismantling their weak theories and this book was no exception.

Now I mentioned that Darren was not the actual source of these swan and canoe theories. That honour goes to long time Nessie sceptic, Dick Raynor. How much of Darren's treatise on the Loch Ness Monster is actually his own or others such as Dick Raynor is hard to ascertain, but these easily challenged theories were known to me well before Darren's book.

Another place where Naish relies on Raynor is the aforementioned Fordyce land sighting. We are told that, in fact, what Mr. Fordyce saw that day was a donkey carrying a dead deer bagged by some hunting party. Here is a picture of a horse carrying a bagged stag compared to the animal that Lt. Cmd. Fordyce claimed to have seen.





 
Yes, I can see what they are driving at here ... not. Some of the interpretations of the sceptic baffle me. I admit the Fordyce creature is strange - even by Loch Ness Monster standards. But, even allowing for memory lapses on the part of Fordyce, nobody should accept such a weak explanation. Better to say nothing and take a neutral position.

I could go on with the problems with this Nessie section of Darren's book. His handling of the folklore of the Loch Ness Water Horse is unsatisfactory. You can read my introduction to this theme here. His dismissal of pre-1933 accounts is, of course, vital to the framework of the sceptical theory since it relies on Nessie being a creation of the Great Depression years.

Moreover, his description of Richard Franck's 17th century "floating island" at Loch Ness, as a man-made raft runs completely counter to what even Franck theorised about this strange object from 1658.

A thought did cross my mind as to whether Dick was grooming Darren as his successor. After all, Dick is now moving into his late sixties, as is Adrian Shine. Despite our best intentions, old age will eventually put a stop to any argument or debate one may wish to engage in and the question of succession seems to be a serious question for Loch Ness sceptics.

As I survey the online and published domains, I see no clear and worthy successors. Perhaps Darren is seen as "The One", but in my view, once Dick and Adrian get out their slippers and pipe, Loch Ness scepticism will go down the plug hole.


The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com








Monday 1 August 2016

Karl Shuker's Book on Nessie

It seems I am going to busy for the next few weeks. No sooner have I just publicised Malcolm Robinson's book, "The Monsters of Loch Ness", than Karl Shuker's book, "Here's Nessie!" is about to be published too! Here is the front and back covers for your enticement.

You wait ages for one Nessie book and all of a sudden two turn up!



Malcolm Robinson's Nessie Book Now Published





Malcolm Robinson's "The Monsters of Loch Ness" is now out and he has put out his own details below. I have already bought the Kindle edition for ease of searching but will also buy the paperback for the library shelves (do people do hardback now)? I will review in due course.



MALCOLM ROBINSON NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT

The Monsters of Loch Ness (The History and the Mystery) is NOW available to buy and download. I’m very proud of this book folks, it’s been in the offering since I was at least 15 and now it’s finally seen the light of day. 

THE MONSTERS OF LOCH NESS (The History and the Mystery)

OK folks I’m pleased to say that I can now give you information on how to obtain a copy of my new book, The Monsters of Loch Ness, (The History and the Mystery) You have three options.


OPTION 1: LULU. Order it direct from Lulu (not the singer, the company) Just type in either my name in the search bar or type in The Monsters of Loch Ness (The History and the Mystery) Upon doing so the booking form will come up. www.lulu.com
 
OPTION 2: AMAZON. No matter where you are in the world if you are from France, Belgium, Italy U.K. or the Netherlands, go to the Amazon of your country and again type in the search bar The Monsters of Loch Ness (The History and the Mystery) Upon doing so you can place your order. www.amazon.co.uk Please note that for the moment that the paperback version of the book is not at the moment up on Amazon (but it will be very soon, I’ll keep you posted when it’s up)

OPTION 3: KINDLE. My book is also available in those dam blasted kindle thingys. (I’m not a fan of Kindle as you will see) I’m from the old school you can’t beat holding a good old book in your hands a Kindle for me doesn’t give you the same feel. But hey ho, for some that’s their bag. So should you want a Kindle version and only get an 80% feel of what my book is all about, then again go to the Amazon of your country and type in the search bar The Monsters of Loch Ness (The History and the Mystery) www.amazon.co.uk Download at £1.99 (Remember, I can’t sign a Kindle !)

