By Tim Binnall
A British man who left his life behind to search for the Loch Ness Monster on a full-time basis celebrated a staggering 30 years on the proverbial job this past weekend. According to a local media report, Steve Feltham became fascinated with the legendary cryptid when he was a child and his obsession with the tale of the mysterious beast said to lurk in Loch Ness only grew as he got older. Eventually, he "came to a crossroads" at the age of 28 and wondered "what do I want to do with my life." Faced with the choice of settling down and starting a family or embarking on a life of adventure, Feltham found the answer to be fairly obvious in his mind, musing that "for me, it was always about the Loch Ness Monster."
As such, in July of 1991, he quit his job, broke up with his girlfriend, and sold his house in Dorset, England to move to Loch Ness and dedicate his life to searching for the legendary monster. In the ensuing years, Feltham has become somewhat famous for his dogged pursuit of the cryptid, garnering a considerable amount of coverage from various media outlets intrigued by his seemingly endless search and being recognized by Guinness for "the longest continuous vigil hunting for the Loch Ness Monster." While the attention and accolades may sound glamorous, Feltham actually leads a rather spartan lifestyle, living out of a van that has been converted into a home and making money by selling hand-crafted souvenirs depicting the dinosaur-like monster synonymous with the site.
Despite what one imagines is a difficult existence, Feltham has no regrets about his three decades spent at Loch Ness looking for the monster. "I am a free man doing exactly the thing I love doing," he mused, "if you don’t follow your dreams, the only person who loses is you." And, to his credit, he still believes that he just might spot Nessie so long as he keeps looking. "The odds are stacked against one man sat on a beach with a pair of binoculars," Feltham conceded, "but I don't mind the extreme odds against me. I still love the possibility that it's just going to happen suddenly." Considering the sheer amount of time and effort he has put into looking for the creature, one can't help but hope that he'll finally have that moment someday, since it will be well deserved.