Creatures, Myths & Legends

Nessie-hunting camera rediscovered in Loch Ness after 55 years

By T.K. Randall
March 31, 2025 ·  13 comments

The camera that was found in the loch. Image Credit: NOC 55 years ago, a group known as the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau lowered six cameras mounted inside watertight containers into the murky depths of Scotland's most famous lake in an effort to capture photographs of the Loch Ness Monster.

Sadly, the group ended up losing track of where the cameras had been placed when poor weather conditions hampered their investigation.

Nobody had ever expected to see the cameras again, but then during recent trials of a new robot submarine known as Boaty McBoatface, the underwater vehicle inadvertently snagged onto something it wasn't expecting beneath the loch's surface.

Incredibly, it turned out to be one of the cameras that had been deployed 55 years earlier.

While there was no video footage on the camera, engineers were able to develop a few still images which showed the murky depths of the loch (but no monster)."It was an ingenious camera trap consisting of a clockwork Instamatic camera with an inbuilt flash cube, enabling four pictures to be taken when a bait line was taken," said veteran Loch Ness researcher Adrian Shrine who was tasked with helping to identify the device.

"It is remarkable that the housing has kept the camera dry for the past 55 years, lying more than 130m (426ft) deep in Loch Ness."

The UK's National Oceanography Center certainly hadn't expected to find it.

"While this wasn't a find we expected to make, but we're happy that this piece of Nessie hunting history can be shared and perhaps at least the mystery of who left it in the loch can be solved," said the NOC's Matt Kingsland.

Camera set up to capture Loch Ness Monster 55 years-ago accidentally unearthedhttps://t.co/TfF1I5mMqd

- The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) March 31, 2025

Source: BBC News | Comments (13)

Tags: Loch Ness, Nessie