THE PRICE.
The retail price for my 590 page paperback book with 73 photographs is £15:99. For Kindle it’s around £1:99 per download (I believe)


GETTING IT SIGNED.
OK boys and girls some of you have asked me to sign you a copy of my new book The Monsters of Loch Ness (The History and the Mystery) If you were to order direct from the publisher then of course it wouldn’t be signed. The only way to do this is for you to pay me, I’ll order the book at this end, sign it for you, and send it straight off to you. Job done.

So if you want a signed copy, here is what to do;
1) Send a cheque made payable to Malcolm Robinson for £18:00 (this includes the postage for me to send the book to you. (*)
2) Send your cheque and who you would like the book signed to (if it’s not you let me know who to sign it to) and send to. Malcolm Robinson (Books) Flat 5, Unicorn House, Croft Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England, TN34 3HE.
3) (*) The book’s retail price is £15:99
It’s as simple as that over to you. E-mail me at malckyspi@yahoo.com if you want a signed copy.


CLASSIFICATION: Non-Fiction
FORMAT: Paperback
PUBLICATION DATE: August 2016
ISBN NUMBER: 978-1-326-72942-4
PRICE: £15:99
PAGES: 590
PHOTOGRAPHS: 73

Wednesday 27 July 2016

9206 Pictures and Counting

I am currently relaxing on holiday on the fair Isle of Lewis and now have time to get through a prodigious task - getting through the 13,400 or so pictures recorded on one of my trap cameras left at the loch over a sizable number of months until this May.

It is a mind numbing labour, I have to say, pounding the left arrow key to proceed to the next picture which pretty much looks like the previous one. These cameras were designed to take away some of the monotony of sitting by the loch staring at it for hours waiting for the monster to break surface. The problem with this particular make and model is the picture below. 




Whenever the sun set in a clear sky across the loch, it triggered hundreds of pointless pictures. The solution is pretty clear, just point the camera further north and avoid these glares. Mind you, the pictures are not so pointless if the creature accidentally appears in such a picture. So far, that has not occurred. Some pictures of interest do appear from time to time as now illustrated below.

Here's some people out on a boat. It looks like they are preparing some fishing rods. A good sized hump would occupy much of the same length to give you an idea of scale.




The approach of night gives the loch a darker hue of blue in this picture.




Within ten minutes, the camera switches to infra red and it is into black and white mode.




Here is the moon over Loch Ness.




Now what do you think this night shot shows? I do believe this kind of picture has been associated with UFO phenomenon, but I think it is more likely to be an insect travelling more rapidly than the shutter speed of the camera. Well, something like that!





The next picture is a definite life form, but what I don't know!




These two creatures are most assuredly known to me....




This picture made me wonder if there was a fire in progress on the opposite hills.




So, about 4000 more pictures to check. With some tweaking for the autumn and winter months, I will hope to obtain only pictures of actual animate, nearby objects. The hunt continues!

The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com


Wednesday 20 July 2016

Malcolm Robinson's The Monsters of Loch Ness



Malcolm Robinson's book on Nessie will be out soon, so look out for it the usual outlets. Two thoughts struck me. The first was how Malcolm managed to use the same title as an existing Nessie book? I refer to the book by Roy Mackal from 1976. I guess you're allowed to do that sort of thing. With 66 titles on the beast, I guess authors can only juggle the words "loch", "ness" and "monster" so much!




Secondly, I note that Frank Searle's infamous February 1976 Nessie picture features on the cover. I look forward to Malcolm's treatise on Frank Searle and his book in general!




POSTSCRIPT: I note the book is now available at Lulu here.


The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com


Friday 15 July 2016

Barry Blount RIP

Loren Coleman has informed the cryptozoological community of the death of Barry Blount at his news website. I had been in correspondence with Barry a few times over his love for the Loch Ness Monster mystery.  By the time he had touched base with me, he was living in the province of British Columbia involved with the various cryptids in that part of the world. Now, if I had to leave Scotland, the beautiful province of British Columbia with its Sasquatch, Cadborosaurus and Ogopogo would be a pretty attractive option. Perhaps I'll get there one day.

