By Tim Binnall
A tour guide at Loch Ness claims to have spotted the site's legendary 'monster' and, in the process, snapped a rather strange picture of the creature. The intriguing encounter reportedly took place last Thursday when Rick Phillips had some spare time while his group was taking a cruise on the loch. As he walked along a river which connects to Loch Ness and took pictures of the scenery, he suddenly heard an odd noise that prompted him to look out at the water.
Much to Phillips' surprise, it was then that he saw something that sported "a long, straight neck, all completely grey, and a narrow face." Although the mysterious creature quickly disappeared beneath the water, the bewildered tour guide realized that he had inadvertently managed to photograph the beast when he had been taking pictures prior to the sighting. Unfortunately, Phillips' photo shows only the oddity emerging from the water, which makes it difficult to discern its size since one cannot compare the anomaly to anything around it.
Adding another layer of weirdness to Phillips' tale is the sound that he attributed to the creature. The tour guide explained that, while working at Loch Ness the week before the sighting, he heard an "almost metallic" noise which he likened to the iconic breathing sound made by the Star Wars character Darth Vader. Baffled because he'd never heard such a thing before, Phillips looked around and briefly saw the side of a gray creature in the water. According to him, the same sound was coming from the loch the following week when he had what apparently was his second sighting which produced the picture.
As for what he may have spotted at the loch, Phillips conceded that he is confounded by the creature in question and mused that its bird-like head might be in keeping with the possibility that Nessie is akin to a dinosaur. Acknowledging that some may be skeptical about his story, he noted that "I was going to fake a Nessie, I would certainly have made it look less like a bird and more like... well, more like what we think Nessie looks like!" What's your take on the puzzling photo? Let us know at the Coast to Coast AM Facebook page.