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Subscribe to RSSAmateur video shows something moving down a river in Iceland that some say could be a sea creature like the Loch Ness Monster. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Further information about the "river monster" seen in a video from Iceland has led to the likeliest explanation for the snake-shaped phenomenon — and it's not Nessie.
The video, which seems to show some sort of subarctic anaconda making its way upstream through Iceland's Jokulsa River, was recorded by 67-year-old farmer Hjortur Kjerulf and initially distributed online last week by RUV television. The clip went viral on the Internet, even though skeptical observers said it looked more like a computer-generated hoax, a robot designed to play a trick on somebody or a snagged fishing net.
Now the consensus is leaning toward the fishing-net explanation.
Writing for Discovery News, investigator Benjamin Radford says Finland's Miisa McKeown has analyzed the video, matching up the position of the monster's head with relation to static reference points. Her conclusion? The "monster" is actually stuck in one place on the river. The snaky thing looks as if it's swimming upstream because water is streaming past it. It's the moving water that creates the illusion of a swimming snake.
You can see through the illusion by concentrating on the snake's head and the tree branches to the right when you watch the video.
Over the weekend, Kjerulf said he never intended to perpetrate a hoax. "That is ridiculous," IceNews quoted him as saying on Bylgjan Radio. "This is no joke."
Kjerulf said he looked out from his kitchen window and noticed the "monster" wriggling in the river. He saw that it was still there after he finished the cup of coffee he was drinking, and so he went out with a camera and captured the footage. He took the video to a nearby RUV office, which decided to put it on the national news. Then the video hit the Internet. "The rest, as they say, is history," IceNews reported.
As the video made its way around the world, observers drew comparisons to the legend of the Lagafljot Worm, the Icelandic equivalent of Scotland's Loch Ness monster. But Kjerulf said he never claimed that what he saw was the lake monster — rather, he just passed along the shots and left it to others to draw their own conclusions.
Radford said the fact that the wriggling object remained in the same place for the several minutes it took Kjerulf to finish his coffee strongly suggests that it was a net or a long piece of cloth, caught on a branch or a rock lying beneath the surface of the river. Its snaky shape is due to chunks of ice hanging onto the net. You can see similar chunks floating past in the video.
The Icelandic river monster isn't the first crypto-video to cause a stir, and it won't be the last. Here are a few other cases from the recent past:
- 'Mammoth' video identified ... without the mammoth
- Picture of 'Bownessie' lake monster causes a stir
- Monster of a claim: Ogopogo caught on video
- Nessie-like monster filmed in Alaska
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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I saw a tangled fishing net once, but nobody believed me. I guess this'll show 'em!
Is it Bjork?
It looks exactly like a swimming sea serpent to me.
It's Elvis.
They drag this shyt story out from time to time just to get a reaction.
It seems like someone with a freaking HD camera could take a clear and more visible photo and video of what they claim to be the Loch Ness.
Maybe it was Bigfoot skinny dipping.
Hmmm... Well, many people have seen something similar, swimming in Lake Tahoe, in California and Nevada, where no one is allowed to use commercial fishing nets.
Whatever it is looks like it is swimming, of course, fishing nets can swim! lol
HEHE, that was funny Doug. And, I believe you, Now.... Haha LOL.
If you run the video backwards, the net spells out satanic messages.
It's a byproduct of global warming: A large sea serpent reawakened. Soon more will follow and start swallowing up vessels at sea. We have a big battle brewing- prepare!!!
don't worry... the zombies will battle with them and they'll take eachother out.
I don't remember which Asian nation it was, but years ago I'd read that some dinosaur flesh had been found frozen amongst the bone fossils, and there was some conjecture that stem cell cloning research could be used to recreate the animal; real life Jurassic Park stuff.
Thus, one day, this could become very real. I believe the drawback at the time was that no one knew what viruses, bacteria, etc.... would come with the prize, if successful.
Deep sea 'monsters'? Definately; we're still discovering more and more. These isolated 'monsters'? Not on the believing side of it......
Yep, it's a monster alright. A scary, creepy, Icelandish, water, monster. Be afraid, be very, very afraid and don't go swimming in the frigid waters of Iceland.
Don't the famous Icelandic Viking Sagas mentions this monster? Didn't Ollie Anderson battle it in a saga-song?
It kinda looks like an oil spill. Eff you BP!
Damn, you just ruined my plans for next Christmas break.
DAMN YOU, SKIP!
Sometimes people see what they want to see. It looked like some something very explainable but I didn't know exactly what.
Back when I drank, I saw beautiful women everywhere I looked (except that one time when Godzilla tried to take advantage of me).
Yikes, you must'a been a Heavy drinker, or, a heavy picker upper.... LOL....
Most all of us either consciously or sub wise want to believe in 'something'. We don't want to know of the world as being just concrete, nothing of mystery left, nothing to fear in the realm of unknowns or admired in the same realm.
As late as the early 1900's I've seen books that were published as science, and toads, mice, and certain bugs were thought to 'spontaneously' come to be; so 100 years later, perhaps it's engrained in us yet to yearn for unkowns.
Every year there's dozens of new species discovered, but they're variations of what's known to exist. I would like to believe there's a completely new, completely different animal to discover but I think it's more fantasy land....
As an aside, I still party fairly hearty but don't see the beautiful women.... where do you live? Most around here could use nutri system or something similar!
you might want to keep your ego in moderation, moderationinallthings.
