UPDATE

It looks for all intents and purposes that this was a deliberate hoax. Someone has manufactured a fake Nessie “head”. Dick Raynor appears to have found what was left.

Earlier this month a video was published showing Nessie swimming towards the south shore of Urquhart Bay. Monster huggers continue to speculate as to its biological place in the scheme of things. While working as skipper on the Castle Cruises tour boat today I decided to inspect the shoreline where the monster had been recorded and I was pleased to find that she was still (mostly) there. After work I went to the location via the land route and made a close up of the creatures remains.

Original Story:

Every so often, if there are no big-time sightings of Nessie, the local monstropreneurs get worried that she’s “died” or gone into hiding. Because, you know, they really need examples of sightings in order to keep the tourist trade hopping and for them to make money of a mythical beastie. It’s that time again.

THE Loch Ness Monster has apparently come out of hiding, according to new footage posted online.

Source: Has Loch Ness Monster returned? | Inverness Courier

Gary Campbell, who keeps the official register of Nessie sightings on Loch Ness, is both skeptical that this new sighting with a video is actually the monster and gleeful at the publicity.

[H]e accepted the earlier sighting and recorded it in the official register. “We are delighted that Nessie is back,” he added. “There were all sorts of theories as to where the Loch Ness Monster had gone.”

Take a look at the video



This is a floating something. Very likely a log. This is so common that it’s one reliable explanation for sightings. It does not move like an animal, it does not react to the boat. And, the boater apparently saw nothing unusual. There is zero reason to think this is anything but a floating log. Some of the commenters on the video don’t seem to know how buoyancy works and insist that wood doesn’t float.

These are the waning days of the common notion of Nessie as a real creature. Study after study has shown there is nothing in the loch that resembles a monster. But the locals desperately wish to keep it alive. I would love to visit Loch Ness for the mythical feel and historical context, but mostly for the geology and beauty. There is no monster in the loch except for the one that has to be fed by tourist cash.

Addition (14-May 2017): I’ve had two suggestions that this may be a deliberate hoax with a floating “head”. Jeb Card notes this is the “sweet spot” for tourists, Urquhart Bay. And Campbell even mentions a model with head and neck may be used. “That section just north of the castle is where Nessie tourist boats from Inverness dock. It’s literally the best spot for a hoax.” – Group of Fort.

Dick Raynor, of Loch Ness Investigation, also thinks this is a little too perfect than a random log. He informs me that if you zoom in on the water level of the object, it “strongly suggests a rough papier-mache type construction mounted on a slab of buoyant material, e.g. polystyrene, painted dark grey. The slab can be seen breaking the surface ahead of the neck in the video.”

However, we have no documentation of the object and if it is indeed being used as a hoax. But it accomplishes the same goal, to get at least the idea of Nessie back into the public eye.

More:

Loch Ness area chamber disrespects tourists by throwing researchers under the bus