THE Loch Ness researcher who revealed that the most famous photograph
of the monster was a hoax said yesterday that his motive was to
eliminate false evidence and confirm his belief that a strange beast did
inhabit the loch.
Mr Alastair Boyd, a retired art teacher who has been researching Loch
Ness for 15 years, said he hoped the revelation that the world-famous
photograph was a hoax one of the greatest hoaxes of the twentieth
century would convince people that much photographic evidence was bogus
and that more credence should be given to reported sightings.
The photograph, known as the Surgeon's Picture, had for 60 years been
attributed to Colonel Robert Wilson, a Harley Street gynaecologist who
claimed to have seen the monster on April 19, 1934.
However, Mr Boyd and another researcher claim they were told by the
late stepson of film maker Marmaduke Wetherell that the Nessie in the
photograph is actually a toy submarine fitted with a classic sea serpent
head and neck made from plastic wood.
Speaking from his home in Southend, Essex, Mr Boyd, who has done 4500
hours of surveillance on the loch, emphasised yesterday that he was not
conducting a ''Nessie-bashing exercise''.
He said: ''This is a simple matter of establishing the truth. I am
interested in getting to the bottom of what is in the loch and if that
means removing some of the red herrings then that has to be done.
''Some people might think we are trying to debunk the myth. That is
not so. All we are doing is pointing out that what was regarded as
suspect evidence has been shown to be completely false,'' he said.
Meanwhile, fears that the revelation could damage the Highland tourist
industry were dismissed by Mr Ronnie Bremner, of the Loch Ness Monster
Exhibition at Drumnadrochit.
He said: ''The fact that the Surgeon's Picture has been proved to be a
fake will not damage the exhibition's popularity. On the contrary, I
think it will strengthen it.''
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