The Loch Ness Monster is one of the UK’s great ‘fact or fiction’ stories. Like most myths, it was borne from a simpler, happier time when it was easier to believe in things like water-dwelling monsters, fictitious creatures and politicians.
However, thanks to the rise of modern technology, we now have an abundance of video evidence to corroborate the existence of such things.
Every year, swathes of Nessie-spotters flock to Loch Ness to try and catch a glimpse of the elusive creature, and every year, new footage from another tourist’s shaky camera phone emerges, bringing up the great debate once again.
Like this video, filmed at Loch Ness in June this year.
Check it out:
The person who filmed the unequivocal evidence said:
[I] went to the beach [at] Loch Ness for a day out as the weather was lovely so I thought I’d make the most of it. I lay back sunbathing with a friend on the beach, having lots of laughs.
Then as the day went on, we looked at the water and saw something unusual. It looked about 20-feet long and kept going up and down, so I turned [on] my camera video.
We couldn’t believe what we were seeing! It came right round as you can see in the video and then passed to the right of us in the water where I could no longer see it.
It was actually amazing whatever it was, it was big! This was in June so the beach was quiet at the time and no boats were out. I just really couldn’t believe my eyes.
Weirdly, the part I find most hard to believe about this story is sunbathing on the beach. I think there’s more evidence of Nessie than there is of sunny beaches in Scotland.
But if you wanted to find out more about either of those things, you’d be hard pressed to find a more knowledgable man than Steve Feltham, who’s dedicated 26 years of his life to tracking down the seemingly un-track-down-able creature.
From witnessing a ‘torpedo-shaped creature’ himself to debunking evidence of those who believe this mystery is the root into hollow earth, or simply a UFO lurking at the bottom of the Loch, Steve has never given up hope.
So far, there’ve been four ‘official’ sightings this year.
Steve spoke to UNILAD about his one-man monster-hunting mission:
Steve, who’s originally from the South West of England, first came to Loch Ness in 1970 as a seven-year-old on a family holiday and was ‘blown away’ when he met a group of Monster Hunters who ‘changed the course of his life’.
The self-confessed ‘nut in a van’ recalled how his obsession came about:
From that day, my passion for the mystery grew and grew. All through my childhood I’d read as many books as I could find about the subject and I’d argue with my classmates, that yes, there is a monster.
And while many people may jokingly argue either way about the existence of Nessie, Steve believes there’s a deeper meaning to it all, and the ongoing search ‘gives people hope that not everything is understood’.
He said:
Not everything can be explained. There’s still the chance of discoveries. It comes down to unpredictability in life; not knowing how this adventure will unravel or what will happen next.
I’m with you, Steve.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.