Customer Reviews

Loch Ness Monster and Others

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The eccentric Rupert T. Gould wrote a number of interesting books in the '20s and '30s. In the '60s and '70s University Books in the US reprinted some of them. I bought and enjoyed some of these Gould reprints so I jumped at a chance to read his Loch Ness Monster book.

Gould wrote this book the year after "monster" reports were widespread in 1933. He seems to have done an admirable job of first hand investigation. The bulk of the book is taken up with a large number of sighting reports. One might think that these would get tedious after a while but Gould admirably includes a large number of sketches to aid those (like me) that have a hard time converting verbal descriptions into visual images. The rest of the book consists of analysis and related cases. Gould quickly concludes that the mysterious "sea serpent" is responsible for the sightings.

Gould's conclusions haven't held up well in the 75 years that have passed and the monster is still very much a mystery. Some of the reasons might be:

Gould postulated one unknown to explain another unknown. This is always logically suspect.

Gould assumed that all the sightings had the same proximate cause. If a floating log was inconsistent with one sighting it couldn't explain any of them.

Gould was unaware of the powerful predilection of witnesses to make sense of what they see. This makes sightings of the unfamiliar very tricky.

Gould did not foresee the way hoaxers can quickly descend on scenes with a large and expectant audience. His book includes the famous "London surgeon's" photo which is now known to be a hoax.

This was the first and probably the most influential of the many Loch Ness monster books. The world would be a better place if current paranormal writers were as careful and conscientious as Gould. Gould died at the relatively young age of 58 in 1948 just as the UFO craze was getting started. I have often wondered how Gould, who had a predilection for the mysterious but combined with a critical mind, would have reacted to it.

A classic book, but of academic interest only, I fear. Some of Gould's books have held up well; this is not one of them. But for its time, top notch.