I recall this man interviewing people at the Benleva Hotel, Drumnadrochit (where in reference to his small budget, the price of a pint & their malt of the month is surprisingly reasonable)  . I hope that his insurers aren’t reading as he’s let the cat (or the monster) out of the bag regarding the loss of his camera…. and we can only wonder what has become of Graham…

Cheers for the Giggle!

 That Guy: Nessie trip fails Loch, stock and whisky barrel
4:00AM Sunday Oct 11, 2009 – New Zealand Herald

As many of you are aware, I have been working on a groundbreaking TV show called Leigh Hart’s Mysterious Planet, in which I travel the world solving its greatest mysteries.

The programme is in post-production and is going very well. Bigfoot is already in the can, as is our in-depth investigation into the UFO crash at Roswell.

What follows are some excerpts from my director’s diary, taken while shooting the Loch Ness Monster episode in Scotland. They are brief notes but I think you can get an insight into what goes into a programme like this.

Day one: The Mysterious Planet team arrives at Loch Ness to begin investigation. Weather and conditions are perfect for “Nessie” hunting.

Day one (afternoon): “The Nessie Hunter” – our vessel for the investigation – has been double booked, meaning we are unable to get out on to the water until a primary school expedition from Inverness has finished using it. This won’t be until the following Thursday.

Day two: Another setback! An administrative error has meant that all our hi-tech sonar and underwater tracking equipment has accidentally been sent to the pyramids in Egypt; conversely all our sandrovers built specifically for the later Pyramids episode arrive on time at the shores of Loch Ness.

Day three: We meet Scottish cryptozoologist Graham Cosbee. He is to join the expedition as a consultant.

Days four to 11: Spent in local taverns interviewing witnesses. Some of this is productive but much of it isn’t and it could be argued that a couple of the crew went a little off the rails during this period.

We are forced to spend a good deal of the production budget on beer and Scots whisky to get people to talk to us. A cryptozoologist must have an open mind at all times, but it is very difficult to do this when you have a cracking hangover. We begin to see the first signs that everything is not well in Graham’s personal life. Graham is on the phone to his partner in Edinburgh, repeatedly trying to patch up his relationship. It is a well-known fact that cryptozoologists have a less than ideal track record on the marriage front, and Graham knew the risks when he got involved. Investigations that seldom ever get any results can take their toll on the cryptozoologist and those close to them. I try to reassure Graham that anything worthwhile is worth sticking with.

Day 12: Finally, we are able to get on to the Loch for the first time. George, our skipper, is very experienced and has seen the beast a number of times and he takes us to the hotspots.

That afternoon, another setback. One of our less experienced cameramen throws a $25,000 camera overboard, thinking that it is one of the waterproof models. It records for a few seconds but the footage is hardly worth the expense.

We spend the rest of the day coming up with a believable story to tell the insurance company.

Day 13: Graham’s relationship has taken a turn for the worse. His partner Jacinta is having a platonic relationship and, by the sounds, a very sexual one with an Edinburgh furniture upholsterer called Brian.

I waste a lot of valuable research time consoling Graham once he learns that Brian has moved into his house in Edinburgh. I convince him to stay with the team another couple of days.

Day 14: Nothing really happens.

Day 15: See above.

Day 16: Back out on the water at night, we dredge the water around the castle and snag something large! We eventually pull it aboard only to find it is a cable of some sort, so we cut it free, and by doing so accidentally cut off all the electricity to the south and west sides of the Loch.

Day 17: We interview legendary Loch Ness expert Adrian Shine. He adds a lot of much-needed credibility and factual information to the documentary.

Graham Cosbee, on the other hand, is unshaven and drinking heavily.

Day 22: After losing more hi-tech equipment overboard I catch the sonar team watching porn on the monitor designed to show images from the bottom of the Loch. It is a disappointing day all round.

Day 26: After a few more disaster-filled days I start to turn my focus to the Pyramids episode.

Day 27: Time to leave. While we are packing up the equipment and I am delivering my closing summary to camera, Graham Cosbee has a nervous breakdown and attacks me.

We escape in the Mysterious Planet rental car but not before Graham has thrown a tripod through the front windscreen.

We travel to Egypt.

Like the Loch Ness Monster – the NHS is something that you either believe in or don’t, but the world would be a poorer place if the idea of it did not exist.

Many have it that Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. It is widely thought that Saint Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, drove the snakes out of Ireland into the sea. He can’t really take credit for that, as the Ice Age took care of snakes long before St. Patrick came along, but he can take credit for converting many Celtic pagans to Christianity during his life.

But he isnt alone! The patron saint of Scotland – Saint Andrew, was born in  Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee & Saint George, patron saint of England, was probably born in Palestine.

Which leaves us with St David – Patron saint of Wales who, for a change,  was actually born in Wales. Not very imaginative in the light of the other 3!

Finally – St Columba, who is said to have warded off the Loch Ness monster with the sign of the cross, was….wait for it…. Irish.

So all in all a fair trade!

A Scot gave the world one of the most widely celebrated Saint’s days in the world , and an Irishman helped launch the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster – one of the moth famous legends in the world!  Both synonymous with their adopted countries.

So regardless if you wear green or tartan, a shamrock or a thistle today in celebration of Saint Patrick day, have a good one!

