Nessie’s back! Year’s first sighting
AFTER seeing nothing of her for eight months, her legions of dedicated fans were starting to worry she had gone missing,
But now they can breathe a sigh of relief – after 2017’s first official sighting of Nessie was finally logged.
The Loch Ness Monster’s official recorder had admitted he was ‘worried’ there had been no sightings – and had taken calls from worried fans from as far afield as Adelaide and Moscow.
But tourist Hayley Johnson, from Manchester, saw a strange and dark shape at dusk in the loch’s Urquhart Bay – said to be a favourite haunt of Nessie.
The 28-year-old care assistant said: ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes. I am a really sceptical person.
‘I have never even been to Loch Ness before, but I decided to come up for the Bank Holiday, and on my last night decided to go for a walk in the woods and ended up on the banks of the loch.
‘Then about half a mile away I saw this dark shape sticking up – like a neck. I thought at first it was a tree, but it was very strange. I took a picture. It was there for a couple of seconds, but when I looked back it was gone. I was shocked. I was really excited about Nessie as a child but, to be honest, I thought Nessie had probably died in the 1930s.
‘I didn’t think she was alive any more. I know now that she’s very much alive. I’m so excited.’
Gary Campbell, keeper of the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register, said he was relieved after the May Day sighting.
‘She was taking pictures on her iPhone at dusk when she spotted a dark shape in the water, higher than the waves,’ he said.
‘I am relieved and delighted with this sighting. Last year was a record year for the 21st Century with eight sightings and then she seemed to have disappeared.’
According to Google, there are around 200,000 searches each month for the Loch Ness Monster, and around 120,000 for information and accommodation close to Loch Ness. The monster mystery is said to be worth £30million to the region.