Another hoax bites the dust

[AtomicMysteryMonster]

The 2000's have been a bad time for cryptozoology. Aside from the numerous pantsings the Bigfoot community has been getting (the Wallace confession, the Minnesota Iceman debunking, et al.), the BBC has trashed any possibility of Nessie existing, the Loveland Frog turned out to be much less exotic than originally claimed, the Gable film got exposed and now the Thetis Lake monster has been revealed as a hoax.

For those unfamiliar with this obscure cryptid, the lake monster was a creature said to look like a silver-scaled relative of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" that was reported by two Canadian youths in 1972 and their "sincerity" was enough to convince the Mounties to investigate. You can read more about it here. However, one of the now-grown boys stepped forward to admit that the sighting was a complete fabrication and that his friend had a reputation as a known liar!

Despite the relative obscurity of the monster, this incident does have some far-reaching effects on cryptozoology as a whole. Besides showing that people can make up bizarre monster stories for no reason, it also shows how hoaxers can fool the authorities. Let's not forget all the doubt this throws on the second (and final) sighting of the monster made by another party. Either they were lying, hoaxed by another party, or (if the "escaped pet" theory is correct) grossly misidentified a tegu lizard.

 

[Marduk]

the BBC has trashed any possibility of Nessie existing.

No I'm pretty sure that was Adomnán in Vita Columbae 1300 years ago, but I don't think anyone read it carefully enough to notice

 

[Kilaak Kommander]

It's interesting that he confessed so long after the fact. Maybe there's still hope that we'll get new details about certain other monsters that are discussed around here...

 

[AtomicMysteryMonster]

No I'm pretty sure that was Adomnán in Vita Columbae 1300 years ago, but I don't think anyone read it carefully enough to notice

LOL! You're right, everyone focuses on the monster in the story and not what happens to it (or what the "Ness" in it actually refers to).

It's interesting that he confessed so long after the fact. Maybe there's still hope that we'll get new details about certain other monsters that are discussed around here...

Hoaxers and confessions are an interesting case. Sometimes they're quite quick to confess (such as that hoaxed Bigfoot trackway involving a wolf carcass) and others take decades to step forward. In the case of the Thetis Island hoax, I guess that either he had recently discovered that people were still taking his joke seriously and wanted to put a stop to it or that he was waiting until anyone in a position of authority would be the least likely to take action.

On the other hand, some hoaxers take it to their grave, such as Ray Wallace and the guy behind the "Surgeon's photograph" took it to their graves and the "confessions" were due to family members. In the case of the Loch Ness one, I find it interesting that the stepson was hinting at the hoax in the 70's, but it took until the 90's for someone to track him down and confront him on the matter. Of course, there's always the possibility of a hoaxer never confessing and not having a relative spill the beans either, as was the case with the Piltdown man.

Other cryptid pantsings from the 2000's:

The Thunderbird Photograph

Ben Radford's Chupacabras debunking

The Nessie "Surgeon's Photo" debunking (Round II)

Hook Island Monster

The Flatwoods Monster

The Hopkinsville Goblins

The Cave Demon

Lizard Man (the first link is especially telling...)

The Honey Island Swamp Monster (MK Davis exposed this one!)

The Shipton Yeti track picture

De Loy's Ape

It's a shame Cryptozoology.com went down, as they had two great threads deconstructing Mothman (along with an alternate Loveland Frog explanation).

The Canvey Island Creatures missed out on the above list due to the debunking happening in 1999. That said, this has a picture that's missing from the Wikipedia page...

The Bear Lake Monster also features an interesting confession, but the date in which it occurred prevented it from making my main list.

 

[Vortigern99]

Wow, thanks for all those great links! Fun reading. I had never seen or read about half those cryptids, as my Bigfoot-o-centric tunnelvision, and passing interest in Nessie, have kept me from examining other such beasties in too much depth.

The lake- and sea-monsters creep me out for some reason. My rational mind recognizes that they're baolney, as with Nessie, but something deep inside my primitive mind reacts with visceral fear when I behold pictures of giant, slithery aquatic creatures. I'm really glad those things have been shown to be unreal... but I still won't swim in deep water. /shudder/

 

[Marduk]

LOL! You're right, everyone focuses on the monster in the story and not what happens to it (or what the "Ness" in it actually refers to).
.

Two brief tales from Adomnáns life of St Columba
Adomnán for those who don't know him was a Abbot who chronicled the life of the saint in the seventh century,

which in effect means that he travelled the same route that Columba took and collected stories from groups the St had talked to more than 100 years earlier, this first was collected from the educated monks on Iona

