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Iceland's Loch Ness Worm Monster: Real Or Robot? (VIDEO)

Icelandic Creature

First Posted: 02/ 7/2012 4:44 pm Updated: 02/ 8/2012 12:29 pm

Something that looks very much like a giant snake -- or worm -- is slithering its way out of Iceland and causing viral speculation around the Internet.

Lake Lagarfljot -- 25 miles long and 367 feet deep in eastern Iceland -- has been called home to a local legendary beast called Lagarfljotsormurinn, that country's version of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.

On Feb. 2, Hjortur Kjerulf captured something on video that, at first glance, appears very snakelike (or wormlike, if you will) swimming in the cold water of the Icelandic lake.

Watch the video here:

The alleged beast is a little different from reports of Scotland's Nessie, which supposedly has a large, dinosaur-like body, with fins, a long neck and tail and a head resembling a horse.

"What concerns me the most is the robotic look of this creature," said Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Coleman has researched and written about the Icelandic creature in his book "Field Guide to Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents," co-authored with Patrick Huyghe.

The most recent sighting of an unusual creature in Lake Lagarfljot, according to Coleman, took place in 1998, when a classroom of students and their teacher claimed to see one close to shore. But it wasn't a snake or worm.

"This Icelandic lake monster, which dates back to 1345, has been described as a pale, humped animal, about 50 feet long, sprouting whiskers on the head at the end of a 6-foot-long neck," Coleman told The Huffington Post.

Coleman is dubious of the Icelandic beasty video.

"If you look at that head, it appears like somebody's put a constructed anaconda head there, and behind it, the natural movement of a snake should give a much more flowing curve to the sections," Coleman said.

"What concerned me immediately was when I saw the tail section moving in unison with the next section; there's no movement in that one section as it goes side-to-side. A snake moves in a sort of 's' curve. But in this video, you get a blocking of the movement of the creature, which tells us it's probably very artificial."

According to Iceland Review Online, some skeptics say this "creature" is nothing more than a torn fishing net that froze in the river.

On his Cryptomundo site, Coleman speculates this alleged beast or beast of a hoax might have been accomplished by the use of "a robot with tarps, fish nets or trash bags (a favorite for watery hoaxers)."

Here are some other water and not-so wet beasties:

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  • Bow-Nessie

    In England, a kayaker took this photo on Lake Windemere, near Bowness in Cumbria. "At a distance, I thought it was some sort of large dog," said Tom Pickles. "Then I realized just how long it was." Ever since the first reports of Bow-Nessie emerged in 2006 from Lake Windermere, a legend has taken root with people wondering if this could be a not-too-distant relative of the legendary Loch Ness Monster of Scotland.

  • Loch Ness Monster

    A view of the Loch Ness Monster, near Inverness, Scotland, on April 19, 1934. The photograph, one of two pictures known as the "surgeon's photographs," was allegedly taken by Col. Robert Kenneth Wilson, though it was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling. On his deathbed, Spurling revealed that the pictures were staged by himself, Marmaduke and Ian Wetherell, and Wilson. References to a monster in Loch Ness date back to St. Columba's biography in 565 A.D. More than 1,000 people claim to have seen "Nessie," and the area is, consequently, a popular tourist attraction.

  • Loch Ness Sighting

    This is a photo of boats at Urquhart Bay, Loch Ness, Scotland, on Aug. 6, 1983, made by American wildlife photographer Erik Beckjord. It shows splashes on the surface of Loch Ness made by an unidentified object (white mark at center right), which Beckjord claimed could have been made by the Loch Ness Monster.

  • Loch Ness Monster Fin

    Robert H. Hines, president of the Academy of Applied Science, released this photo during a 1972 investigation of Loch Ness. Hines said his expedition took photo, which he said showed the fin of the Loch Ness Monster, and that it was substantiated by sonar and other scientific data that strongly suggests there is a large marine creature inhabiting Scotland's Loch Ness.

  • Mersey Monster

    This mysterious shape was captured by photographer Mark Harrison while riding on a ferry off the Seacombe district of Wirral in the United Kingdom on the morning of May 25. Experts claim that it could be a harbor porpoise or a basking shark, but Harrison says, "Me? Clearly, I believe it's Nessie on her hols!"

