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Loch Ness Monster part 5

1933

continued

LOCH NESS MYSTERY STILL UNSOLVED

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW)
Date: December 21, 1933
Page Number: 5

(Special to "The Miner.")
LONDON, December 19.
     Interest in the Loch Ness monster which resembles no species known to science, is spreading from scientific societies to the newspapers in an effort to clear up the mystery.
     Mr. M. A. Wetherell, the Central African big game hunter, told the "Daily Mail" that he believed that he had found traces of the monster, including the tracks of nails or slipper tips of a mammoth amphibian.
     He will make a systematic search of the shore of the lake and hopes to find its lair near the spot where a man said he had seen the monster carrying a sheep in its mouth.
     The monster is said to be 33 feet long with a pronounced hump on its back and eyes like motor car lamps.

Marmaduke Wetherell

In 1933 the Daily Mail, taking advantage of the Nessie craze, hired a famous big-game hunter named Marmaduke Wetherell to travel up to the Loch to investigate the sightings and to find the monster, if he could. Although he found no monster, in December 1933 he did locate what appeared to be its tracks—enormous footprints on the shore of the Loch leading into the water. Unfortunately, when researchers from the Natural History Museum examined the tracks, they determined that they had been made with a dried hippo's foot, of the kind that were popularly used as umbrella stands. Humiliated, Wetherell retreated from public view.

CLAWS AND NAILS
Loch Ness Monster
Breathe Like A Hippopotamus

Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld.)
Date: December 22, 1933
Page Number: 7

LONDON, December 21.
The "Daily Mail" states that Mr. M. A. Wetherell, a Central African big game hunter, says that footprints of the Loch Ness monster only a few hours old revealed that it is four fingered, with pads 8 in. across. The spoor clearly shows the outlines of claws and nails. It is probably a most powerful, soft-footed animal 20 ft. long. He is convinced that it can breathe like a hippopotamus out of water.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.)
Date: December 27, 1933
Page Number: 7

The Prime Minister (Mr. Ramsay MacDonald) spent a quiet day at Lossiemouth. He drove by car to have dinner with an old friend, Sir Alexander Grant. If the weather is fine he may motor to Loch Ness, although he has no great hope of catching a glimpse of the monster which continues to excite strange stories throughout the countryside, whence they are spread to all parts of Great Britain, supplying the stock jest of the holiday season.

James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS (12 October 1866 – 9 November 1937) was a British statesman who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, leading a Labour Government in 1924, a Labour Government from 1929 to 1931, and a National Government from 1931 to 1935.

MONSTERS OF THE DEEP
"Water Kelpies And Other Evils"
WIDESPREAD BELIEF

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW)
Date: December 27, 1933
Page Number: 3

1934

LOCH NESS MONSTER FILMED!

The Daily News (Perth, WA)
Date: January 1, 1934
Page Number: 1

LONDON, December 31.
     The "Times" correspondent at Glasgow states that three cameramen of Scottish Films Productions have claimed to have filmed the Loch Ness monster.
     The film shows a dark object, not clearly defined, moving quickly through the water. The men also prepared pictured of a log model for comparison to prove the genuineness of their film.
     The "Times" reproduces a section of the film showing, a thin, uneven dark object slightly out of the water and apparently moving rapidly.
     The "Times'' correspondent at Inverness says that Mr. Goodbody, a member of the Ness Fishing Board, has dispelled the last vestiges of doubt about the existence of a strange monster of great proportions.
     Mr. Goodbody declares that he was motoring along the loch with his two daughters on December 30 and he saw apparently the fins of a large fish. He discovered on a closer view they were the humps of a creature never seen anywhere in the world before, of which 16 feet, including a thin neck and small head, were above the water.

Malcolm Irvine

On December 30 1933 Jane, her sister Kathleen and their father saw the Loch Ness monster. In Jane’s own words: “We were driving along Loch Ness looking for it one very stormy day when suddenly I saw two bumps sticking out of the water, so we all got out to look at it. Luckily we had some field glasses, and we watched it for 40 minutes swimming around in the loch. More and more bumps kept appearing until we finally saw nine, and then it began swimming away more quickly; but it was snowing so hard by this time that we lost sight of it.”

