Saturday 13 September 2014

Two Forthcoming Lectures on the Loch Ness Monster

I would like to publicise two talks on Nessie which are coming over the next two months. 

The first is part of the Scottish Paranormal Festival which runs in Stirling, Scotland from the 30th October to the 2nd of November. The talk is by our old associate Jonathan Bright who took that controversial picture of what may be the Loch Ness Monster which was analysed on this blog. My own take is that this is the creature. Other have differed and think it is a wave, but I beg to differ.



Jonathan will be giving his views on how the Loch Ness Monster could be viewed as a paranormal phenomenon as well as looking back at his photo and some other items. The talk is at 10am on the 31st October and you can find further details here. Click through to the other talks at the Festival, you may find other things of interest to you.

The second talk is on the 11th November at 7:30pm in which Charles Paxton gives the Edinburgh Fortean Society an update on his statistical analysis of Loch Ness Monster reports. Charles has been working on a project to perform an in-depth analysis of all the monster reports he could find going back to centuries past.

I have had access to this database and it is quite comprehensive and Charles has some results to share from it (though not all of them). I suspect there may be something for both the pro- and anti-monster groups, but we shall see. Charles hopes to publish some more detailed papers in the months ahead. Check out the website of the EFS for updates.

I hope to be at both meetings, so it would be nice to meet up with any regulars (even sceptical ones!) who make it to these events.
 








33 comments:

  1. If No wins on thurs I could be tempted. If Yes wins I think I'll be avoiding Scotland for a few years.

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    1. If No wins, about 48% of Scots will be feeling very grumpy. Not to mention some pretty grumpy Welsh and English when they see all the rewards flowing to Scotland.

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  2. I could sit and listen to talk or debates on nessie all day as the subject intrigues me! But sadly not on this photograph ! ! !

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  3. According to the spiel the Bright photo "created worldwide interest". Really? I've only ever seen it given the time of day on here.

    That aside, I believe in the paranormal, so if I'm around I shall attend this.

    ( ps. It's still,a wave! )

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    1. The photo does serve a purpose. It shows that people can see monsters in the simplest of everyday objects on the loch :)

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    2. Well, my analysis leads me to a different conclusion.

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    3. In your heart you know it's just a wave gb

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    4. Oh its real... a real floating dummy monster head, carefully ballested to be mostly submerged,with " overdone" swishy Photoshop artfully graceful wispy hand pc sprayed whitewater,added to the head,which blew the less-is- more rule for hoaxes.

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    5. trevorthecat
      I have to remind you that before being published here, the picture was published in Fortean Times. Also I don't know if you believe in 'paranormal' and if you follow any websites and blogs dealing with 'paranormal', but the photo was published in some of the most well known paranormal news sites, such as...

      http://paranormal.about.com/od/paranormalbasics/fl/Paranormal-News-and-Views-for-November-16-2013.htm

      http://www.muldersworld.com/photo.asp?id=8302

      The Anomalist (Dec 4th) "Finally, Glasgow Boy is able to give us a much more in-depth analysis of the Jonathan Bright Loch Ness photograph that is causing such a stir lately. Originally published in Fortean Times, Bright was kind enough to send Glasgow Boy the original unedited image for a closer look. He has conclusively ruled out an object such as a log and the possibility of a wave doing its best Nessie impression. Glasgow Boy also notes that to rule out fakery with such a photo, it takes a lot of trusting your own instinct and he seems to trust his with regards to Bright's photograph. He thinks this is indeed a genuine photo of a Loch Ness monster, possibly a juvenile due to the estimated dimensions of the creature. We agree with Glasgow Boy and think this one's a history maker! "

      Coast to Coast, Fate magazine, and many more...

      I can't keep replying to Anonymous' comments claiming that what is shown in the picture is a wave... Or, some other everyday object... Or, no, wait, a plastic head mostly submerged with additional photoshop details...

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  4. I'd love to be there looking at the delegates' faces when Mr Bright puts his photo on the big screen. Even though it's an audience interested in the paranormal I am sure there will be a collective snigger. This is without doubt the silliest photo in the Loch Ness Monster portfolio.