  • Nessie and Alaska's Illie May Be Sleeper Sharks

    This 2000 image shows biologist Bruce Wright in salt waters in southeast Alaska with a small Pacific sleeper shark that was caught on a research cruise. He believes much bigger versions of this shark group could be the true identity of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster and Alaska's Lake Iliamna creature known as Illie.

  • Dorset Pliosaur

    The giant jaws of a huge marine reptile are on permanent display at Dorset County Museum in the UK. Dating back around 155 million years, the pliosaur skull was discovered on the nearby Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and is one of the largest and best preserved fossils of its kind ever found.

  • Chupacabra

    Phylis Canion holds the head of what she called a Chupacabra at her home in Cuero, Texas, on Aug. 31, 2007. She found the strange-looking animal dead outside her ranch and thinks it is responsible for killing many of her chickens.

  • Montauk Monster

    Was it a dog or a pig or something else? Nobody knows for sure, but this animal was discovered in 2009 on a beach in Southold, on the North Fork area of New York's Long Island. Subsequent photos were published on <a href="www.montauk-monster.com" target="_hplink">Montauk Monster</a>.

  • East River Monster

    This Atlantic sturgeon corpse measuring more than 6 feet long was pulled from the East River in New York City near Pier 17 on May 21, 2011. <a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/139542/mystery-east-river-fish-identified-as-sturgeon" target="_hplink">Watch video here.</a>

  • Bigfoot in Rutherford County, N.C.

    Thomas Byers snapped this photo of "Bigfoot" along Golden Valley Church Road on March 22, 2011.

  • California Bigfoot

    This is a 1977 still photo from a 16 millimeter film made by Ivan Marx reportedly showing the legendary Bigfoot cavorting in the hills of Northern California.

  • Washington State Sasquatch

    This is a black and white print from a color movie Frank White said he took in the forest near Bellingham, Wash., on Oct. 8, 1977. "I'd call it a North American ape," said White. "You can call it a Sasquatch or anything you like."

  • Georgia Bigfoot

    This still-frame image from video provided by Bigfoot Global LLC shows what is claimed by them to be a Bigfoot or Sasquatch creature in an undisclosed area of a northern Georgia forest in June 2008.

  • Bigfoot Footprint

    The legend of Bigfoot has baffled many people for decades, especially when images like this one are released. A footprint measuring 17-and-3/4 inches long and 7-and-1/2 inches wide was discovered Aug. 26, 1980, at a residence in the Conemaugh Township area of Johnstown, Pa. A very well-defined print was left behind, if indeed it was Bigfoot, plus a left print was found eight feet away in a more wooded area. Along with the footprints, reports of strange noises and a very unusual but strong odor coincided with the account.

  • Bigfoot Plaster Cast

    Ken Gerhard of Houston holds a duplicate plaster cast footprint at the Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson, Texas, on Oct. 15, 2005. The event was hosted by the Texas Bigfoot Research Center.

  • Bigfoot Casts

    Al Hodgson, a volunteer guide at the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum, holds up a plaster cast of a Bigfoot imprint displayed at the museum's Bigfoot Wing in Willow Creek, Calif., on June 5, 2000. The wing was built to bring tourists interested in the legendary creature to the economically depressed ex-lumber town.

  • Bigfoot Body?

    This photograph obtained Aug. 15, 2008, from <a href="www.searchingforbigfoot.com" target="_hplink">Searching For Bigfoot</a> shows what is purported to be the body of the legendary ape-like creature that has been the subject of decades of hoaxes and dubious sightings. Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed before a crowd of skeptical reporters in Palto Alto, Calif., that they were hiking in a northern part of Georgia when they stumbled upon the body near water. The corpse was said to be 7 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing more than 500 pounds. Many scientists believe Bigfoot is folklore instead of fact.

  • Abominable Snowman Footprint

    This alleged Abominable Snowman footprint photo was taken near Mount Everest on Dec. 13, 1951.

  • The Jersey Devil

    An artist's rendition of the Jersey Devil, based on eyewitness reports of a creature said to roam the Pine Barrens area of New Jersey.

  • Mothman

    A large Mothman sculpture stands along Main Street on Dec. 11, 2007, in Point Pleasant, W.Va. More than 40 years after the first reported sighting of the mysterious creature later dubbed "Mothman," residents here have embraced his legend, helping to turn the town into a destination for people in search of an offbeat tourism experience.