Enjoy!

Click HERE

Lake’s Nessie the shark

July 10, 2008 – 11:53AM (Sorry – I don’t have the original source)

It’s the talk of town, the Central Coast’s own Loch Ness monster, but locals and experts are sceptical that a full-grown seven-metre great white shark could be lurking in Tuggerah Lake.

A commercial fisherman yesterday reported netting and releasing the monster while casting his fishing nets off Canton Beach, on Tuggerah Lake.

“He claimed that he actually caught the shark in his net and the shark came up and started thrashing about, and hit his boat,” said Chief Inspector Tim Winmill said.

A Tuggerah Lakes police spokesman today said there had been no further sightings of the shark.

“The Department of Primary Industries are running the operation, we’re not the shark liaison officers,” he said. The DPI has been contacted for comment.

But John West, Taronga Zoo’s shark expert, said: “I think it’s a hoax – great white’s don’t go into estuarine or lake systems. “In all my knowledge on shark biology and behaviour, that’s unlikely.

“It wouldn’t even fit in that lake, I don’t know how deep the entrance is but you’d need several metres for a shark that big to get into it.

“A large shark like that would stick out like dog’s b*lls.”

Soldiers Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Mick Crowe said the whopping carnivore was “the talk of the area”.

He was unsure if it had deterred holiday makers. “This time of year they don’t get too many people in the Lake anyway, other than a few diehards. It’s absolutely freezing cold and there’s a howling wind.”

He too was sceptical a great white could be in the lake.

“There’s no chance a shark that big could get into the entrance, you could just about walk across the entrance channel [because it's so shallow].”

Chief Inspector Tim Winmill said there had been reports of a baby great white shark in the lake a few years ago.

While stressing it was highly unlikely, Mr West said it was possible a baby great white may have snuck through the entrance to the lake.

“But if it got into there it would be trying to find its way out. They don’t tolerate the drops in salinity.

“It could probably survive for a period but how long I don’t know because they don’t go into those areas.”

Mr West said if there was a shark in the lake, it was more likely to be a bull shark.

“It’s part of a bull shark’s natural behaviour to move up into fresh water,” he said. “But they only grow up to three metres long.

“The fisherman saying it was seven metres could have been an exaggeration, but that’s a story he’ll have to explain.”

Could this be the Loch Ness Monster?

By Hannah Wood, Mirror.co.uk 2/07/2008

New video footage has emerged of a potential sighting of dinosaur-like creature the Loch Ness Monster.

David Garside and his dad Graham were on holiday in Scotland in April when they believe the creature of legend appeared to them.

During a tourist boat trip on the loch, they spotted something strange in the distance so zoomed in with their video camera to get a better look.

David, 31, said: “I couldn’t really see what it was but I thought it looked sort of like a crocodile’s back or something. I was videotaping the boat tour though so I used my zoom lens to get a closer look and luckily I caught it on camera.

See full article and video HERE

Using the latest water screen technology, a crew of experts recreated a scene from the magical family film The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep to provide Loch Ness Monster fans with an incredible, indelible visual confirmation of a much-loved legend.

The event was captured to celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep on 30th June 2008. . Details of how to download video footage of this incredible event are below.

Professor Terry Stevens of Destination Loch Ness, the destination management organisation for the area has been very supportive of the creative activity, saying:

“It is hoped that global awareness of Loch Ness generated by The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep will help support the community in their bid to achieve World Heritage status, based on its outstanding natural scenery and extraordinary cultural history and of course the infamy of the Monster.”

The Latest sighting in front of Urquhart Castle! 

The Water Horse Legend Of The Deep is available on DVD and Blu-ray from 30^th June, 2008.

FOOTAGE IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD VIA WWW.DIGITALNEWSAGENCY.COM

Click HERE

Every year thousands of visitors come to Loch Ness to see if they can catch a glimpse of the most famous lake or loch dweller in the World. Some have even stayed on to live on the shores of Loch Ness to continue to search for her and any sighting of Nessie makes new around the world!

Nessie has been immortalised in film, television, advertising, postcards, cartoons and music.

In fact mention Scotland any where in the world and Loch Ness and the Loch Ness monster is sure to be one of the first things that people think about.

The Loch Ness Monster has entered international parlance for something that is elusive or unbelievable. Perhaps in a world where so many things appear black and white – Nessie fills a need to believe in something that may never be proved.

Debate will always go on about whether or not the Loch Ness Monster is real….but if she is, she couldn’t have picked a more beautiful place to live!

Happy Birthday Nessie!

‘Her’ latest incarnation is in New York where Artist Joshua Allen Harris pieced together some garbage bags and taped them to a New York City subway grate. Now every time an underground train zooms by, the Loch Ness monster attacks.

To view the video click HERE

 Love it! 

But if you just cant wait you may be able to view the mythic beast at home in the wee hours of the morning.

Set your alarm to 3:14 a.m. and your browser to the beach-themed iGoogle page.

At precisely that time each day, Nessie allegedly surfaces for 60 seconds, then takes a deep breath and dives back under the dark loch’s surface. Why that time of the morning? Well, according to programmers’ lore, Google developers did it to pay homage to the mathematical quantity Pi.

Some things you just cant make up…..