LOCH NESS MONSTER.
FAME SPREADS TO CONTINENT.
"SCOTTISH INVENTION TO ATTRACT VISITORS."

Cairns Post (Qld.)
Date: January 2, 1934
Page Number: 4

(Australian Cable Service.)
LONDON, Dec. 30.
     The fame of the Loch Ness monster has spread abroad and is now the sport of French as well as British humorists, proving valuable to comedians and a godsend to cartoonists.
     The newspaper "Midi" declares that the monster is an invention by Scottish hoteliers and tourists agencies to attract visitors who might otherwise have gone to France.
     One joker telegraphed from Nice to a circus agency in Paris offering a reward for the monster's capture and transportation to the Riviera, where more visitors are needed.
     A Paris cartoon depicts a Scotsman on the banks of the lock with a girl while the monster rears its head from the water. The Scotsman said: "What a fright, I thought it was the wife."
     Stories of the alleged appearance of unusual beasts in Sicily and elsewhere have been cabled to London, indicating that the Loch Ness monster is not without rivals.

MONSTER SHOT IN SICILY
The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld.)
Date: December 28, 1933
Number: 9

(Published in "The Times.")
LONDON, December 26.
Loch Ness is not alone in its possession of a monster, says the Milan correspondent of "The Times". One recently appeared at Syracuse. It had not the advantage of being amphibian, like the Scottish beast, and hence it fell a victim to the rifles of two Sicilian peasants, after several days' exciting hunt.
     It turned out to be a species of reptile, with a flat head and a thick body, 12 feet long, covered with scales.

THE LOCH NESS MYSTERY
UNCANNY TALES OF "BEAST" WITH BIG EYES

The Canberra Times (ACT)
Date: January 2, 1934
Page Number: 4

What is the fearsome monster 30ft. long and "with eyes like motor-car lamps" which, according to people in the neighbourhood, lurks in the depths of Loch Ness—that loch which is said never to give up its dead?
     Scores of watchers during the last few weeks, says Mr. P. Cater in "The Daily Mail," declare that they have seen the monster completely or partly, and on October 16 it was seen again—a fantastically huge, black mass careering at high speed and threshing the placid waters of the loch to foam. Once it was seen on land when the observer vaguely likened it to a dragon, but usually it remains in the water, and is seen only on bright, sunny days.
     Mr. Cater says: "The evidence has now become so reputable and so widespread that at last the voices of the scoffers and the incredulous are silent. In Inverness, the Highland capital, there is one topic of conversation 'the beast'—as by one accord everybody dubs the uncanny denizen of the loch by this sinister title.
     "Some think the loch harbours survival of some prehistoric creature which may have been released from the earth's recesses by the great blasting operations required for the making of the new Inverness-Glasgow motor road. Others believe the beast to be some strange occupant of the deep which, by mysterious means, has strayed from the North Sea and is unable to regain its freedom.

A Timid Disposition
 
     "In any case there is disquiet, although the Highlanders draw comfort from the fact that the beast shows no desire to molest humanity, and on the contrary seems of a timid disposition, diving as soon as it is seen. It swims at a terrific speed, and only its black back with two pronounced humps is generally visible.
     "A minister told me solemnly today that science might consider whether it was not possible for a prehistoric type to survive in favourable circumstances. There are people who tell of a similar creature seen 50 years ago—a camel-like monster which emerged from the loch and frightened school-children.
     "Educated men have said in a hushed way that Loch Ness has always been queer. They say that although the greatest sounded depth is 754ft., there are deeps which have never been plumbed. Divers who have explored 200ft. below the surface have come up awed by their experience. They have reported that 'stretching down to apparent infinity there are gloomy caverns like great cathedrals.'
     "Some people say they believe that in one of these watery grottos the monster has his lair, sallying forth from time to time in search of food, to the consternation of the Highland crofters. A combination of Loch Ness and a monster is enough for even the most hardened imagination. People say the loch never gives up its dead.
There have been numerous fishing accidents on Loch Ness, but the bodies have never been recovered. Highlanders recall with sombre shakes of the head the motor-boat accident there in which Mrs. Olaf Hambro, the wife of the London banker, lost her life in August last year. Her body was never recovered.