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Something that looks very much like a giant snake -- or worm -- is slithering its way out of Iceland and causing viral speculation around the Internet. Lake Lagarfljot -- 25 miles long and 367 feet...
Something that looks very much like a giant snake -- or worm -- is slithering its way out of Iceland and causing viral speculation around the Internet. Lake Lagarfljot -- 25 miles long and 367 feet...
 
 
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11:24 PM on 02/15/2012
This looks legit, Heres a story of Nessie that i captured on my website

http://www.weird-strange-facts.com/loch-ness-monster.html
05:34 PM on 02/10/2012
I SEEN IT TOO..HE SAID GIMME TREE FITTY..LOL
05:18 PM on 02/10/2012
You'd think that with over 1 Billion camera equipped phones in this world, we would be getting more (& higher quality) photo's of these creatures.
05:20 AM on 02/13/2012
Ironically, the 1977 still photo of the Big Foot from a 16 millimeter film made by Ivan Marx is remarkably clear and crisp and of high quality.
04:15 PM on 02/10/2012
global warming will kill it and then we can get to the real story
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
DerFarm
A mis-spent youth -- I coulda been chasing women
04:05 PM on 02/10/2012
Oh come on!! We can get a picture of the license tag of a volvo from 25 miles in space and this dreck is supposed to impress me? moving right along ...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Squiriferous
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
05:07 PM on 02/10/2012
Yeah, too bad that guy wasn't carrying a 1500 lb. NASA super-high-resolution satellite camera around. Skepticism fail.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dvglass3
Right, Left....Wrong
02:58 PM on 02/13/2012
So you think this is real????
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Prousa
Intelligence and Tolerance are not unAmerican.
03:56 PM on 02/10/2012
I've heard of things called compassionate republicans, but have never seen a verifiable sighting of one.
03:40 PM on 02/10/2012
We all need something to be out there and maybe it is, but if so it's better left alone ! Remember "King Kong"
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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ProgressivesWin
TeaParty? We don' need no steenkin' TeaParty
03:34 PM on 02/10/2012
No one's ever written NESSIE! : The Loch Ness Monster Musical...we could use the failed GOTP candidates to play thehumps...they'll all have extremely open schedules for at least another four years...about the average run of a successful hit!
03:32 PM on 02/10/2012
Too much absinthe.
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ProgressivesWin
TeaParty? We don' need no steenkin' TeaParty
03:35 PM on 02/10/2012
There's no such thing! (as too much absinthe...)
04:00 PM on 02/10/2012
Any friend of wormwood is a friend of mine!
03:03 PM on 02/10/2012
I think its fake, looks to me like a piece of rope with ice froze around it and the ice broken every few inches
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Cynical Mind
03:02 PM on 02/10/2012
It's just Newt out for a swim.

Nothing to see here, move along.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
sidge
02:56 PM on 02/10/2012
Ok, even the cheapest cell phones take unbelievably good videos, but whenever anyone videos aliens, monsters or sex acts, their cameras go all 1947.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ninjasrolled
Orbiting a small unregarded yellow sun
03:31 PM on 02/10/2012
LOL! I always think the same thing!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
03:41 PM on 02/10/2012
My cell phone takes awful pictures, let alone video.
02:38 PM on 02/10/2012
Oh man. That crack in the ice looks like something we can photograph and pass off as a monster. Maybe we can cause a stir and make some money. Man, you're right. Let's send it to huffpost because they'll report on anything.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dsws
No owning ideas. Limit only commercial use.
03:43 PM on 02/10/2012
It didn't look like anything but a crack in the ice to me. I guess that means I'm not drunk enough to have my videos go viral.
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The Refudiator
Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
02:37 PM on 02/10/2012
My guess is after several brennivĂ­n shots there are a lot of Worm Monsters in Iceland.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
McAttorney
Speak softly and have a great schtick
02:27 PM on 02/10/2012
So how do we make this Obama's fault?
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ProgressivesWin
TeaParty? We don' need no steenkin' TeaParty
03:29 PM on 02/10/2012
Especially since this long dark wiggly thing is reportedly smaller than Obama's...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
McAttorney
Speak softly and have a great schtick
03:32 PM on 02/10/2012
No need to make the Trolls even MORE insecure.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ed Barron
04:05 PM on 02/10/2012
Let's see the photos (of Obama). I want proof that Obama's got this thing beat.