Martin proudly presented his photo of the Loch Ness monster to the world. He became an immediate sensation, an honored guest on talk shows, even garnered a cameo appearance on a Baywatch reunion episode in which the entire incident was recreated. His animated accounts of the legendary water creature charmed and engrossed audiences. He related how it had popped its head out of the water, turned towards him, given a sly wink, then waved its disproportionately small arms in his direction before vanishing again into the depths. It had to be true. People just didn't imagine things like that, not in so much detail. Fortunately Martin had had his camera and enough wits about him to capture the moment for all eternity, as proof of what he had seen. The photograph was later borrowed and scrutinized by marine biologists using computer enhancements combined with other state of the art methods, and finally discredited as an insidiously cheap hoax. It wasn't Nessie at all whose image Martin presented them with. It was an alien being flitting across a corn field. No one ever believed Martin again.

Story #171