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The Balbirnie Beast is a St. Bernard
Status: Hoax
The Beast of Balbirnie is a large creature which is said to roam the country park in Balbirnie, Fife, Scotland. Paw-prints have been found and analysed, and the leading consensus is that they belong to a big cat, such as a lynx or puma. However, one expert believes that the marks were made by a big dog.Enter Mark Proctor and Bernard the St. Bernard. Mark suggested that the tracks belonged to Bernard, owned by Mark's sister, Lisa, and her husband. He realised that the tracks had been found around the time that they had last been visiting.
He measured Bernard's paws, which seemed to be about the same size as the tracks. He then digitally placed the pawprint on top of the photo of Bernard's paw, and they were a match.
This sparked some interest in the media. First, the story gained column inches in local newspapers, then The Sun, The Daily Mail, and The Daily Express. Full House magazine did a spread on the story. Radio Scotland broadcast an interview with Mark, and both GMTV and BBC News featured the story on television.
The trouble is, Mark had made it all up. He had resized the photograph of Bernard's paw to fit the photo of the cast of the pawprint, and had never planned for his hoax to be spread across the national news. He'd simply started off posting it on his blog forum, and it all sprang from there.
As Mark himself said, if anyone had properly examined his story, they would have found a distinct lack of evidence.
All fees gained from appearances on television and in newspapers have been donated to the shelter at which Lisa found Bernard.
(Thanks, Matt.)
| More from the Hoax Museum Archives: | |||
They named their St. Bernard "Bernard?" That is so uncreative.
Posted by Razela in Chicago, IL on Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 10:59 AM
I'm with you, Razela. So are my wife, Woman, my children, Boy and Girl, and my pets, Cat, Dog, Goldfish, and Parakeet.
Posted by Big Guy in Round Rock, Texas on Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 06:25 PM
My President, Bush, agrees as well. Wait, that didn't quite work, did it?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy on Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 07:01 PM
Not to mention my governor, Kinky.
No, wait he lost the election ...
Posted by Big Gary in Kerrville, Texas on Tue Nov 14, 2006 at 09:32 PM
No, wait he lost the election ...
They didn't name him, they got him from a rescue home! Theres maybe some appreciation of irony required to truly understand the "uncreativity"!
Posted by Mark in Edinburgh on Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 04:18 PM
I'm not buying that justification, Mark in Edinburgh.
When you adopt a nameless animal from a shelter or rescue group, what's one of the first things you do? Name your new pet, of course.
Posted by Big Gary in Cactus, Texas on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 02:31 PM
When you adopt a nameless animal from a shelter or rescue group, what's one of the first things you do? Name your new pet, of course.
:D sigh, he wasn't nameless. and he knew his name... why would you change a dog's name? d'oh...
Posted by Mark in Edinburgh on Mon Nov 20, 2006 at 04:40 PM
OK, Mark in Edinburgh, but SOMEBODY named the St. Bernard "Bernard," or rather failed to give him another name (besides the generic name of his breed). As Razela observed, "That is so uncreative" on the part of whomever's responsible (whether or not it's the current owners).
Posted by Big Gary in Fred, Texas on Mon Nov 27, 2006 at 04:12 PM
You guys are so sad, who gives a damn if they wanted to call their saint bernard "Saint" or their labrador "Labrador". What the hell has it got to do with you messed up yanks anyway! U dont understand the intellect of scots humour and wit so sod off!
Posted by Emma in Markinch on Sat Dec 19, 2009 at 04:38 AM
Comments: Page 1 of 1 pages