It’s been a vintage year for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. So far (and we haven’t finished the year yet) we’ve had nine official sightings – the most in a calendar year this century. The latest was a picture (included above) taken by a nine-year-old boy, who had travelled north with his mum to try to find Nessie.
And Sam Knight, from Lancashire, was on-board one of our Loch Ness by Jacobite boats when he spotted the monster.
Sam’s sighting has now been recorded in the Official Loch Ness Sightings Register which is maintained by Gary Campbell.
Gary, who also provided the images for the article, told us: “It’s not just those who want to see our favourite resident that manage to have a sighting – sometimes it’s just pure chance.
“A month before Sam was in luck, Mr and Mrs Stewart, from Oldham, were on their honeymoon when Nessie decided to pop up and congratulate them!
The Stewart’s honeymoon sighting.
“And, just a few days before they snapped the monster, Diana Turner, from the USA, caught a picture of what looks like Nessie creating a snake-like wake on Urquhart Bay. But this one was different – it was on the Nessie on the Net webcam and she was lucky enough to have a sighting from the comfort of her own home some 3500 miles away.
Diana Turner caught sighting on a webcam.
“It wasn’t the only webcam picture this year, though – Paula, from Canada, joined in the fun at the end of June and added her own snap to the listings from about 5000 miles away.
“Just for the record though, you don’t have to have a picture to have your sighting listed.
“During the summer, Mr Stuparich and three friends on holiday from London were out walking along Dores beach when they saw something unexplained in the loch – their description was detailed enough to make it on to the register alongside all the others.”
The Loch Ness Monster is considered to be one of the world’s greatest mysteries. More than 1000 sightings have been recorded, some of which have been exposed as hoaxes, while most others have remained unexplained.
What’s evident is Nessie really doesn’t discriminate and is happy to be seen by just about anyone from any walk of life. You just have to be in the right place at the right time, like Sam Knight most recently on our boat. Next time, it could be you …