Althouse: The Loch Mendota Monster.

May 29, 2022

The Loch Mendota Monster.

Photographed by me, this morning at 5:32 a.m.

31 comments:

Owen said...: Beaver?; 5/29/22, 8:19 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Dog?; 5/29/22, 8:29 AM
Whiskeybum said...: Well, she may look somewhat small and unimpressive, but she seems a lot less skittish than her Scottish cousin.

Slàinte!; 5/29/22, 8:30 AM
gilbar said...: is she nicknamed Messie? Mettie? Mentie? Mentie doesn't sound that Cool.. Oh! I know! I KNOW!!
Mad Town Mentie!!!; 5/29/22, 8:47 AM
lonejustice said...: Otter?; 5/29/22, 8:54 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Tree limb.; 5/29/22, 8:57 AM
Quaestor said...: Beaver?

Dog?

Stick.; 5/29/22, 9:11 AM
Temujin said...: Burlap bag containing pounds of cheese wiz that will not break down, degrade, or decompose. It will just bob under the surface, then just above the surface. It's a Wisconsin phenomenon. Seen in lakes throughout the state.; 5/29/22, 9:46 AM
Quaestor said...: This image is quite evocative of the sine qua non Loch Ness monster photo, the 1934 "Surgeon's Photograph". First published by the Daily Mail, that notorious hoax was falsely attributed to Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynecologist. The real photographers were the builders of the model, currently believed to be Maurice Chalmers and Ian Wetherell, the son of Marmaduke Wetherell, but more on him later.

The Surgeon's Photograph and the soon-to-be-iconic Althouse Photograph have much in common. Both are slightly overexposed backlit silhouettes positioned without much in the way of scale reference except the ripples and waves of the surrounding water. In the former case, the composition and exposure were deliberately chosen to disguise the true size of the plastic wood model, about twelve inches tall not including the toy submarine base. In the "Loch Mendota" shot, these may have been accidental. The on-sensor exposure meters used in most digital cameras, including some of the quite expensive kind, are easily fooled by such a small subject framed by so much water and not directly lit, which is why the auto-bracketing feature is so valuable.

According to the accepted story (it's mostly hearsay), the Surgeon's Photograph was an elaborate revenge hoax against the Daily Mail. From about 1933 there was a spate of eyewitness accounts of a strange plesiosaur-like creature living in and around (one sighting was on land) Loch Ness, Great Britain's largest freshwater body, that had been recently opened to tourism via a new road running parallel to the shore. Before the "military road" the loch was mostly hidden by trees, but since the early 1930's the virtually entire surface has been visible to motorists. The first monster reports had been verbal accounts, sometimes with crude sketches.

Eager to cash in on this entertaining mystery tale, The Daily Mail hired Marmaduke Wetherell, an actor, filmmaker, and occasional big game hunter, to seek out and perhaps even capture the elusive beastie with the Mail having exclusive publishing rights to whatever he found. What he found were some tracks leading from the water's edge to the road. Wetherell excitedly report his find, which was immediately debunked by zoologists as being obviously made by the same single foot, specifically the left hind foot of a large hippopotamus. At the time, hippo-foot umbrella stands were a fairly common bit of rancid Edwardian kitsch, consequently, the real source of the spoor was easily deduced. Wetherell was humiliated, and the Daily Mail gleefully put the boot in, ergo the counter-hoax.; 5/29/22, 10:22 AM
wildswan said...: Mendota Millie?; 5/29/22, 10:35 AM
Owen said...: Quaestor @ 10:22: Excellent comment on the predecessor beastie. But what does it tell us about the Mendota Monster; and more specifically how Prof A figures in its* discovery? Inquiring minds want to know!

* Pronoun choice is provisional pending declaration of gender/agender status by MM or its handlers; 5/29/22, 10:49 AM
Narr said...: Definitely not the sun.; 5/29/22, 11:38 AM
LA_Bob said...: My gosh! Horrifying! I'm relieved you've chosen to run by the lake rather than swim in its treacherous waters. You never know where a lake serpent lurks!.

