New Loch Ness Photo

Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 5th, 2009

Editorially, I feel I have correctly entitled this bit of breaking news with the headline above. As far as I am concerned, there is no definite proof or even claim that what is visible in this photographic image is a Nessie or one of the Loch Ness Monsters.

What it is, right now, is an image from Loch Ness, allegedly.

Beyond that, what is it?

Mystery over new ‘Nessie’ sighting
By Donald Wilson
Published: 05 February, 2009
A couple enjoying a romantic weekend in the Highlands believe they may have had a close encounter with the Loch Ness Monster.

Experts are now investigating this latest photograph, which was taken by accident, to establish if it is in fact the Loch’s most famous resident.

Ian Monckton, from Solihull, took his fiance Tracey Gordon to a cottage in Invermoriston on the shores of the loch to celebrate her 30th birthday.

On their way back to the village at about 11pm they pulled into a lay-by. The driver’s window was wound down and before the couple stopped their car they heard a commotion in the water.

Using the car headlights and the flash from his camera to check their footing on the rocky shores of the loch, data analyst Ian unwittingly recorded this picture which he hopes could be the elusive monster.

“There is clearly a very large shape in the water that looks aquatic a few metres out from where I was standing and you just see the tips of the trees lower down the slope to the loch in the photo,” said Ian who has passed the picture to naturalist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project to get his expert opinion.

“Myself and Tracey were always quite sceptical about Nessie but after having had this experience I would say we now have a very open mind on the matter.

“It was the highlight of our trip. We’ll definitely be back and we are struggling to get an explanation for what we caught on camera.”

Ian said the pictures were taken from a small cliff overlooking the loch. But it was only when they got back to their country retreat and checked the images they realised they significance of the what they had on their digital camera.

Ian said it was his first visit to Loch Ness and the weather was reasonably clear with only a light breeze.

“We decided to get away for a few days to celebrate Tracey’s birthday and because it was off season we headed up to Drumnadrochit for a meal.

“On our way back to Invermoriston we stopped off at Urquhart Castle to take a few photos, but the lights that illuminate the castle were turned off, so there were no photo opportunities there.

“Then we pulled over at a parking point to let a car pass, as my fiancé doesn’t drive as fast as the locals in the dark.

“I had the passenger window open as I was smoking at the time and as we pulled into the lay-by there was an rustling and a splash. It sounded as if a Mini had landed in the water. That’s how loud it was.

Thanks to Richard Hendricks.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


30 Responses to “New Loch Ness Photo”

  1. Colpittsdragon responds:

    First thing I noticed: Even taking into account the fact that it was dark, and the guy was on a cliff, you’d think the picture would be a little clearer than that. And how come, if the flash was on, is there no reflection from the water?

    On further inspection there does seem to be a hint of flipperage extending from the place that you’d think flippers would be. But like I said, no reflection, and grainy photo. They don’t add up.

    And lastly, what’s up with that ring? Is this an certain area of a larger picture that was circled to show the anomalous object?

  2. chabuhi responds:

    Blob-ness Monster.

    It could be a boneless, skinless chicken breast floating near the shore.

    Speaking of which, it’s lunch time.

  3. graybear responds:

    Wonderful photo….of a Blobness.

  4. cliffhanger042002 responds:

    This looks more like a sonar image than a photo, the coloring of the alleged “creature” is very odd and only blackness surrounding it. It could be absolutely anything, maybe a Mini (I assume that means Mini Cooper) did fall into the water, lol. But it does have a familiar shape to it, familiar enough to get the plesiosaur camp in an uproar.

    When was the actual photo taken? I know that the article was published today, but it mentions “weekend”, this past weekend?

    Odd also is the fact that this article is published one day after MQ airs the “Death of Loch Ness” episode.

    How was the MQ season premiere last night? I missed it because “Lost” was on at the exact same time.

  5. Greg102 responds:

    The question I have, is how does a rational person make the correlation of a dark photo at night (not witnessed by the person taking the photo) and jump to the conclusion that it might be a pic of the elusive probably fictional loch ness monster?

    Where in this pic does it show a serpeant like creature purported to be the pleasosaur like loch ness monster? It frustrates me when someone makes the jump and because a blurry photo that is unidentified can say this is the monster? Where in this photo does it give you the detail and info to jump to this absurd claim? very very frustrating 🙁

  6. planettom responds:

    I concur with the others, it’s the Blobness Monster.

  7. coelacanth1938 responds:

    Go to any buffet here in Las Vegas and you’ll see pans full of things that look like that.

  8. marcodufour responds:

    As much as believe in the possiblity of Nessie ( having been there approximately 20 times over the last 14 years, and having friends who live on the loch side at Dores having seen it close up ) I believe this image to be an Anteater looming out of the dark ! ; )

  9. mystery_man responds:

    Oh I don’t know, a leaf floating in the water? A piece of trash? A hundred other things other than a Loch Ness Monster? There is absolutely no reason at all for me to think this is a photo of a large, unknown animal in the Loch.

  10. mystery_man responds:

    Reports like this (not to mention others), kind of put a damper on the whole “Nessie is dead” idea. Unless we are actually supposed to take one totally unsubstantiated claim and weigh it against the other.

  11. Loren Coleman responds:

    I forgot to mention, it does not look like an otter. Too much.

  12. Alligator responds:

    Well, someone could just as easily post this photo on the Coast to Coast AM website and say this was a UFO that they hurriedly snapped from their back door. Sorry. It’s Blob Ness.

