Unseen picture emerges of 'Loch Ness monster'
The image was taken by a woman on holiday in Scotland in 2018 - but has never been seen before now.
Saturday 2 September 2023 09:26, UK
A new picture of what could be the Loch Ness monster has been released, igniting fresh hopes of uncovering the mythical creature.
The image was taken by a woman on holiday in Scotland in 2018 - but has never been seen before now.
Chie Kelly, 51, captured what looks like two humps of the mystery beast around 200m from the shore of Loch Ness while she was having lunch with her family on 13 August that year.
She kept the image hidden, fearing "public ridicule" from those who don't believe the monster exists.
But after the biggest search for "Nessie" in more than 50 years took place last weekend, she decided to go public.
She told the Daily Telegraph she was taking pictures of her husband and daughter when she spotted it "moving right to left at a steady speed" in the background.
"It was spinning and rolling at times. We never saw a head or neck. After a couple of minutes, it just disappeared and we never saw it again," she told the newspaper.
"At first I wondered if it was an otter or a pair of otters or a seal, but we never saw a head and it never came up again for air."
While she wasn't able to decipher the length of the creature - she said the two parts were less than two metres apart.
She showed it to full-time Nessie Hunter, Steve Feltham, who sold his home more than 30 years ago to live on the side of Loch Ness.
He has been chasing down the mythical creature for most of his life, and says there have been many disappointments in that time.
But he described these photos as the "best things" he's seen from the surface of the water in 32 years.
"Anybody that's ever looked at the evidence we have for the Loch Ness Monster would be justified in asking the question: 'How come all of the evidence is either blurred, out of focus, grainy, or too far away to have any possibility of identifying it?'
"Well, the beauty of these latest photographs that Chie Kelly has taken; is that it is 15 photographs, over two minutes.
"There is a sequence of pictures and there's a clear, focused image in the middle of it that I can't easily explain what it is.
"The jury's out as to what it's going to turn out to be. But it's very exciting, definitely exciting."
Four 'distinct noises' heard underwater
On Sunday, volunteers who turned out for the search said they heard "four distinct noises" through an underwater microphone.
Alan McKenna, who took part on a boat, said: "We didn't know the origin of it was, which is quite exciting."
The enthusiasts turned out despite "horrific" weather conditions, which cancelled the Highland Games for the first time in 75 years.
Some 300 people logged in to watch events unfold online, with people travelling from Spain, France, Germany and Finland to join the hunt.
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The Loch Ness Centre is located at the old Drumnadrochit Hotel, where it is said manageress Aldie Mackay first reported seeing a "water beast" in Loch Ness 90 years ago.
The story sparked a global and long-lasting fascination with finding the elusive monster, spawning hoaxes and hundreds of eyewitness accounts.
Numerous theories have been put forward over the years, including that the creature may have been a plesiosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile, a giant eel or even a swimming circus elephant.