Forestry worker and firefighter, Ross MacAulay, once considered himself a non-believer in the mystical Loch Ness Monster but after his latest experience, he seems to have changed his mind.
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MacAulay lived around Loch Ness his whole life and believed Nessie's existence was nothing but folklore. But, after capturing a photo of what appears to be a 12ft creature chilling in the Loch, the firefighter has reconsidered his scepticism.
The 35-year-old's photo has now become the first 'accepted' phone caught image of the beast this year.
Along with his firefighting work, Ross is a tree feller working along the Loch. One day while driving around Fort Augustus, the forestry worker spotted something in the water 200ft below the road. MacAulay explained:
There were a couple of kayakers, but 100 yards ahead of them was something below the surface. At first I thought it was a big rock under the water and I just carried on driving. Then I thought 'there's never been a rock there before' - so curiosity got the better of me. I turned round and parked in a long lay-by.
He continued:
The object had moved and was now out in the middle of the loch. The kayakers were much further behind. The creature must have done 400 yards in a minute - and against the wind.
McAulay then described the sea monster after watching swim around in the water for five minutes:
I started watching it for five minutes. There was no long neck, no head, just the hump bit. I would say it was 12ft long and 4ft wide, at its widest. It was light grey and it went under the water then up and then disappeared.
Ross went on to state that he was a keen fisher and had spent hundreds of hours at the famous spot and heads never before experienced anything like it.
I have seen seals dozens of times in the loch, but this was far too big to be a seal. It was not a log and was travelling against the wind. If somebody can explain to me what I have seen that would be great - but I just can't explain it. I never thought I would be one of those guys seeing Nessie.
At first, Ross hid the discovery from his friends for fear of being mocked but eventually showed the image to his firefighter buddies who were just as dumbfounded as he was. One man even admitted he had an encounter with the Loch Ness Monster himself.
Gary Campbell, the recorder of the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register says that the image was the first 'accepted' recording of Nessie that wasn't taken by the live webcam:
It is a classic sighting of Nessie - with no head or neck discernible. It is just under the surface - and may not have been visible to the kayakers at water level.
Campbell continued:
It is a fascinating sighting and adds to the mystery. It does not definitively prove the existence of Nessie, but it certainly adds to the debate.
The number of sightings last year brought the total Nessie sightings to 18 for the whole century and were the highest they had been in 35 years.
Experts once believed that the Nessie images may not be a prehistoric beast but may actually be evidence of a rather large eel.
Scientists who examined the DNA in Loch concluded that there was little evidence of a large mammal in the waters. However, Prof Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from the University of Otago, New Zealand has stated that about 25% of the samples from the study remain unknown.
So the debate continues. Is it a sea monster, a giant eel or nothing?
