Loch Ness veteran skipper Shaun Sloggie thinks he's found proof of 'Nessie' after clocking its figure on sonar .
At 98 meters deep in the shadowy waters , 30-year-old Shaun noticed an strange presence dwelling in the loch, a spot famed for its association with the elusive Loch Ness monster .
Shaun admits he's "never seen anything like" the find, which mirrors the eel-like form reported by countless observers at the Scottish freshwater loch.
On September 22, during a jaunt on Loch Ness with fellow maritime pilot Liam McKenzie, aged 29, Shaun's sonar detected this extraordinary object, reports the Daily Star .
Tailored with high-tech sound wave sonar to penetrate the aquatic vista, it revealed an extended object with apparent air cavities - a dead ringer for the mythical beast of lore.
Shaun, who operates with Cruise Loch Ness to bring tourists up close to the loch's beauty and beasts, has been keeping watch over these waters for nearly ten years.
Confronted with the object's substantial size and distinct profile, speculation mounts among the team over a possible connection to the fabled creature, often likened to a plesiosaur from age-old myths.
In Shaun's words: "We've got fish that shouldn't be here, creatures that predate the dinosaurs, huge creatures on the sonar and unknown codes of DNA - so there's definitely a mystery."
"[It's the] strangest thing that I have ever seen on sonar in my life. When I put that image on the screen, you can feel the chill on-board. We are not a sonar experts and I don't know what it is, and I can't tell you how big it is."
The team went back to the initial location for a more thorough look but reported that the object had disappeared without a trace.
Intriguingly, the previous significant sonar encounter in Loch Ness occurred almost exactly four years ago, on September 24, 2020. This event follows just a year after a photographer released pictures she believes confirm the Scottish legend.
Chie Kelly, aged 52, witnessed a substantial eel-like beast slowly turning and gliding along the surface before it submerged underwater while she was in the Highlands in 2018.
She kept the pictures private initially due to worries about being mocked by the public.
Fortrose, Scotland's translator, commented back then: "I have always believed there was something in Loch Ness. There is something unusual there, but I don't know what it is."
"What I saw looked like a serpent. It was definitely a creature and it was moving."
The first recorded sighting of the so-called monster was reportedly made in AD565 by Irish missionary St Columba when he encountered a vast animal in the River Ness.
Numerous purported depictions of the legendary entity - including an infamous snap captured in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson - have been discredited as frauds.
Other notable sightings include a photo taken by James Gray in 2001 while he and his mate Peter Levings were fishing on the Loch, and a blurry image captured by Hugh Gray of what seems to be a massive sea creature, which was published in the Daily Express back in 1933.
In 2019, Steve Feltham, who has dedicated 24 years to observing the Loch and is considered a 'Nessie expert', suggested that Nessie might actually be a giant Wels Catfish, a species native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe.
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