Famous Loch Ness Photo a Hoax

[Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>]

Nessie Picture a Hoax, Newspaper Says
3/12/94

         LONDON (Reuter) - A famous photograph purporting to show the
mythical Loch Ness monster was a hoax, the Sunday Telegraph
reported.
         It said the 1934 picture, which shows the long neck and head
of the fabled beast rising from the murky lake in Scotland, was
staged using a toy submarine.
         The newspaper said the last of several men involved in
creating the fake monster, Christian Spurling, confessed his
role just before dying last November.
         Reports of a sea monster in Loch Ness date back to the third
century, but feverish speculation about its possible existence
broke out when the photograph was published in a London
newspaper in 1934.
         Experts have examined the fuzzy black-and-white plate
photograph and said that it could be a plesiosaur (an extinct
dinosaur), a tree trunk or an otter.
         The photograph was reported to have been taken by a doctor,
Colonel Robert Wilson. But the newspaper said it was fabricated
by Marmaduke ``Duke'' Wetherell, a filmmaker and self-styled
``big game hunter'' who had been hired by the Daily Mail
newspaper to find the monster.
         The Sunday Telegraph credits David Martin, a former
zoologist with the Loch Ness and Morar scientific project and
fellow researcher Alastair Boyd with digging up the story.
         Spurling was Wetherell's stepson and he told the pair of his
role in the 60-year-old deception, the newspaper said.
         ``All I got was a message from Wetherell saying ``can you
make me a monster?''' Spurling was quoted as saying. ``I just
sat down and made it. It was modeled on the idea of a sea
serpent.''
         He used a 14-inch toy submarine and used plastic wood to
build the long neck and small head.
         ``In a quiet day the monster was floated out into the
shallows,'' the newspaper said. Wetherell's son Ian took the
photographs, it added.
         A friend recommended Wilson as front-man and the plot that
deceived many for 60 years was hatched.
         The newspaper said the men were overwhelmed by the huge fuss
their trick aroused and were afraid to confess.
         ``Their little joke had got out of hand and the least
painful solution was to keep quiet,'' it said.
         But Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project said the search
for ``Nessie'' would continue.
         ``The fact is that there are still a thousand-odd witnesses
who are seeing single humps in Loch Ness and allow us to
speculate actually about what sort of animals might be
involved,'' Shine told Independent Television News.

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Researcher Still Believes in Loch Ness Monster
3/13/94

         LONDON (Reuter) - Researcher Alastair Boyd who helped expose
the most famous Loch Ness monster picture as a fraud still
believes in the creature, Britain's Today newspaper reported
Monday.
         It quoted Boyd as saying he was convinced he saw Nessie, as
the monster of popular legend is known, in the Scottish loch in
1979.
         ``I saw it roll around in the water like a whale. It must
have been at least 20 feet long,'' he said.
         ``That's why I'm skeptical of people who claim to have taken
photos. When you see it you don't have time to fiddle with a
camera -- you're too busy picking your jaw off the ground.
         ``It's ironic, but I still believe there are creatures in
the loch.''
         Boyd was credited by a Sunday newspaper as one of two Loch
Ness researchers who had unravelled the hoax behind the 1930s
photograph of a supposed monster rising out of the loch.
         They revealed the monster was nothing more than a toy
submarine fitted with a plastic wood serpent's head.
         The Sunday Telegraph said the last of several men involved
in creating the fake monster, Christian Spurling, confessed his
role just before dying last November.
         Reports of a sea monster in Loch Ness date back to the third
century, but feverish speculation about its possible existence
broke out when the photograph was published in a London
newspaper in 1934.
         Experts have examined the fuzzy black-and-white plate
photograph and said that it could be a plesiosaur (an extinct
dinosaur), a tree trunk or an otter.
         The photograph was reported to have been taken by a doctor,
Colonel Robert Wilson. But the Sunday Telegraph said it was
fabricated by Marmaduke ``Duke'' Wetherell, a filmmaker and
self-styled ``big game hunter'' who had been hired by the Daily
Mail newspaper to find the monster.
         Scientist Adrian Shine, leader of the Loch Ness and Morar
Project investigating whether a mysterious being inhabits the
deep waters of the loch, has refused to dismiss the popular
legend despite the hoax revelation.
         ``Eyewitness accounts still suggest that there is something
powerful in the loch,'' he told the Times newspaper.
         ``As scientists, we naturally resent hoax evidence, because
it discredits the seriousness of our research. I hope the whole
mystery can now be approached more openly.''