20-Jan-87 23:13 MST
Sb:  APva 01/17 Monster Evidence
   ASHLAND, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia Tech professor who has written a
book about the Loch Ness Monster says there is much evidence that
the creature actually exists.
   Dr. Henry Bauer, professor of chemistry and science studies,
said Friday night that he has been fascinated with the Loch Ness
Monster since the early 1970s, when he met a man who shot a movie
sequence purporting to show the creature. His interest prompted him
to write a book, "The Enigma of Loch Ness: Making Sense of a
Mystery."
   Bauer told about 120 people at Randolph-Macon College that many
people, including most of his colleagues, consider the monster a
hoax. He said much of the material compiled by people who claim to
have seen the monster is, indeed, fake.
   "The real difficulty is deciding which is good evidence and
which is spurious evidence," said Bauer.
   Bauer, a native of Austria who was raised in Australia, said the
Loch Ness Monster may be not one beast but "a population of
animals that were distributed quite widely around the world and
became landlocked."
   Sightings of creatures with large bodies, long necks and small
heads have been reported in many Scottish lochs, or lakes, other
than Ness.
   While studying in England in 1972-73, Bauer visited Loch Ness
and met Tim Dinsdale, a British aeronautical engineer who shot a
film sequence in the early 1960s that he claimed showed the Loch
Ness Monster. The film was examined by the Royal Air Force, which
confirmed that it showed something large moving in the water, Bauer
said.
   Bauer said Dinsdale seemed sincere, and "I couldn't disbelieve
him."
   Bauer showed a copy of Dinsdale's film, as well as slides
purportedly showing moster heads and fins taken over five decades.
He said some appeared real, others fake.
   Bauer said he empathizes with people who claim to have seen a
snakelike monster nicknamed "Chessie" in the Chesapeake Bay.
   "You don't know what to do," he said. "It's very frustrating
to sit on Loch Ness or on the Chesapeake Bay and wait. You can
spend a lifetime."