Mysterious black humps have been spotted emerging from the waters of Loch Ness leaving a Nessie watcher to declare “nothing but the monster” can explain them.
Eoin O’Faodhagain who was watching the loch via webcam, says he spotted shapes up to 10ft in length emerging at the surface.
And although the humps were moving very close to land, a human culprit seems unlikely.
He added that the owner of the nearby holiday homes on the shore was unaware of any guests in the water at that time.
Mr O’Faodhagain said the monster couldn’t have got closer to the camera without leaving the loch.
“If it is Nessie, I would rate the sighting as very good and visually clear due to the closeness of the images to the webcam,” he said.
“Really Nessie could not be any closer to the webcam unless she was out of the water, up on the grass verge.
“I tried to rationalise what I was watching and nothing else apart from Nessie ticked the boxes.”
He added: “It certainly appears that something comes up out of the water that is quite big and long.
“They [the humps] look very alive. I don't think it is debris – they rise and submerge simultaneously.”
The sighting was captured at Shoreland Lodges, near Fort Augustus on the loch’s southern shore, where Visit Inverness Loch Ness maintains a webcam.
In the past, online Nessie watchers have confused paddleboarders for the mythical monster – but a representative of the lodges couldn’t debunk the images this time.
They said: “We aren’t aware of any of the guests swimming or paddleboarding at that time.
“I wouldn’t imagine you’d get an eel that big. There is the possibility of seals and otters but it’s hard to say.
“There has been a few odd sightings on our cameras since they have been up and running.”
For Mr O’Faodhagain, who often logs on to watch the water from his home in County Donegal, Ireland, the sighting raises questions about exactly what Nessie is.
Depictions of the monster often resemble a plesiosaur, with a long neck emerging from the water like in the infamous “surgeon’s photo” of 1934.
But Mr O’Faodhagain has other ideas.
He said: “Is Nessie a giant eel, a very large fish, or something else completely unknown to science?
“Because eels are nocturnal in nature, and these images were captured in broad daylight, is this hypothesis correct?
“Another hypothesis believed by some people is that Nessie is a monstrous fish – well looking at these images, I suppose that cannot be ruled out.
“Whichever hypothesis these images relate to, it is strikingly evident in the manner these shapes submerge in the video clip that they are not seals or otters.”
