About 200 volunteers gathered at Loch Ness over the weekend for a mass-participation hunt for the mythical monster, but the only excitement came from four unexplained underwater sounds that were not recorded due to a technical error.
Alan McKenna of Loch Ness Exploration was aboard a boat using a hydrophone to monitor the loch's depths. During testing on Friday, the team heard four distinctive 'gloops'. However, when they rushed to check the recorder, they discovered it was not plugged in.
The event, organised by the Loch Ness Centre and Loch Ness Exploration, attracted visitors from Spain, France, Germany, Finland, and news teams from Japan, Australia, and the United States, despite appalling weather conditions.
Loch Ness Centre manager Paul Nixon defended the hunt as more than a publicity stunt, stating, 'I believe there is something big lurking in the depths of Loch Ness. I don't know whether it's a monster, but I reckon there's something down there.'
The modern legend of the Loch Ness monster began in 1933 when hotel manageress Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen a whale-like creature. The famous 'surgeon's photo' from 1934 was later exposed as a hoax involving modelling clay and a clockwork submarine.
