Nessie hunter spots 10ft long ‘black shape’ on surface of Loch Ness which ‘proves’ monster exists
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A Nessie hunter claims to have proven the monster’s existence after spotting a 10-foot-long “black shape” with a “curving hump, long snout and tail” in Loch Ness.
Eoin O’Faodhagain, 58, said he got the ‘shock of my life’ when he saw the mysterious presence moving in the water as he watched via webcam.
The veteran hunter described the sight as resembling scenes from the 2007 movie The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, which is based on the creature.
He is now convinced that the new images can indeed take Nessie “from folklore to reality.”
“I saw a splash and movement on the screen on the right side, and a long black shape, and I immediately started taking a screen shot of this object,” he explains.
“I got excited because it stayed on the surface of the water and moved very slowly, unlike a big fish that would jump out of the water, but then submerge.
“This object was not a fish, or a log for that matter—it moved at a controlled speed, slowly, unlike a log that would move with the current.
“I believe it is a living being.”
The latest alleged sighting – which lasted about ten minutes – was captured at Shoreland Lodges, near Fort Augustus, on the southern shore of the water, using a webcam maintained by Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN).
Veteran Nessie hunter Eoin O’Faodhagain said he got the ‘shock of my life’ when he discovered an approximately 3m long strange black shape (pictured) in Loch Ness while watching via webcam
Mr O’Faodhagain thinks the images could take the legendary lake monster “from folklore to reality”. Pictured: Zoomed-in images of the ‘creature’
The images – which have been sped up for brevity – appear to show a long black object moving through the lake.
Mr O’Faodhagain often sits down to watch the water via webcam from his home in County Donegal, Ireland.
Over the years he has received several entries The Official Register of Loch Ness Monster Sightings but this time he is convinced that he would have finally proven its existence.
Mr O’Faodhagain (pictured) often sits down to watch the waters of Loch Ness via webcam from his home in County Donegal, Ireland
He added: ‘I believe in the Loch Ness Monster after witnessing a live sighting in July 1987.
“I think my video and photos from Saturday proved the monster’s existence and brought her from folklore to reality.”
Before that, there were six official sightings in the sighting register in 2022, which corresponds to that of the previous year. And according to the website, there are a total of 1,143 so far.
Mr O’Faodhagain, who works as a hospital clerk, described what he saw as a ‘very strange looking creature’ and believes it could represent an unknown species.
“There’s a tail shaded in gray, a black round curved bump in the middle, and what looks like a fin on the front of the creature,” he said.
“The head and neck are at an angle to the rest of the body and there is something that resembles a long muzzle.
“One way to describe it is Waterhorse. I know that’s the name of a movie, but that’s what it looks like.’
The film follows the story of young boy Angus MacMorrow who discovers a mysterious egg that grows up to become Nessie.
The last alleged sighting – which lasted about ten minutes – was recorded at Shoreland Lodges, near Fort Augustus (pictured) on the southern shore of the loch
Mr O’Faodhagain, who works as a hospital clerk, compared his sighting to the monster’s depiction in the movie The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (pictured)
He continued, “I don’t think there’s anything we know today about the world’s lakes and seas that resembles that shape.
“One hypothesis for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster is that it is an unknown species.”
In April, experts described seeing the most captivating images hunting for the Loch Ness Monster in the past 20 years.
Gary Campbell, who has documented every credible sighting of Nessie for 26 years, said these were the best images he’d seen in decades.
The remarkable images were shot by a professional couple in their early fifties who were vacationing in the Scottish Highlands.
What is the Loch Ness Monster?
Rumors of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have abounded in recent decades, but little evidence has been found to substantiate these claims.
One of the first sightings, believed to have sparked modern Nessie fever, occurred on May 2, 1933.
On this date, the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claimed to have ‘seen a huge animal roll onto the surface and crash’.
Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.
It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the contestants, Chris Spurling, who revealed on his deathbed that the photos were staged.
Other sightings include James Gray’s 2001 photo when he and friend Peter Levings were fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray’s blurry photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was featured in the Daily Express in 1933 published.
Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London doctor, captured perhaps the most famous photo of the Loch Ness Monster. The surgeon’s photo, which turned out to be a hoax, was published in the Daily Mail on April 21, 1934
The first reported sighting of the monster is said to have been made in AD565 by the Irish missionary St. Columba when he encountered a giant beast in the River Ness.
But no one has ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for the sightings – although in 2019 ‘Nessie expert’ Steve Feltham, who has been watching the Loch for 24 years, said he thought it was actually a giant Welsh Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic Sea and Caspian Sea in Europe.
An online registry lists over 1,000 total Nessie sightings, made by Mr Campbell, the man behind the official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and is available at www.lochnesssightings.com.
So what could explain these mysterious sightings?
Many Nessie witnesses have reported large, crocodile-like scales sitting atop the creature’s spine, leading some to believe an escaped amphibian is to blame.
Native fish sturgeons can also weigh several hundred pounds and have ribbed backs, giving them an almost reptilian appearance.
Some believe that Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur — like an elasmosaurus — that somehow survived when all other dinosaurs were wiped out.
Others say the sightings are due to Scots pines dying off and falling into the lake, before quickly submerging and sinking.
Under water, botanical chemicals begin to trap tiny air bubbles.
Eventually, enough of them are collected to propel the tree trunk upward, as deep pressure begins to change its shape, making it look like an animal is coming for air.