Barry told me of an experience he had with Nessie once while pursuing the beast with a friend back in 1964. I published that account on this blog in 2013 and you can read it here. Barry also communicated some ideas to me including a novel one on the Lachlan Stuart photograph. You can read his document on that here.

Once again, rest in peace, Barry.



Tuesday 12 July 2016

Five Hundred Posts and Counting

As the title says, this is the five hundredth posting I have made to this blog since its inception. Also, if this blog manages to survive another six days to reach the 18th July, that would mark six years of blogging on the Loch Ness Monster.

Now I recall years back when this blog was bright eyed and bushy tailed that somebody of a sceptical persuasion suggested I was wasting my time with such a thing and should employ my talents elsewhere (perhaps being a sceptic?). That advice was declined and I am glad I did it as the website has gone on from strength to strength.

The visits to the blog began slowly enough, but now it enjoys thousands of hits per day with Google ranking it high on a search of "loch ness monster". Sometimes the blog manages to rank as high as third (below), most of the time it is lower down as it competes with the latest Nessie stories from the more popular pages of the mainstream media. But the main thing is that it has a presence that ensures the alternate sceptical view is not dominant.




But, as said before, that is not so much as a matter of boasting but rather the recognition that people find what I do interesting enough to revisit the site on a regular basis. I am happy to oblige them as I find the whole subject of the monster a fascinating business myself, bolstered by the fact that I continue to believe that a real creature of monster proportions inhabits the loch.

And I would say that I increasingly believe that proposition to be true as I have re-examined old monster reports, films, photographs and looked at them from a fresh perspective. Classics such as the Hugh Gray and Peter MacNab pictures have gone up in my estimation as have others.

This also includes reports from sincere and experienced witnesses who bolster the argument despite the withering attempts of sceptics to put down witnesses and portray them as incompetents and liars. I have spoken to some of these people myself and I do not get the impression that they are fools who can't tell a bunch of birds flapping about from a large, dark hump bigger than anything known to be in the loch.

The strap line at the top of the blog to reclaim the monster from the current tide of scepticism has included reviewing past eyewitness testimony as well as critiquing not so convincing sceptical theories. Those arguments are laid out elsewhere, but as time has progressed, I have increasingly seen their ideas as hollower and hollower.

If the idea of a colony of aquatic dinosaurs can be seen as naive, then the idea of boat wakes, birds and logs solving the mystery is simplistic to say the least. The solution lies in between and as you can see in the picture below, there is no lack of candidates! Each theory has its shortcomings and therefore the search continues.




This has led to conflict, especially when the comments section of the blog was left open to all and sundry. That left the door open to sceptics who, when they lacked a rational argument, resorted to ad hominems. Admittedly, those on the other side of the debate were not averse to the same approach, so now that part of the blog is tightened.

You still get the odd nutter sending glib and insulting comments. They even pose as believers and say solemnly that my own arguments have convinced them there is no Loch Ness Monster! These get binned and never see the light of day.

One sceptic even said that restricting comments would send web traffic down so much the blog would die. Since that comment was made, web traffic has doubled. The problem with sceptics was that they valued their comments higher than the content they were trying to discredit. Sorry guys, we're here for the Monster, not you.

Of course, the blog is not all about sightings. We have discussed theories, folklore, cultural and media representations, the people and personalities behind the whole mystery, book reviews, upcoming events, my own trips to the loch and other mysterious beasties from around the world. It's all there and if it isn't, I hope to include it in the future!

As ever, there is a backlog of subjects to address, investigate and write up. This is a subject that just keeps on giving as new reports and photos roll in, old material comes to light or a new angle is found on an old subject. While other websites grind to a halt, rarely update or just try and present tired, sceptical opinions as objective data, I will aim to continue to provide more material on this centuries old topic.

What is the conclusion of the matter? Someday this blog will have a final entry and I would like to think it would be a welcome message completing the circle on the first post back in 2010 as it introduces the website and directs future enquirers to the various sections.

But when that end is near and faces the final curtain, the record will show that I did it my way and not the sceptics' way!

Thank you for your support.


The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com