Loch Ness Monster Mystery Solved? 'Nessie' Just Bubbles From Seismic Activity, Geologist Says

[The Straight Story]

Legendary beast, or harmless geological activity? That is the question raised after a scientist's surprising theory about the Loch Ness Monster resurfaced recently.

Italian geologist Luigi Piccardi first floated his theory in 2001, telling a meeting of colleagues organized by the Geological Society of London and the Geological Society of America that seismic activity may underlie the majority of supposed monster sightings around the Scottish lake from which the fabled creature takes its name.

The first claimed sighting of "Nessie" occurred in the sixth century, according to Scientific American. Legend has it that the creature appears along with earth tremors and bubbling from the bottom of Loch Ness, one of Britain's largest freshwater lakes.

Formed as a result of a long-ago collision between the northern tip of Scotland and the rest of Britain, the loch sits over the 62-mile Great Glen fault line. Piccardi argues that this position may have fueled centuries of Loch Ness Monster rumors.

"Loch Ness is exactly on the fault zone," Piccardi said in 2001, according to The Telegraph. "When there are small shocks, it can create a commotion on the water surface. Along the fault there can be gas emissions, which can create large bubbles on the surface. There are many surface effects which can be linked to the activity of the fault."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/04/loch-ness-monster-seismic-activity_n_3542214.html?utm_hp_ref=science

[Buzz Clik]

1. Yep. That's that. No more fuzzy pictures or wild stories.

Just like "swamp gas" put an end to UFO rumors. (Which were all true, by the way.)

[MrSlayer]

2. Has this actually been a "mystery"?

Do people still really think there's a monster in a lake? Really?

I suppose I should consider how many people actually bought into that ridiculous mermaid "documentary" before being so contemptuous.

It's harmless fun I guess but to seriously believe in it is ridiculous.

[PDJane]

3. As I recall it, certain religious school systems have been using the existence of Nessie

to support the current existence of dinosaurs to support a young earth...........something like that.

[MrSlayer]

4. That is really sad to hear.

I feel such despair lately over the state this country finds itself in. It's just a shame.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Even worse - Lousiana gives them public money to teach that

This 2012-2013 school year, thanks to a bill pushed through by governor Bobby Jindal, thousands of students in Louisiana will receive state voucher money, transferred from public school funding, to attend private religious schools, some of which teach from a Christian curriculum that suggests the Loch Ness Monster disproves evolution and states that the alleged creature, which has never been demonstrated to even exist, has been tracked by submarine and is probably a plesiosaur. The curriculum also claims that a Japanese fishing boat caught a dinosaur.
...
An August 29, 2009 story in the Times Educational Supplement, a British publication for teachers, provides an excerpt from an Accelerated Christian Education science textbook:

Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence.

Have you heard of the `Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? `Nessie,' for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.

Could a fish have developed into a dinosaur? As astonishing as it may seem, many evolutionists theorize that fish evolved into amphibians and amphibians into reptiles. This gradual change from fish to reptiles has no scientific basis. No transitional fossils have been or ever will be discovered because God created each type of fish, amphibian, and reptile as separate, unique animals. Any similarities that exist among them are due to the fact that one Master Craftsmen fashioned them all."

Extract from Biology 1099, Accelerated Christian Education Inc. (1995)

Is the text still in use today? The answer is yes, according to U.K. critic Jonny Scaramanga, who was raised on the ACE curriculum and now runs a blog titled "Leaving Fundamentalism: Examining Christian Fundamentalism in The UK".

In a popular post titled Top 5 Lies Taught By Accelerated Christian Education, Scaramanga states, "I called ACE [Accelerated Christian Education] on May 3rd, 2012, and was told that all of these PACEs are still in print and the content has not changed. These lies are still being taught in over fifty British schools today."

http://www.alternet.org/story/155926/the_loch_ness_monster_is_real%3B_the_kkk_is_good%3A_the_shocking_content_of_publicly_paid_for_christian_school_textbooks

[MrSlayer]

14. Yeah, it's just awful.

We're going to be raising a nation of idiots. Which is just what they want of course.

[KittyWampus]

7. of all wild tales, i do give some credence to the possibility of a minute number of prehistoric cre

creatures still alive in remote areas.

[u4ic]

12. Crocodiles and sharks, for starters

As well as http://www.pawnation.com/2013/04/22/12-oldest-animal-species-on-earth/



I agree with you; I doubt there's a Loch Ness Monster, but more ancient creatures to be found, most likely in the oceans. .

[MrSlayer]

13. Yeah, I'm ok with that notion.

The coelacanth and other re-discoveries make you have to accept it.

But the idea of a creature as big a Nessie is alleged to be escaping sonar and other technological advances is ridiculous.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. But you need a population large enough to survive

and that becomes a lot harder for large creature to be there undetected. With something as large as 'the' Loch Ness Monster is supposed to be (and air-breathing, to boot), in a loch about a mile wide, there's just no way a breeding population could be there without definitive sightings.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Poor Nessie. Now everyone will point at her and say "Earthquake Fart!"

[Iggo]

8. Nope.

It's a fricken dinosaur.

Known fact.

[Wolf Frankula]

9. But We Have Pictures of the Family, Here they Are

Wolf

[whatchamacallit]

10. Kind of a letdown

Even an elaborate multi-generational hoax is more fun...

[UnseenUndergrad]

11. Aww...

And here I was, hoping for Sturgeon a thousand years old and the size of Scotch pines.

[Marrah_G]

17. Now that would have been cool

I remember one show investigating some lake in Canada (I think) found some very large sturgeon had returned there and that's what people were seeing. I thought that was even cooler then a lake monster

[MichaelMcGuire]

15. The "eich uisge" or kelpie

There's stones all over Scotland showing eich uisge, serpents and kelpies. Of Pictish and Gaelic (Scots) legends.

http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/7936/2;jsessionid=0D9A28F757594F14077479DB3203B41F




"The Each Uisge, is a name for the Highland supernatural water horse, supposedly the most dangerous of the Scottish water dwelling creatures. The monster inhabited the sea, sea lochs and fresh water lochs and is sometimes mistaken in writing as the Kelpie, which is supposed to inhabit rivers and streams.

The Each Uisge had the ability to shape shift, and could disguise itself as a fine horse or pony. To lure people into the water it would stand by the waters edge in one of these forms, and wait for somebody to approach. If a man was to mount the horse, it would immediately set off into the deepest part of the loch, the rider being unable to free himself because of the adhesive qualities of the creature's skin. Once in its element, the unfortunate victim would drown, and be devoured completely apart from the liver, which would float ashore, a sure sign that the water horse had claimed another victim.

Another disguise the Each Uisge could take was that of a handsome man, and because of the danger of these creatures, people were wary of lone animals and strangers standing by the waters edge, in places reputed to be haunted by the Each Uisge."