And, by the way, I'd nickname the beast-of-unspecified-gender "Mendy".; 5/29/22, 11:40 AM
Art in LA said...: Sasquatch on a snorkeling vacation!; 5/29/22, 11:42 AM
Quaestor said...: Owen writes, "But what does it tell us about the Mendota Monster; and more specifically how Prof A figures in its* discovery? Inquiring minds want to know!"

I'd recommend having a look at the Simon Templar story titled "The Convenient Monster", originally penned by Leslie Charteris about 1939 and remade for TV in 1966.

If Meade ends up dead on the Mendota shore in mysterious circumstances... well, I told ya so.; 5/29/22, 1:35 PM
Quaestor said...: Apologies for my error-ridden 10:22 comment. I am virtually blind to my typos and botched edits for about an hour.; 5/29/22, 1:47 PM
Quaestor said...: Owen writes "*Pronoun choice is provisional pending declaration of gender/agender status by MM or its handlers."

Hmmm... your use of "agender" (a play on asexual, as in microbial reproduction, I assume) is unnecessary. Neuter is also a gender. Latin, Greek, German, and English have plenty of neuters, which is good Italian seems to have no it, which is dumb. (La macchina, she-a no start!) It is perfectly fine when talking about a monster. I find myself using it more and more often, considering our scarcely human brain-eating ruling class and their inanimate leader figure. It, it, it... I daresay I could blow through the Knights Who Say Ni! without drawing my sword.; 5/29/22, 2:20 PM
effinayright said...: Ever notice that you never, never, never see any of these "monsters" in pairs?

Or with youngsters?

They all seem to live alone.....forever.; 5/29/22, 2:30 PM
mikee said...: A Labradorable monster?; 5/29/22, 2:37 PM
Narayanan said...: I'd recommend having a look at the Simon Templar story titled "The Convenient Monster", originally penned by Leslie Charteris about 1939 and remade for TV in 1966
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Roger Moore looks like high school kid!; 5/29/22, 3:07 PM
Narayanan said...: I'd recommend having a look at the Simon Templar story titled "The Convenient Monster", originally penned by Leslie Charteris about 1939 and remade for TV in 1966
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Roger Moore looks like high school kid!; 5/29/22, 3:07 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Mendy" is an otter.; 5/29/22, 3:33 PM
Nancy said...: https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/10/15/223418/the-nessie-quest/

Doc Edgerton got a pretty convincing picture!; 5/29/22, 4:27 PM
Iman said...: A cottage industry was born, on this very day.; 5/29/22, 4:55 PM
Quaestor said...: Nancy writes, "Doc Edgerton got a pretty convincing picture."

Harold "Doc" Edgerton collaborated with Robert Rines -- a noted scholar, inventor, patent lawyer, and musician, as well as Edgerton's fellow at MIT -- and Sir Peter Scott, a Member of Parliament and a monster enthusiast.

After taking that picture and a few others, Sir Peter sponsored an act in Parliament to protect the supposed creature as an endangered species. According to Scottish law endangered wildlife are protected under their scientific binomial names. To meet that requirement the Academy of Applied Science, Rines' research organization, coined Nessiteras rhombopteryx (Greek for "Ness dweller with diamond-shaped fins"), which Sir Peter duly included in his original petition.

Unfortunately for the still-unprotected Nessie, someone pointed out that the scientific name was also an anagram of Monster hoax by Sir Peter S.

In the immortal words of J. Henry "Doc" Holliday, "Oops."; 5/29/22, 6:22 PM
Quaestor said...: Althouse writes, "'Mendy' is an otter."

Please clarify. Does your photo show an otter? I watched a few over the years but I don't recall seeing one cavort with its tail pointing rigidly out of the water. Or is Mendy a popularly known otter that is not shown in your photograph?; 5/29/22, 6:29 PM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: Dotie; 5/29/22, 6:48 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: Meadie.; 5/29/22, 8:36 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @quaestor

I believe it to be an otter based on having seen otters in this area.

I did find the tail position strange too.; 5/29/22, 9:18 PM
MadTownGuy said...: It's Carson the Muskrat. (Inside joke for Madisonians); 5/29/22, 9:19 PM
Narayanan said...: we need more than a single shot : we need a video; 5/30/22, 1:47 PM