    APC

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    1. Tempted, but I won't reply to troll comments... http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists
      I will only say that, along with several other people, I have seen the picture on the big screen numerous times -at my home cinema. And it looks really nice.

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  5. It must be wonderful to be told what's "in your heart" by an anonymous stranger on the Internet, Glasgow Boy! Also @ anonymous, I'm sure if there's a "Yes" vote Scotland won't be somewhere to avoid but somewhere to be. Enthusiasm about and positive engagement with the future would be the order of the day.

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    1. And there you go jenny, telling a stranger how he or she should feel after independence!

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  6. Unfortunately 'positive engagement' has long since left the building in the referendum debate - that's if it was ever in the building to begin with.

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  7. See Bright will be discussing the possibility of nessie as a paranormal phenomenon. That might at least explain how an animal can exist in the form of a water wave.

    APC

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    1. hint: I have already explained that here... http://jonathan-brights-urban-tales.blogspot.gr/

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  8. I do get the point gs is trying to make here. What hes saying is that gb is putting forward the case that nessie is mostly at the sides based on no evidence. Just a hunch based on almost no open water sonar hits and the location of fish. It doesn't work that way. You cant say some is proven to be in location b because we can't find it at location a. Fish stocks just happen to be mostly at the edges. They are not evidence of predators. To be able to say the monsters are in loch ness but not in the open water you need *positive evidence* that they are at the edges. More sightings at the edges, sonar hits, evidence of predation at the edges etc. There is none of that. This isnt good enough and I think gs is right. Its a get out clause for the lack of sonar hits in open water.

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    1. I don't think you fully appreciate the issues here.

      The edges of the loch are much harder to keep under observation from the road than the open loch. Most observers don't scan the edges. Moreover, it is harder to see a dark object against a dark shoreline than in open water.

      Finally, sonar work around the edges is far less prevelant that open water work. So you can't compare like with like.

      If you don't acknowledge these hindrances, what more needs to be said?

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    2. You're ignoring my clear point. Difficulty exploring the edges is not positive evidence of anything other than its difficult exploring the edges. It does not mean evidence of beasties at the edges. Please read my post again gb

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    3. I am not "proving" anything. This is my opinion. It is no more proving than someone claiming lack of evidence in open water is lack of evidence at the edges. That won't hold as "proof" either.

      So then you ask me to prove this but take no cognizance of the difficulties involved.


      I don't expect GS or his ilk to accept that anyway because they don't believe there is any LNM anywhere in the loch.

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    4. The pressure is on the pro nessie camp to find proof of a monster. There is no burden of proof on sceptics to disprove it. The scientific position is that the animals in loch ness do not include 20 foot predators.

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  9. Amphibians spend most of their time in side walls or in rocks or shelterr. Glasgow boy is right. Just watch any programme or youtube on ampbibians and you will see for yourself. So yes , there is evidence.

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    1. When you find evidence that Nessie exhibits this behaviour we will listen. These amphibians on YouTube are not in Loch Ness, in case you hadn't noticed.

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  10. I dont think there is any pressure on the pro nessie camp. Why is there? They believe in it and talk amongst themselves about the mystery. Its you lot who come in and start saying it cant be true. So you proove it.

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    1. You lot can't decide on anything - air breather, water breather, mammal, reptile, amphibian or ghost! Nothing weird exists in Loch Ness, but the human imagination is limitless!

      APC

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    2. Meanwhile, the sceptics can't decide if somebody is looking at a duck, dog. boat, seal or log. Pot, kettle, black.

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    3. Well, there's certainly been more evidence pointing to duck, dog, seal, log, wave, and boat than extinct monsters or huge, unknown animals. That's not thanks to the skeptics, but rather the body of evidence out there.

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    4. Not in my book. But that's why this blog exists.

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    5. You prove it does not exist.many have seen a LARGE,VERY BIG,animal in loch ness.to ignore the close up sightings,and the thousands,THOUSANDS,is the height of idiocy.

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    6. Where's the video?

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  11. Haha glasgow boy so true.

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  12. If you zoom the object of interest up you can clearly see a seal just popping his head out of the water.

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