A convincing new sonar image has been unearthed which adds to the ‘most compelling evidence’ that the Loch Ness Monster does exist.
The image follows recent revelations that the beast is lurking in the depths of Loch Ness after an unusual recording more than 500 feet below its cold surface.
The stories have made worldwide headlines and have been exciting Nessie lovers round the globe.
This convincing new sonar image has been unearthed which adds to the ‘most compelling evidence’ that the Loch Ness Monster does exist
But now a fresh new contact with a large creature in another part of the loch has been produced.
It was captured by retired skipper Rod Michie, 77, in 2015, who worked on Loch Ness for over 30 years.
He has only decided to speak out about his find now after two images were captured in October off Invermoriston by skipper Ronald Mackenzie aboard his Spirit of Loch Ness tourist boat just above the 607 feet loch bottom.
Mr Michie’s image was recorded on the Jacobite Queen off Urquhart Castle – said to be a favourite haunt of Nessie – at around 750 feet.
There were 18 ‘confirmed,’ sightings of the Loch Ness monster last year, but the most iconic image relating to the legend is Robert Wilson’s, above, taken in 1934
Mr Michie’s image was recorded on the Jacobite Queen in 2015 off Urquhart Castle – said to be a favourite haunt of Nessie – at around 750 feet
‘I used to see surprising things visually or by sonar, but every time there was a logical explanation,’ said Mr Michie, who worked for rival company Jacobite Cruises.
‘But this contact was different. It really is unexplained. I passed over this point many times later but never saw anything again.
‘I also know Ronald Mackenzie well and he is a genuine guy. There is something unexplained down there. My guess is that it is big eel – 20 to 30 ft long.
‘The equipment is improving all the time and that is most likely to solve the mystery of Nessie. I saw things over the years that I did not want to make a lot of for fear of ridicule, but this sighting in 2015 was very similar to Ronald’s.’
Mr Michie has wondered if his image was possibly the lost model of Nessie, which was used during the filming of 1970’s ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’.
That was finally located in 2016 by leading sonar expert Craig Wallace, who has said he is willing to come to Loch Ness with sophisticated sonar equipment to try and find what was inhabiting the depths.
Two images were captured in October off Invermoriston by skipper Ronald Mackenzie aboard his Spirit of Loch Ness tourist boat (pictured) just above the 607 feet loch bottom.
Mr Wallace, marine robotics senior application specialist with Kongsberg Maritime AS, has surveyed Loch Ness half-a-dozen times.
He has described the latest images as ‘very curious’ ‘large, clear and distinct contacts, all strangely near to the loch bed’ and ‘100 percent genuine’.
Nessie expert Steve Feltham, who has set a world record for the longest vigil of looking for the Loch Ness Monster, says Mr Mackensie’s sonar images are the ‘most compelling’ evidence of the existence of the legendary creature.
‘These latest images help put together the most compelling case for a big creature swimming around Loch Ness. All the contacts are near the bottom or in the first 100ft up. It is a game changer – the first indisputable sighting of something very big and unexplained that’s in there,’ he said.
The ‘solid and pretty big’ sonar contact (circled in red) was picked up by a boat owned by Cruise Loch Ness
In a documentary last year, lead scientist Prof Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from New Zealand’s University of Otago, admitted that about 25 percent of the samples of Loch Ness remain unidentified.
The monster is said to be worth £41m to the region in tourism income.
Irish missionary St Columba is first said to have encountered a beast in the River Ness in 565AD.
Among the most famous claimed sightings is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.
The image was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.
There have been ten accepted sightings this year by the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.