London - On any other stretch of water it probably wouldn’t garner a second glance. But this is monster territory.
Footage of a shadowy figure briefly emerging from the depths of Loch Ness has once again fuelled speculation that its legendary resident is alive and well.
Grainy footage has emerged showing a long and thin shape swaying in the water that bears a striking resemblance to Nessie’s fabled slender neck.
The video shows the object waving in the choppy water, around 150m from the loch’s shore.
It was captured by Richard Collis - who counts himself amongst the most ardent Nessie cynics after years of fishing on the waters without a sighting.
But the tree-planter was so taken aback by the mysterious shape he noticed while driving along the edge of the loch that he filmed it on his iPhone, and believes he might have stumbled upon the real deal.
“As I was watching, I was thinking what the hell is that?” said Collis, 58, who noticed the shape while travelling around a kilometre from Fort Augustus at the south-west end of Loch Ness.
He added: “I don’t really believe in anything like that until I see it.
“I’m not saying it was a fire-breathing dragon and I never saw teeth or anything like that, but I must have thought there was something there if I stopped to take pictures.”
The footage, lasting two minutes in total, was taken last Thursday.
Collis’s wife, Vibeke, 60, added: “I’ve been here 37 years and my husband has been here his whole life, so we are completely aware of how unique this is. I couldn’t believe it and laughed when he showed me because I knew he could never set that up. He’s not very technical.”
The image will now join hundreds of other possible sightings that have amassed over the years, some of which have been confirmed to be fakes. Only last week, paranormal investigator Jonathan Bright published an image taken three years ago appearing to show the head of a monster in the loch.
But despite decades of speculation, the mysterious creature has so far proved little more than a myth.
Daily Mail