Drone hunt for Loch Ness monster finds its movie double

Rather than the fabled Loch Ness Monster itself, the probe has discovered a 30-foot replica used in the 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, which sank nearly 50 years ago after its buoyant humps were removed. The survey by Norwegian company Kongsberg Maritime using the Munin drone, has been the most detailed to date of the Loch’s icy depths. 

Undeterred by the latest finding, the enthusiastic monster-hunters steering are continuing their two-week search for any evidence that might prove the existence of “Nessie”. Along with the movie replica, it has also found a 27-foot shipwreck as it maps the Loch floor. Far from being disappointed by the findings, Steve Feltham who has been hunting Nessie for 25 years, says the maps will help him in his quest. “We now have a more detailed map of the rock bottom. We can send back cameras to look at anything of interest, ” he added. 

The Loch Ness monster, is a legend, believed to live in the icy depths of the Lake. The first written record of a monster relates to the Irish monk St Columba, who is said to have banished a “water beast” to the depths of the River Ness in the 6th century. 

The most famous picture of Nessie, known as the “surgeon’s photo”, was taken in 1934 and showed a head on a long neck emerging from the water. It was revealed 60 years later to have been a hoax that used a sea monster model attached to a toy submarine.