Scientists retrieve camera from lake after 50 years hunting for Loch Ness monster
Camera, which scientists had placed there 50 years ago, was retrieved from Loch Ness (photo: Getty Images).
Scientists in the 1970s placed a camera in Loch Ness in Scotland for observation. This was likely one of the first attempts to photograph the famous monster – the Loch Ness Monster – and the camera remained in the water for over 50 years. What did the scientists see on the preserved film?
What scientists saw on the film from the camera that had been in the lake for nearly half a century, informs the Daily Mail.
How the camera was found in Loch Ness
Professor Roy Mackal from the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau and the University of Chicago placed six cameras at a depth of 180 meters. All of them were in transparent, waterproof plastic containers.
One of the cameras was discovered during trials of a submarine by the National Oceanography Center (NOC). During the tests, part of the mooring that kept the camera system in place got caught on its propeller.
The camera, which survived for 50 years, remained undamaged in its container, and this allowed scientists to see what had been captured on film over the years.
Fortunately, an NOC engineer was able to develop the film because it was in good condition. A thorough analysis of the lake's depths did not, unfortunately, reveal any evidence of the lake's famous resident.
This camera lay in Loch Ness for over 50 years (Photo: noc.ac.uk)
Adrian Shine, who founded the Loch Ness project in the mid-1970s, joined the team and identified the camera as one of those placed in the water by Professor Mackal.
“It was an ingenious camera trap consisting of a clockwork Instamatic camera with an inbuilt flash cube, enabling four pictures to be taken when a bait line was taken. It is remarkable that the housing has kept the camera dry for the past 55 years, lying around 180 metres deep in Loch Ness,” he said.
The camera and film were sent to the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit, where they would be included in the Nessie history collection.
Adrian Shine confirmed that the found camera was placed in the lake 50 years ago (Photo: noc.ac.uk)
History of the Loch Ness Monster
Rumors of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have been circulating for almost 100 years. However, there has been so little evidence of its existence that many still doubt the monster's existence.
The Loch Ness Monster was first reported on May 2, 1933. A local newspaper published a note from a couple who claimed to have seen “a huge animal rolling and diving above the water.” The strange creature was named Nessie.
In 1934, a photo of Nessie was taken by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson. Later, it was claimed that the photographs were staged and were a hoax.
Here is what was on the film that was pulled from Loch Ness (Photo: noc.ac.uk)
In 2001, James Gray and his friend Peter Levings were fishing on Loch Ness. They took a photograph showing something very similar to the monster, and the creature closely resembled the one people described in the 1930s.
There were also reports of the monster being first seen in 565 AD, when the Irish missionary St. Columba encountered a giant beast in the River Ness.
In 2019, Nessie expert Steve Feltham, who had been observing Loch Ness for over 24 years, stated that the monster was actually a giant catfish from Wales, residing in the waters near the Baltic and Caspian Seas in Europe.
There is an online register with over 1,000 sightings of Nessie, created by Mr. Campbell, who founded the official Loch Ness Monster fan club.
