LINDSAY SELBY: Strange incident at Loch Ness 2002 and blowing my own trumpet

My blog is a year old this weekend (SEE IT HERE). I thought it might go for 6 months but thanks to the followers and readers it continues on. So, happy birthday blog. In view of the winter Olympic Games starting this weekend I thought I would look back at a strange incident at Loch Ness in 2002 before the start of the Commonwealth Games. Here are the 3 reports from the time:

Report 1 -Jun 11 2002
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/content.cfm?story=389989
'The Commonwealth Games baton had a close encounter with a mysterious object when it was lowered into Loch Ness. It was put inside a protective capsule and sent 220 metres down to the bottom of the loch as part of a new bid to find out if a creature really does exist in the murky waters. It was resurfacing when a specially designed camera system lost contact with it after an unidentified object appeared to block its journey back to the surface. Images beamed on to a screen on board the support craft could not identify the object that crossed the baton's path.'

Report 2- 10 June 2002

By John Innes http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2034373.stm

Nessie hunters have failed in their latest attempt to find the Loch Ness monster - using the Queen's Golden Jubilee baton. It was lowered into the loch during its five-day tour round Scotland but failed to find any sign of a heartbeat in the murky depths. However, organisers reported seeing "something pretty weird" as the baton neared the surface.

The search for Nessie has baffled monster hunters for years. Reported sightings date back to the 7th Century, when a water beast is said to have appeared before St Columba. Films, photographs and eye-witness accounts have all been offered as evidence of the creature's existence down the years, but definite proof has remained elusive. The latest attempt to find the monster in the depths of Loch Ness took place on Sunday. The Jubilee baton, which contains a device that can detect a pulse rate, was lowered 220 metres to the bottom of the loch from a boat. There have been several reported sightings

Images of the baton underwater were beamed onto screens aboard another vessel, the Jacobite Queen, which was carrying about 100 guests. Event director Di Henry said there was "a strange interruption" as the baton neared the surface again. "There was a thing in front of the camera," she said. "It looked pretty wooden. It could have been wood or seaweed or it could have been Nessie." And she added: "I'm not so sure we didn't see something ."It was pretty weird what we saw. I wouldn't want to overstate it, but it wasn't something I expected myself."

Report 3-

http://news.scotsman.com/goldenjubilee/Nessies-Jubilee-show.2333982.jp

NESSIE, that most elusive of creatures, made a perhaps unsurprising appearance yesterday, as organisers of a baton relay tried to drum up interest in the Commonwealth Games. They claimed to have seen "something pretty weird" in the waters of Loch Ness yesterday when the Queen’s Jubilee baton was lowered into the water in a bid to find the world-famous monster. The alleged sighting of one of the world’s most famous underwater creatures took place on the second day of the baton’s five-day tour north of the Border. Di Henry, the event director said the baton, which contains a device that can detect a pulse rate, had been put in a water-proof tube and lowered down 220 metres to the loch bed on a cable from a deep scan vessel. She said pictures from the baton were beamed onto a screen on a separate boat carrying about 100 guests. She added: "As the baton returned to the top of the water there was a strange interruption. There was a thing in front of the camera. It could have been wood or weed or it could have been Nessie."

Was Nessie coming up to see who was invading her waters? Or was it the log of wood that some people favour? There is not a lot of weed in Loch Ness (certainly no seaweed as one report says) so it would have to be a log or a creature of some kind.