CHAPTER XIII.
How the Saint knew and told beforehand about a great Whale.
ONE day when the venerabIe man was staying in the Iouan island (Hy, now Iona), a certain brother named Berach intended to sail to the Ethican island (Tiree), and going to the saint in the morning asked his blessing. The saint looking at him, said, "O my son, take very great care this day not to attempt sailing direct over the open sea to the Ethican land (Tiree); but rather take a circuit, and sail round by the smaller islands, for this reason, that thou be not thrown into great terror by a huge monster, and hardly be able to escape." On receiving the saint's blessing he departed, and when he reached his ship, he set sail without giving heed to the saint's words. But as he was crossing over the larger arms of the Ethican sea, he and the sailors who were with him looked out, and lo, a whale, of huge and amazing size, raised itself like a mountain, and as it floated on the surface, it opened its mouth, which, as it gaped; was bristling with teeth. Then the rowers, hauling in their sail, pulled back in the utmost terror, and had a very narrow escape from the agitation of the waves caused by the motion of the monster; and they were also struck with wonder as they remembered the prophetic words of the saint. On the morning of that same day, as Baithene was going to sail to the forenamed island, the saint told him about this whale, saying, "Last night, at midnight, a great whale rose from the depth of the sea, and it will coat this day on the surface of the ocean between the Iouan and Ethican islands (Iona and Tiree)." Baithene answered and said, "That beast and I are under the power of God." "Go in peace," said the saint, "thy faith in Christ shall defend thee from this danger." Baithene accordingly, having received the saint's blessing, sailed from the harbour; and after they had sailed a considerable distance, he and his companions saw the whale; and while all the others were much terrified, he alone was without fear, and raising up both his hands, blessed the sea and the whale. At the same moment the enormous brute plunged down under the waves, and never afterwards appeared to them.

now heres the famous mention of the Loch Ness Monster, collected from the picts who lived near the river Ness, they were the first stop after Columba crossed the water from his monastery

CHAPTER XXVIII.
How an Aquatic Monster was driven off by virtue of the blessed man's prayer.
ON another occasion also, when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (the Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne Mocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, "Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed." Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.

Funny that Columbas' travels were infested with monsters, one quite believable, the other a strange parody of the former almost as if..........
one was related by the educated and the other related by "barbarous heathens"


The Scottish tourist board aren't interested in this.

 

[Skepticemea]

As a Scot myself and avowed skeptic... of course Nessie exists.

 

[AtomicMysteryMonster]

I have another collection of cryptozology/forteana pantsings:

Trunko

The Panama Creature

The Pickled Dragon

The Ozark Howler

The Gnome of Girona

Spring-Heeled Jack (and other fortean cases)

The Martian Monkey (not a recent exposure, but interesting)

The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Monster

The St. Augustine Monster (only semi-recent, but sheds a lot of light on "globsters" in general)

The Montauk Monster

Despite the Florida Giant Penguin having been exposed as a hoax ages ago, some are still trying to say that it was real! With that in mind, I will not be surprised if the "Slender Man" internet meme turns into a "real paranormal happening."

I also remember three other casualtis of cryptozoology.com shutting down, a lengthy discussion on the "Yeti de Bourganeuf" actually being a work of art by Emannuel Casteels Janssen made in tribute to the Minnesota Iceman, a link to an 80's Asian report on Lake Tianchi which revealed the "monster" was a type of fish, and discussions on how the "Dover Demon" was most likely a hairless possum or raccoon (with the tail either out of view or lost due to injury).

 

[Steelmage]

I like Japanese Urban legends better as they are more scarier.

 

[FreshHat]

For those unfamiliar with this obscure cryptid, the lake monster was a creature said to look like a silver-scaled relative of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" that was reported by two Canadian youths in 1972 and their "sincerity" was enough to convince the Mounties to investigate.

The Mounties may always get their man, but they never get their monster.

 

[paiute]

The 2000's have been a bad time for cryptozoology. Aside from the numerous pantsings the Bigfoot community has been getting (the Wallace confession, the Minnesota Iceman debunking, et al.), the BBC has trashed any possibility of Nessie existing, the Loveland Frog turned out to be much less exotic than originally claimed, the Gable film got exposed and now the Thetis Lake monster has been revealed as a hoax.

I was watching River Monsters the other day. Wade was on the Amazon where there were a lot of pink dolphins when his cameras caught some odd serrated-back creature surface nearby:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...rs_n_867182.html#s285370&title=River_Monsters

Wade thought it most likely to be a pink dolphin which had been attacked at one time by a fisherman with a machete.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Cheap, ubiquitous digital cameras = vanishing monsters and UFOs.
Odd, that.

 

[Mudcat]

It's interesting that he confessed so long after the fact. Maybe there's still hope that we'll get new details about certain other monsters that are discussed around here...

What's so interesting about it? One of the two girls who photographed 'real faeries' confessed that the photos were hoaxes 60 years latter. That isn't an isolated case, either.

 

[Sawbones79]

The lake- and sea-monsters creep me out for some reason. My rational mind recognizes that they're baolney, as with Nessie, but something deep inside my primitive mind reacts with visceral fear when I behold pictures of giant, slithery aquatic creatures. I'm really glad those things have been shown to be unreal... but I still won't swim in deep water. /shudder/

Seconded. There's something about the idea of a sea-serpent rising from dark waters that just chills me to the bone. On the other hand, cryptids are the paranormal stories I'm sad to see debunked, as I'd love to see a sea monster or strange jungle reptile be proven to really exist.

 

[AtomicMysteryMonster]

One of the more modern cryptids, "Devil Monkeys," have been recently debunked.

Critical thinkers will find many clues in this indicating that Indiana's "Beast of Busco" doesn't exist. When one sees a giant snapping turtle while swimming, one doesn't simply swim up to it and carve your initials into its shell and swim away unharmed. The discovery of a large (but not giant) snapper in the lake when it was nearly drained seems to have failed to make anyone realize the possibility that the other sighting reports were grossly over exaggerated.

Also, it turns out that the Crawfordsville Monster was debunked not long after its original sighting.