Humans have been trying to capture a visual record of the world around them ever since
the first photograph, and this includes attempts to capture evidence of the unknown.
Unfortunately, for every memorable photograph of a new discovery, there are several others
that are outright hoaxes.
As part of our effort to suck the fun and mystery out of the world forever, here are
the real stories behind some incredibly bizarre photographs.
The surgeon's photograph
For decades, the famed 1934 "surgeon's photo" of the Loch Ness Monster was the best proof
that the fabled Monster actually existed.
British doctor R. Kenneth Wilson allegedly took the photograph whilst visiting Scotland,
which shows an animal that looks like a plesiosaur — an extinct, long-necked reptile — rising
out of the water.
But in 1994, investigators traced the origins of the photo, and found one of the people
responsible for the original, Christian Spurling.
Spurling had constructed a miniature head and neck and mounted it onto a toy submarine
for big game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell.
Why?
Because Wetherell had previously been humiliated by mis-identifying hippo tracks as dinosaur
tracks, so the hunter was more or less seeking revenge by getting the hoax photo published.
Shortly before his death, Spurling admitted the entire ruse.
The uncropped photo, which shows how small the "monster" is in comparison to the rest
of Loch Ness, makes the fraud a bit more obvious.
And if that's not enough proof, plesiosaur fossils show that it would have been physically
impossible for one to extend its neck up and out of the water like in the photo.
That's another good point, kid.
Man, Ted Danson was full of crap.
Zuiyo Maru carcass
In 1977, a Japanese fishing trawler named the Zuiyo Maru pulled a carcass out of the
sea near New Zealand.
The crew snapped a few photos and collected some tissue samples before throwing the rotting
hunk of flesh overboard.
At first glance, the carcass appears to be the rotting remains of a plesiosaur, not unlike
Nessie, including the long neck and head.
The tissue samples, however, revealed that what the fishermen pulled out of the ocean
was likely the remains of a basking shark, the world's second-largest fish.
Look at that weird thing!
The corpse of a basking shark decays in such a way that it can resemble the remains of
a plesiosaur.
The ocean is a gross and mysterious place.
The face on Mars
In 1976, NASA's Viking One spacecraft took a photograph of what appears to be a humanlike
face, made of rock, on the surface of Mars.
The photo became a tabloid phenomenon once NASA released it to the public.
Was the face evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization?
"Behold, the great stone face of Mars.
Hmm...the only known entrance to the Martian reservation."
"What about the great stone ass of Mars?"
"Well yeah, but it's way on the other side of the planet."
Well … no, it's just an optical illusion created by light hitting the surface in a
particular way.
Seeing patterns in objects is an example of pareidolia — the brain's way of creating
order out of chaos.
It's why we see shapes in clouds, or a face in the Moon — or Mars, for that matter.
More recent, higher-quality pictures show the rock formation to actually be less like
a face, and more like, well, a lumpy rock...thing.
Black Knight satellite
In 1998, the space shuttle Endeavour took this photo.
According to conspiracy theorists, this is the Black Knight satellite: a 13,000 year-old
alien object that orbits the Earth.
Why haven't you heard about it?
Because the government is hiding it from you, of course!
So what was the story of this mysterious object?
And more importantly, was it about to project its alien death rays onto the Earth's surface?
Did it take a crack team made up of Bruce Willis, Will Smith, and Arnold Schwarzenegger
to stop it destroying humanity?
"Mama!"
Actually, the object is a thermal blanket that the astronauts just lost during a mission.
Hopefully humanity is safe from the blanket's evil plans to cover the Earth with dangerous
coziness.
De Loys' ape
In 1920, a Swiss geologist named Francois De Loys allegedly encountered a pair of aggressive,
humanoid apes in the jungles of Venezuela.
According to De Loys, he killed one of the creatures, propped it up on a box, and took
a photograph.
The animal is notable because, if real, it would have been the only known ape native
to the Western Hemisphere.
Years later, Doctor Enrique Tejera wrote a letter after discovering that the photo was
being treated as though it were real, stating that he worked with De Loys in Venezuela.
The letter made it clear that the animal in the photo was De Loys' deceased pet spider
monkey, and the photo's perspective makes the monkey appear larger that it actually
was.
De Loys' ape is now considered a well-publicized hoax by the modern scientific community, and
his reputation was ruined by the deception.
So what's the lesson?
Never mess around with your pet monkey, even in death.
That way lies only disaster…
"It's fine!
Go on, Mojo!
Show Marge your happy dance."
"And so-on."
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