A 12-year-old girl said she discovered the Loch Ness Monster in 2018 and has the pictures to prove it.
Charlotte Robinson, from Leeds in Yorkshire, was staying at the Loch Ness Highland Lodges in Invermoriston when she said she saw the beast appear about 15 meters from her on the first day of her holiday.
It came just four days after Chie Kelly captured startling images of a large, unknown creature slowly spinning on the surface of the legendary lake.
Ms Kelly, 51, was taking photographs in the village of Dores when she and her husband, businessman Scott, 68, saw a strange “snake-like” creature moving a distance of about 100 meters before disappearing.
Ms Kelly, who works as a translator, was so shocked by what she saw on August 13, 2018 that she feared public ridicule and did not share the images.
Charlotte Robinson, from Leeds in Yorkshire, was staying at Loch Ness Highland Lodges in Invermoriston when she said she saw the beast
Charlotte said the creature appeared about 15 meters away on the first day of her holiday
However, after reading about the largest search for Nessie in over 50 years, which took place last weekend, she was inspired to share the images.
That’s when she plucked up the courage to show her photos to experienced Nessie hunter Steve Feltham, who set a world record for the longest vigil in the search for the Loch Ness Monster – spanning more than 30 years.
He was amazed and described them as the “most exciting” surface images of Nessie he had ever seen.
Charlotte said a strange creature appeared in front of her for about a minute before reappearing seven minutes later about three meters from that spot.
Charlotte was on vacation with her mother Kat, a business intelligence data analyst, and her father Dave, a factory worker.
Mr and Mrs Robinson had stayed at the same holiday center 16 years ago.
Chie Kelly, 51, was taking photos in the village of Dores when she and her businessman Scott, 68, saw a strange “snake-like” creature moving about 100 meters before disappearing
Ms Kelly, who works as a translator, was so shocked by what she saw on August 13, 2018 that she feared public ridicule and did not share the images. But when she read about the biggest search for Nessie in over 50 years last weekend, she was inspired to share the photos
Charlotte Robinson on Loch Ness. She took the photos just four days after Ms Kelly captured startling images of a large, unknown creature
Charlotte saw the creature and captured it on her phone.
“There was something in the water about 15 meters from the shore. I took a photo. “It had a neck and a head shaped like a hook,” Charlotte said.
“I just took what I saw. It was black – I just don’t know how far out of the water it was. I’m not good at judging distances.
“But after about a minute it disappeared and then reappeared somewhere else.” The second time it took less than a minute. I kind of believed in Nessie, but I wanted to see proof. I always imagined them with long necks and fins.
“I saw something, but I’m not sure what.”
Her mother added: “Charlotte said she took a photo of a creature in the lake and I said, ‘Right, you sure did!'” She’s been talking about seeing the Loch Ness Monster for weeks.
“But when I saw the picture I couldn’t believe it. There’s something there. With all the sightings over the years there must be something in the lake.’
Organizer Alan McKenna (left) accompanies Nessie hunters aboard a boat on Loch Ness in what is being called the biggest search for the Loch Ness Monster since the early 1970s
A general view of Loch Ness. It has been 90 years since the Loch Ness Monster phenomenon began
Nessie expert Mr Feltham was amazed by the picture and said it was “the best Nessie in years”.
Charlotte’s sighting has been accepted by the official Loch Ness Monster Sightings’ Register.
Gary Campbell, the registry’s administrator, said: “It’s been an extraordinary week as, alongside Charlotte’s sighting, there have been three more of an unexplained creature.”
“It appears that the creature moved between Dores and Fort Augustus.” These pictures of Mrs. Kelly and Charlotte are the best Nessie has ever taken and are absolutely stunning. This all adds to the evidence that Loch Ness is definitely something unexplained.”
Mr Campbell added that Ms Kelly’s sighting had now been added to the official register.
It has been 90 years since the modern phenomenon of the Loch Ness Monster began.
On April 14, 1933, hotel manager Mrs. Aldie Mackay reported seeing a “whale-like fish” in the waters of Loch Ness.
From the car she looked across the still calm water towards Aldourie Castle, where she spotted something.
The sighting of Mrs Mackay was reported in the Inverness Courier on May 2, 1933 by Alex Campbell, the Loch Ness water manager and part-time journalist.
It is widely considered to be the first modern “sighting” of a monster in the lake.
In 2019, Prof. Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from the University of Otago in New Zealand, scoured Loch Ness and found no evidence of plesiosaur DNA.
However, he found a lot of eel DNA and suspected that there might be giant eels in Loch Ness and that they could be behind the Nessie sightings.
In 2020, stunning images of a large creature living in the depths of Loch Ness were captured using sonar off Invermoriston by Captain Ronald Mackenzie aboard his tourist boat Spirit of Loch Ness.
Feltham said they were the “most convincing” evidence yet of the existence of a Loch Ness monster.
Experts were amazed at the clarity of the image of an object estimated to be 32 feet long and floating 62 feet above the lake floor.
Leading sonar expert Craig Wallace described the sonar images as “large, clear and distinct contacts, all strangely close to the bottom of the hole” and “100 percent real.”
According to Google, there are around 200,000 searches each month for the Loch Ness Monster and around 120,000 for information and accommodation near Loch Ness.
The monster mystery is said to be worth £30 million to the region.
The Irish missionary St. Columba is said to have first encountered an animal in the River Ness in 565 AD.
There have been five “official sightings” of the Loch Ness Monster this year.
The official registry has now logged 1,161 sightings, including webcam images, from records and other evidence spanning centuries.
One of the most famous photos of the Loch Ness Monster was later proven to be a fake.
In 1994, before his death at the age of 90, Christian Spurling confessed to his involvement in a conspiracy to create the famous “surgeon photo.”
British surgeon Colonel Robert Wilson came forward with an image that appeared to show a sea serpent rising from the waters of the loch.
Wilson claimed he took the photo early on the morning of April 19, 1934, while driving along the north shore of Loch Ness.
In 1994, before his death at the age of 90, Christian Spurling confessed his involvement in the conspiracy to create the famous “surgeon photo.”
He revealed that the object in the water was actually a toy submarine with a sea snake head.