Creature With Long Neck

     "I toured to-day the rugged countryside which surrounds Loch Ness—an outpost of the Highlands where the peaks match their darkling summits in solemn pride and fling desperate precipices to the lips of that loch which is cryptic as the smile of Monna Lisa. I talked to Highlanders who say they have seen the monster, and they told me that many more could speak if they were not sensitive of being accused of being superstitious."
     Miss Janet Fraser, the proprietress of the Half-way House on the new Inverness-Glasgow road, says she has seen the monster four or five times. The last time was in August and she was then accompanied by ten other people. "It was on the far side of the loch," she said. "Suddenly I saw 'the beast.' It had a head shaped like a snake, and as big as a horse's with a long neck, in the middle of which were two large flippers.
     "I can only describe the eyes as being like motor-car lamps. I should think that the neck was 7ft. long and the creature's total length something like 30ft. It is black and moves through the water with an undulating motion. I saw it on the surface for 20 minutes. Its shape is the sort of thing you would imagine in a nightmare."
     Miss Mary Howden, a friend of Miss Fraser, said: "The monster was black and glistening. I could not decide whether it had one enormous eye or two. Whatever it was, there was a light as from a motor-car lamp."

Incredulous Skipper Wavers

     Captain John MacDonald, who, as skipper of the Loch Ness boat, has made the trip over the water more than 20,000 times in the last 35 years, has been the chief of the Inverness sceptics. When people have spoken of the Loch Ness monster he has said, "Merely salmon at play."
     Now the weight of evidence has made Captain MacDonald less sure. When I saw him this morning, he said: "If so many reputable people say they have seen 'the beast' one inclines to the belief that there is something in it."
     And Captain MacDonald's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Christina Macdonald of Invermoriston, declares that she has seen it too. Her testimony has helped to induce Captain MacDonald to "await results."
     At the loch side to-day Mrs. MacDonald said: "I saw the monster in August. It was dark in colour and was just rising above the water when I noticed it. It had two distinct black humps. The day before, other people saw it at the same place."
     Engineer Captain Robert Meiklem, of Innislaurne, and Mrs. Meiklem say they saw the monster through binoculars in August. "It had a high-back," said Captain Meiklem, "and a rough and nobbly-looking skin. The top of the ridge of its back was 4ft. out of water. Unfortunately we did not see its head, but the height of the ridge gave the impression of a tail under water, so that presumably the monster was long as well as bulky."

Investigation Suggested

     Captain Meiklem says he thinks that the creature is a giant lizard which may be some hundreds of years old and has found its way into the loch from the sea. The whole thing suggests to him, however, that there are things which science is not acquainted, and that there ought to be investigations. In Inverness the feeling is that the Scottish Fishery Board should examine the matter.
     The salmon and trout fishing has not been so good this year, and although it is regarded as unlikely that the monster has made large inroads on the fish, the argument proceeds to another basis.
     There has been less fishing on the loch this year than formerly, and one suggestion is that business men from Glasgow and the south who formerly came to Loch Ness to fish are less anxious to do so if they fear there is a prowling monster which may interfere with their boats.

The memorial commemorates the death of Mrs Hambro (wife of the famous banker) August 1932. She was travelling in a speed boat on the loch along with her husband and two sons. Tragically the boat overturned and Mrs Hambro drowned.

Attempts were made to recover the body but the searches proved to be futile due to the depth and blackness of the water. From soundings taken at the time, the depth of the water was recorded as 110 metres a mere 4 metres from the shore.

SOURCE

BANKER'S WIFE DROWNED

"Whatever it was, there was a light as from a motor-car lamp." ???

Contents

Note the similarity of Fraser's sketch (left) to that of a log (below) that washed up on the shore of Loch Ness later in the next month.