  13. tropicalwolf responds:

    All the advances in auto-focus technology and we are still looking (and even considering) craptastic photos like this….amazing.

    This is not evidence, this is not science, this is not research, this is a pathetic waste of time. These “blob-esque” photos are useless. Let us please focus on better, real evidence.

  14. MattBille responds:

    My first thought was “blown up picture of dead fish” (head toward the top of the picture and not visible).
    This definitely seems to be cropped, though. The witness said, “you just see the tips of the trees lower down the slope to the loch in the photo.” You can’t see any such thing in this version.

  15. souldesqueeze responds:

    It looks very much like a turtle. Are turtles indigenous to the loch?

  16. giantchaser responds:

    I’m thinking that this is like..nothing?

    When I first saw the photo I was thinking “okay, underwater image?” but then when I read that it was taken on land I thought “this is a blob of nothing?”

    Yea, so I’m thinking this is just some random picture photoshopped and smudged to resemble the outline of Nessie?

  17. Andrew Minnesota responds:

    Gene Simmon’s tongue

  18. Richard888 responds:

    If the story was about a mysterious baked chicken or roast pig head I would have believed it without question.

    On a more serious note, there is a big separation between what the story says and what the picture shows.

    The story can be used to alter one’s perception of the image. But the image can’t be used as a reinforcement to the credibility of the story.

  19. Tabitca responds:

    Having spent a great deal of time over the last thirty years, actually 36 now, around the loch, observing at various times of the year, I would say it is an otters backside. They are heavier than people think and do make a big splash if startled and jump into the water. But it makes for a good conversation piece. I hope for the people who took the photo is does turn out to be something more than that, but sadly I doubt it.

    Maybe someone was trying to bait nessie with a chicken and they just caught that as it went under?

    Just kidding folks 🙂

  20. steele79 responds:

    manbearpig on vacation in Scotland?

  21. DWA responds:

    I think it’s an Invisibility Helmet, which is why you can’t see the rest of the animal.

    Or a chicken, from the account apparently dropped from an aircraft.

    Now of course, as frequently happens, the account doesn’t sound like people making stuff up or getting hoaxed.

    But we sure are going nowhere with the photographic evidence, unless it’s either an I. H. or Tyson’s comes forward to announce its new “Nessie Roaster.”

  22. shumway10973 responds:

    how about his shoe? He did say he was using his flash to get down to the shore. I’ve accidentally taken pictures before when I just needed the flash.
    Animal wise I’d have to say that is a cuttle fish (or something in the squid/octopus family).

  23. cryptidsrus responds:

    My first thought—looks like a Calamari. But that’s just my first impression—quickly dissipated. Ultimately, it is ambiguous enough
    to be whatever one wants it to be. Not an otter, though. 🙂

  24. jerrywayne responds:

    According to the photographer, something was splashing around in the loch and he may have unwittingly taken a photograph of it. However, there does not appear to be any water in the photo: no displaced water, no splash of water washing over the side of the object, no reflecting water or wetness, etc.

    If this picture had been taken in 1933 or 1934, it probably would have been used for decades as evidence of a cryptid in Ness (witness Hugh Gray’s photo).

    This photo made me think: is there any still photograph from Ness that is now considered evidence for Nessie by monster enthusiasts?
    I personally discount the underwater photos of Rines: I didn’t accept the photos as depicting an animal even when I was a “believer” in Nessie.

    Also our Kind Host’s words: is this a photo of ” a Nessie or one of the Loch Ness Monsters?” Is Loren suggesting “Nessie” is not the same kind of animal as “the Loch Ness Monster(s)” or is this just an uncharacteristically awkward phrasing?

  25. drjon responds:

    Goodness knows what this is. Given the location of the report, one would have to say it’s “a Loch Ness Monster”, but given we don’t actually know what a “Loch Ness Monster” actually is, were kinda stuck.

    The report is very interesting. Assuming it’s not a hoax, and assuming the “Loch Ness Monster” here was as big as the witnesses’ impressions suggest, I’m not at all surprised that the image appears the way it does. I’ve taken digital photos of things at night with crap cameras and lousy flashes, and that’s what this looks like to me.

    It’s an interesting report. The believers will accept it at face value. The skeptoids will woo at what fools the believers are. And the scientists will add it to the pile of “interesting but inconclusive data”.

  26. sschaper responds:

    A Narn cruiser that had a fender-bender?

    A sea-slug?

  27. Dj Plasmic Nebula responds:

    looks like an animal to me.

    i see a face on that.

    eye, trunk

  28. springheeledjack responds:

    Sad thing about pictures…

    The account sounds reasonable, but without anything better than that, it doesn’t mean much on the evidence front.

    As far as the photo…I’m disturbed too by the lack of water reflection…could be that the camera was too far away and only caught black because the surface was calm, and only the back side of something that was more rounded reflected light for the camera…not saying it was Nessie…could be a hundred things…or hundred and one…

    I was afraid to look because of the caption heading of this thread, but I had to…

  29. springheeledjack responds:

    Actually, I think it’s a pink and yellow plaid woozle from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day…must have been coming up for honey…

  30. Dr. Strings responds:

    I thought it looked like a tongue too, lol. Sigh, just another so-called “photograph of something in Loch Ness” that looks like absolutely nothing. You can’t even say it’s an ambiguous photo of something, since it looks like absolutely nothing. How you could construe it to be anything more than a picture of darkness or a black surface of some sort taken by a camera with a peanut butter smudge on the lens is beyond me, but somebody will walk around for the rest of their life claiming they have a picture of Nessie.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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