It's not a Loch Ness Monster carcass, and it wasn't even found at Loch Ness!
(For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about above, see this earlier post!)
In early 2010, I saw in a news flyer-like thing at my grandma's a book entitled Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep by Mike Everhart. I was intrigued by it, and the next time I went to spend the night over there, there was that book waiting for me! Sea Monsters is not on cryptids (it's about prehistoric sea creatures, as the title says), but it does have a few pages on the Loch Ness Monster, obviously because of the plesiosaur theory for the identity of Nessie (or should I say, the Nessies!)
On page 27 of that book is an image that I have been very curious about for the past five years. Along with the classic Surgeon's Photo and stills from a video is a picture of a strange carcass along with a caption that says "a mysterious carcass washed ashore at Loch Ness."
Sea Monsters is the only place where I have ever seen that picture - until two days ago, that is.
Karl Shuker is one of my favorite authors and bloggers, and having viewed his blog many times and having read several of his books, I decided to send him an email about this mysterious photo after posting something about it on here. (Those of you who also know Shuker's works will know that he has a knack for finding information on subjects in cryptozoology that no one else can find anything about!)
Shuker replied, with an answer to what the carcass really was. Here's what he said:
It helped very much. Thank you Karl!
Now, the mystery of a supposed Nessie carcass, which turned out to be nothing of the sort (as I expected!) and not even from the area of Loch Ness, is solved.
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| Photo I took of the pic in Sea Monsters |
(For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about above, see this earlier post!)
In early 2010, I saw in a news flyer-like thing at my grandma's a book entitled Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep by Mike Everhart. I was intrigued by it, and the next time I went to spend the night over there, there was that book waiting for me! Sea Monsters is not on cryptids (it's about prehistoric sea creatures, as the title says), but it does have a few pages on the Loch Ness Monster, obviously because of the plesiosaur theory for the identity of Nessie (or should I say, the Nessies!)
On page 27 of that book is an image that I have been very curious about for the past five years. Along with the classic Surgeon's Photo and stills from a video is a picture of a strange carcass along with a caption that says "a mysterious carcass washed ashore at Loch Ness."
Sea Monsters is the only place where I have ever seen that picture - until two days ago, that is.
Karl Shuker is one of my favorite authors and bloggers, and having viewed his blog many times and having read several of his books, I decided to send him an email about this mysterious photo after posting something about it on here. (Those of you who also know Shuker's works will know that he has a knack for finding information on subjects in cryptozoology that no one else can find anything about!)
Shuker replied, with an answer to what the carcass really was. Here's what he said:
"Re the carcase above: Everhart is mistaken - this carcase wasn't found washed ashore at Loch Ness at all. Instead, it was found washed ashore at Girvan, on the coast of West Scotland, on 15 August 1953, and was found to be a decaying basking shark. I am attaching herewith a much clearer version of the photo of it. Hope this helps."
It helped very much. Thank you Karl!
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| A Girvan basking shark, not a Nessie! Photo courtesy of Karl Shuker |
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| Girvan is the second blue (farthest down) dot in Ayr |
Now, the mystery of a supposed Nessie carcass, which turned out to be nothing of the sort (as I expected!) and not even from the area of Loch Ness, is solved.
 |
| Showing how a basking shark becomes a "sea serpent" |
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