Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. Pic credit: Pixabay
A woman captured photographs of a strange creature in Loch Ness in 2018 but did not share them because she feared public ridicule.
However, following media coverage of the recent Big Search for the Loch Ness Monster, Chie Kelly, 51, came forward to share her photos.
Nessie hunters believe Kelly’s picture likely shows Nessie swimming in Loch Ness. An enthusiast hailed it the “most exciting” photographic evidence of the elusive monster ever.
Kelly photographed a “serpent-like creature” in Loch Ness
While vacationing in the Scottish Highlands in August 2018, Kelly of Fortrose, Scotland, snapped a photo showing a mysterious serpent-like creature swimming in Loch Ness.
The creature emerged above the water briefly. Kelly had been taking photographs of the scenery around Dores, a village on the eastern shore of Loch Ness near Inverness. So, she had a camera ready when she and her husband spotted the creature moving in the water.
She snapped photos before the creature disappeared.
Kelly was excited about the photo but was afraid to share it. So she kept it to herself until the news media coverage of the recent organized search for Nessie encouraged her to come forward.
The BBC reported that the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit and the Loch Ness Exploration organized the search from August 26 to 27.
The teams of experts involved in the search promoted it as the biggest search for the Loch Ness Monster since the 1970s. They used infrared imaging technology and hydrophones.
Only part of the serpent-like creature was visible
The photo appears to show a serpent-like creature in the water.
According to the Daily Star, Kelly always believed that an elusive monster lived in Loch Ness, but she didn’t know what it was.
She was sure it was not debris or driftwood that she and her husband saw but a living creature. She saw it moving in the water.
When the creature first surfaced, Kelly thought it was a pair of otters or seals playing in the water. But it moved strangely with slow spinning movements before disappearing.
Only part of the creature’s body was visible above the water throughout the sighting. She never saw the head and neck, and it did not return to the surface after disappearing underwater.
She was uncertain about the length because she never saw the whole body. But the part she saw above the water was at least two meters long.
Kelly shared the photo with Nessie hunter Steve Feltham
Kelly met Nessie hunter Steve Feltham in late August and shared the photo with him.
Feltham described the photo as the “most exciting surface pictures [of the Loch Ness Monster] I have seen.”
Feltham, a veteran Nessie hunter, said that Kelly’s photos were of the quality he’d dreamed of capturing over three decades of his search for Nessie.
According to Feltham, the photos proved what many people have believed for decades: That a mysterious but elusive creature lives in Loch Ness.
The Nessie hunter recommended further investigation to uncover the mystery behind the Loch Ness Monster.
Nessie skepticism
However, some Nessie investigators doubted the photo shows the Loch Ness Monster.
Paranormal investigator Hayley Stevens claimed that, based on the time of the year and location, the photo likely shows a sturgeon.
According to the researcher, sturgeons start migrating from coastal waters into fresh water in late summer to reproduce.
Atlantic and European sturgeons may grow to a length of five meters.
Other skeptics scrutinizing the photo on social media also speculated that it probably shows sea animals, such as otters, or debris floating in the water.