NESSIE has been spotted once more after an American claims she saw the legend cruising around Loch Ness.

Diana Turner, in Michigan, is the ninth person to spot the monster after she saw the beast in an area said to be one of its favourites.

5 An American woman reported seeing Nessie in the loch at the end of September Credit: LochNess.co.uk

The eagle-eyed woman's sighting means the number of times the legendary water creature has been seen this year is the highest this century.

She was avidly watching a live feed focused on a part of the loch near Urquhart Castle when she claims she saw a "wake movement".

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She reported it on September 29 to the officials in charge of the Nessie spotting register.

Gary Campbell, the recorder and keeper of the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register, told the Daily Mail: "The sighting lasted about two minutes and other than a boat in the distance, she saw no other traffic on the loch.

5 A photo of the legend taken by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson, though it was later exposed as a hoax Credit: Hulton Archive - Getty

5 Sam Knight and his mum Jo, who say they say the Loch Ness Monster earlier this month Credit: Refer to Photographer

"She saw a wake and it does not appear to be that of a boat. She made the recording on September 29, but has only notified us of it now.

"But we have accepted it and it means the number of sightings [this year] is the most we have had this century."

It comes days after reports of another sighting at the Scottish loch.

When was the first sighting of Nessie? Nessie was first ‘spotted’ back in 565 – a biography of Irish monk Saint Columba mentions a giant ‘water beast’ dragging a man to his death in Scotland's River Ness. However, wider interest in the monster was not sparked until 1933 after a road was built along the loch, making it far less isolated. Within months, several people came forward claiming to have seen a giant beast lurking near the water. The following year saw the publication of the ‘surgeon’s photograph’ by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson, probably the best-known image of the creature. In 1975 the famous shot was exposed as a hoax, made using a toy submarine with a carved monster’s head. There have now been over 1,000 reported sightings, and as the legend gathered popularity Nessie became the subject of a host of documentaries and feature films.

A nine-year-old snapped what he believes was Nessie's fin breaking the surface during a cruise with mum Jo in early November.

The image shows a dark triangle poking out of the water - and experts credited it as the eighth official sighting this after extensively debating whether it was a was a wave or an animal.

5 Sam with his grandad Steve after spotting the monster on the loch

5 Another photo claiming to be of the beast, taken by Ian Bremner Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

Did tourist Tony Bligh film Loch Ness Monster on first visit to lake?

Sam Kinght took the picture on November 2nd as part of an extensive Nessie hunt during a family holiday, and even hatched a plan to tie the beast to the boat and take a DNA sample.

And Sam's discovery came just weeks after newlyweds Rebecca and Paul Stewart claimed the seventh sighting of 2017 when they spotting a large fin poking out of the Loch just last month.

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