By Tim Binnall
Hundreds of people gathered at Loch Ness over the weekend for a massive 'monster hunt' that wound up yielding a peculiar photograph of an aquatic anomaly as well as a rather mysterious sound emanating from the waters of the famed Scottish site. Dubbed 'The Quest 2024,' the sizeable search was organized by the Loch Ness Centre tourist attraction in conjunction with the Loch Ness Exploration (LNE) research group. Held on the 90th anniversary of the first official hunt for the famed 'monster,' this year's event was a sequel to a similar gathering that took place last summer and was unfortunately hampered by treacherous downpours.
Fortunately, the 2024 installment of 'The Quest' reportedly featured far better weather and, in turn, a tremendous turnout of volunteers who lined Loch Ness in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the legendary cryptid said to reside there. Of the hundreds of people who joined in on the hunt, an eleven-year-old girl named Evelyn Murphy stole the proverbial show when she snapped a photo (seen below) of a puzzling anomaly that appeared to break the surface of the water. Meanwhile, researchers using a hydrophone to scan the waters of Loch Ness for unusual sounds picked up a puzzling 10-second-long noise that has been described as a "rhythmic pulse."
Beyond the search itself, the four days of festivities served as celebration of all things Nessie with an array of events, including a debate over the creature's existence and various presentations from researchers who have studied the famed cryptid. While the evidence gathered over the weekend may seem meager in light of how many people were looking for the 'monster,' the scant number of sightings of the creature each year suggests that the results of the search were not altogether surprising. Buoyed by the popularity of this past weekend's event, the Loch Ness Centre has already announced 'The Quest 2025' for May of next year.