Paul Seaburn September 25, 2021

If you’re a fan of the hunt for the Loch Ness monster and also of Talking Heads, you may ask yourself “Why is no one looking for Nessie with a drone?” That’s an excellent question (and an excellent song, “Once in a Lifetime”) and the answer as of today is, “We’re not sure, but there will be after they see this.” ‘This’ is a drone video taken by a man recording a canoeing fundraiser for Alzheimer’s disease on Loch Ness which viewers informed him captured something in the waters that could be the Loch Ness monster. Before you charge your drone and buy a ticket to Scotland, let’s check it out.

“I didn’t notice what I had picked up until others told me to watch out for it. It could be a trick of the light but we can’t be sure.”

On his YouTube Channel ‘Richard Outdoors’, Richard Mavor describes himself as “Professional pilot, ex-HM Forces. Enthusiastic fan of the outdoors and wild camping. Will try my hand at most bushcraft/camping inventions – don’t expect perfection or exact science!!” That unintentionally prepares viewers for what he told the Daily Record unexpectedly appeared in his drone video covering the Great Glen Canoe Challenge!/Scotland Wild Camping/Charity Paddle/Alzheimers Society fundraising event in late August (which raised over £15,000/$25,000). The Daily Record extracted the appearance of ‘something’ from the longer video and circled the object (watch it here) which caused viewers to ask themselves “What am I seeing here?”

You too could find Nessie if you stop looking at the surfers and swimmers

“I couldn’t believe it. I had to rewind the footage several times and have watched it several times since. I don’t know what it is but it certainly has the same shape as previous sightings of Nessie. The more I watch it I think ‘crikey!’ there really wasn’t anything in the area that could be. There was no driftwood or anything like that so who knows?”

After looking at the video again, Mavor seems to be convincing himself he should be added to the 2021 record-breaking Nessie sightings total tabulated by The Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register – he’s not there yet as of this writing. The shadowy, blurry image looks more like a prehistoric creature than the accepted ‘sightings’ made by people watching the live Nessie cam feed from their homes around the world.

“Looks about twice the length of the canoes which are about 15ft-18ft long so 30-35ft.”

“Is it my imagination with the wave movement but does it move into shore?”

After the video made the rounds on the tabloid media, it was picked up by paranormal and cryptid sites where it met more critical eyes.

While many were skeptical of the video being of Nessie, more than a few commenters saw indications that this was more than a log, a boat wake or a shadow. A second clip of drone footage indicates the sighting was at or near Horseshoe Scree – a scree is a stone-covered slope and this one is shaped like a horseshoe (photo here) – where in 1960 a local named Torquil MacLeod claimed he saw a 60-foot Nessie crawl partially out of the water onto the land before sliding back in.

Unfortunately, the second clip of the same spot led debunkers to believe this was a hoax – the images look identical, which would be nearly impossible to accomplish with a drone. Others added that this could be a ploy to raise more money for the charity.

All it takes is a drone and patience

Of course, people still believe the infamous Surgeon’s Photo of Nessie is real despite it being debunked many times, so don’t hold your breath waiting for a unanimous decision on this one. If there’s any benefit to be had from the video, it’s this – one can get pretty decent Loch Ness monster ‘sightings’ using a video-equipped drone and the attention this one has garnered should entice others to give it a try.

Loch Ness Monster

Reportedly haunted locations:

And if one of them actually succeeds in recording the Loch Ness monster, you may ask yourself, “Why did it take so long?”

MU*