Looks more like a tarp than a net.
Its a Tarp!!
Hell, It could be an elongated Newt, slowly realizing it is just dead in the water, and floating out to sea.....
Everyone and thier mothers wants to say what this is but the fact is you were not there at the time this was filmed, next time you guys want to state your opinion of what you think is in the water go in the water an check for yourself. This was you can make sure wat ur stating is fact. :)
Were you at the Superbowl? No? Just saw it on TV? Then how do you know it happened? Are you sure it's a fact that New York won? How do you know? Were you there?
There are more ways of knowing things than being there. The entirety of human civilization is based on and founded upon this reality.
Who are you (The guys) talking to? Hope it's not all those posters above you - all four of them...lmao.
When I smoke pot I can actually make sense of your last comment.
I'm fluent in stoner and laborer cussing, still working on that eingrish.
drainbramage
Now that's an interesting comment! Don't you know the Super Bowl would come up somewhere in this discussion. LMAO
Yeah, good point. All the folks scratching their heads, wondering. Lol, nobody went to actually check it out. Well, that would take away all the fun I guess. All of a sudden Iceland made the news and not just for being the land of fire and ice. Man, people were all over Loch Ness in Scotland and Lake Champlain in New York to check out "Nessie" and "Champ."
Even if you're there, you could be mistaken. I believe it was a fishing net, nothing more.
If there are giant snakes [or any snakes] in Iceland, I've never heard of them.
Did it swim away or float away?
It floated away....in an alien spaceship piloted by Elvis.
the old dude got his fifteen minutes of fame!
Sorry guys I was just doing the backstroke. I hate it when my river monster gets loose.
Thank God it wasn't another appearance of the Virgin Mary.
are you saying that she can't swim?
As Simon and Garfunkel sang:
A man sees what he wants to see and disgards the rest
Then he posts it on YouTube and the rakes in the advertising revs
Dah dah dah
Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah...
Those guys were great!
I am just a poor boy, and my story is now told frequently on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube ...
My dearest Lord Father shall release serpents aplenty upon your scum bucket Earth!
Oh my heavens! What shalt thou do?
They probably sell poisons for snakes now. Unless the serpents have the ability to actually think. If they don't, Armageddon might not be so bad. : D
leave it to a bible thumping moron to stick his nose into the pot...
ya how dare he! Dont those bible thumping morons know they are not supposed to have 1st amendment rights? God gave atheists the right to be atheists and no one has the right to tell them differently! Isnt the Constitution supposed to be about freedom FROM religion after all?
"The Bible Thumpers" why can't you refer us as believers instead of this stupid comment. We will see who has the last laugh.
Hum...I never knew it was about who gets the last laugh.
Two wrongs make a Newsvine post...hahaha.
It's all Bob's fault - he planted the seed...but isn't that what the topic is about; someone plants the seed and others make it grow out of control?
hehehe
it is not who laughs last
but
who gets the best laugh.
The circus parade continues and here come the clowns
Lol, "Look, up in the sky, it's a bird it's a plane, NO, it's whatever." From God.
Snakes on planes!!
Hey The Guys, those of us that are experienced on the water can tell that it is obvouisly not a creature. My first thought was a net, after watching the video, it is apparent. This is while I admittedly believe that there are many "creatures" that have yet to be discovered. But first you always rule out the obvious. Another huge hint is it was still there after a cup of coffea, not many wild creatures stay still that long, especially animals in water. And all you blah, blah, blahers, I said not many, and not that it can't happen.
If it is in fact pointed (headed) upstream the net theory is the best explanation. If it is pointed (headed) downstream as the TV reporter said the net theory doesn't work.
I see, Ice sea...
The movement of this thing looks too mechanical to be a living thing.
Looks like a aligator or crocodile or big snake,what ever I would stay clear of him,he's big enough to eat a human.
So that's where my ex moved to...!
BOO!
I'm glad they finally came out and stated the obvious. I find it amusing that the author says if you concentrate on static reference points you can notice that the 'monster' never swims upstream. I guess maybe there really are that many people out there with such limited powers of observation that they would need to concentrate to notice something as easily observable as that.
Yeah, considering the original report, wherein the guy who took the video stated he first saw it, but only took the video after he saw that it was still there when he finished his coffee.
A moving animal would not have been still there! The fact it was still there alone is suggestive that it was not moving!
Excitement in Iceland! Ooh yeah!!
Let's see, It could be Newt Gingrich in a swimsuit, doing a "Polar Bear"type of swimming. Because of similarities, with what's reported regarding the looks of the Lockness Monster, this could be the Pre-Election look! LOL
HA HA HA HA HA!!! Good one vibes!
What amazes me is all the hoopla surrounding something so simple to debunk as bs.
but isnt that about everything reported by MSNBC?
Not with Cosmic Log.
I try to mix it up, ranging from purple squirrels to the federal R&D budget. (Are you yawning yet?) It's just that we used the original video about the Icelandic river monster, so we wanted to close the loop on that one. Thanks for the shout-out, Darrah!
I've grown up a little after being on Cosmic Log for yrs. along with NV. I really don't understand some of these comments and why some people even bother to comment if they don't like the articles.
It does not look like a living thing. Looks like piece of debris or net. If you noticed its all covered with ice, if it was a actual living thing then apparently parts of the body would of been exposed.