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Writer's picturePhilip James

Is This the Loch Ness Monster?

The sonar image appeared to be alive.


A sonar image captured by a tourist ship on Loch Ness is once again igniting debate.

The sonar image of a large moving object at the bottom of Loch Ness was captured by Shaun Sloggie, a 30 year old captain of a ship that takes tourists on the Loch. Mr Sloggie was preparing his Spirit of Loch Ness pleasure boat to sail last month when he spotted a large object on the ship’s onboard underwater radar.


The outline, which was detected nearly 100ft beneath the surface of the Highland loch, bears an eerie resemblance to a plesiosaur, which many have speculated could be the reptile group the fabled Loch Ness Monster belongs to.


The astonishing footage has caused some who have dismissed the claims to reexamine their analysis. Crypto Zoologists have long maintained that there could well be an as yet unclassified marine animal in the loch and that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.


Something similar has been caught on sonar before, captured on Loch Ness in 2020 that sonar image was said to be the most “compelling” evidence yet of the existence of Nessie. This latest recording is clearer and even more 'Nessie' shaped.


“I said: ‘What the hell is that?’” recalled Mr Sloggie of the sighting on Sept 22.

“It was bigger than anything else I’ve ever seen. We’ve seen all sorts of fish that shouldn’t be here, but this? This was different. You should have felt the chills on the boat.”

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “I’ve worked here for nine years and never seen anything like it."


“And sonar doesn’t lie, the boat hasn’t been on five whisky distillery tours before going out on the loch, it’s just doing its job.”


Mr Sloggie described "chills on the boat" after the reading came in. The captain who works for Cruise Loch Ness, said the object remained visible for two to three minutes and that he and maritime pilot Liam McKenzie, 29, were able to take a screenshot before it disappeared from the dashboard.


The object appeared 'alive'.

Mr Sloggue said the large object appeared in different colours, which indicates pockets of air and heat signatures which would suggest the object was alive.

Mr Sloggie said the previous image was believed to show a creature “eight to 10 metres [26 to 32ft] long and one metre [3ft] wide” but speculated that the new object was “a lot bigger than that”.

The image was captured while the boat was close to the mouth of the loch, which Mr Sloggie said was the ideal location for a large predator to catch salmon and other fish going in and out. “There are fish in the loch that shouldn’t be here. There are prehistoric creatures living in the loch and unknown codes of DNA, so there is room for mystery,” he said.


“This could change the angle of science on the loch. But how do you find out what it is? I’ve always known there’s something there. What it is, is a mystery. But it definitely springs open people’s imaginations. It’s not just about tourism, there’s real science in studying the loch.”


With a depth of almost 800ft and a length of about 23 miles, Loch Ness has the largest volume of freshwater in Great Britain. It is thought to be about 10,000 years old and was formed at the end of the last Great Ice Age. However, what isn't so well known is that it is linked to the sea, via the river Ness, with fish, giant eels and seals known to come in and out of the Loch frequently.


Other intriguing images taken in the Loch


Even discounting the famous 1933 surgeon's photo that later turned out to be a hoax there are a substantial amount of sightings with an official register of 1,157 reports now logged. There have been several 'scientific' studies conducted including underwater cameras, blanket sonars, and analysis of water to detect Nessie DNA, however, all of these projects suffer from the same fundamental flaw, a tiny sample size. Despite the claims, these studies neither prove nor disprove anything. Perhaps it's time for scientists to 'disprove' these sonar recordings weren't Nessie rather than trying to prove a negative.

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