Hoops, loops and eyewitness reliability: a history of biologically impossible aquatic monsters

Abstract

Here we outline the history of serpentiform aquatic monster reports and images that contain a zoological impossibility: the presence of loops or arches of the body above the water in a vertically flexing animal body. Images of such serpentiform animals have been common ever since the sixteenth century yet the actual proportion of such eyewitness reports, especially at Loch Ness, has until recently been extremely low, far lower than the proportion of hooped imagery in art portraying the Loch Ness Monster. As the biological impossibility of such arched animals is not widely known, yet the images of such monsters both historically and contemporaneously are extremely common, this allows a test of contemporary eyewitness testimony. Few reports mention vertical arches in freshwater or marine contexts. This low proportion suggests cultural background has not influenced the content of aquatic monster reports, in contrast to previous work in the field. This insight supports the contention that the majority of eyewitness reports are actually based on some underlying physical reality, even if not representing an actual encounter with an unknown species.