IFLScience Investigates The Loch Ness Monster: A Documentary On The Science, The Story, And The Power Of Belief

The skipper opened his laptop to a preloaded page. With one hand on the boat’s shift and throttle, he managed to start some footage while simultaneously adjusting the boat’s position against the wind. It was a subtly impressive display of skill, but it didn’t hold our attention for long as the footage started to play. I don’t really know what I was expecting to see when my colleague first called me into the skipper’s cabin; I think I expected it to be footage of some vague shape in the distance, something ambiguous that could be interpreted as an object in the water but could equally just be a wave. I wasn’t expecting to see the two classic humps undulating at the surface. What were we looking at?

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The Loch Ness Monster is probably one of the most iconic cryptids in the world, next to Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and maybe the Moth Man. For nearly a century, the legend of Nessie, as it is affectionately known, has occupied a peculiar space in public imagination. If the myth is true, then there is some large, unknown creature, possibly a descendant of the plesiosaur, living in the cold waters of the Scottish Highlands. 

But despite generating decades of popular attention, no one has ever been able to offer unambiguous proof of the creature’s existence. In fact, there is pretty much no evidence – outside of anecdotes – to support it, and yet Loch Ness attracts thousands of visitors each year who are eager to learn more about the beastie or even hunt it down.

Steve Glew, the skipper of the Deepscan vessel, a boat owned by the Loch Ness Centre in the Scottish Highlands, is no stranger to journalists sniffing around the loch. He’s been conducting tours of this famous body of water for several years and, in that time, has worked with members of the public, scientists, and film crews alike. He’s pretty straight-talking and extremely knowledgeable about the loch and the life it contains, but he is also an avid monster hunter. 

In 2019, while piloting a speedboat on the loch on an otherwise calm sunny day, Steve spotted something strange in the water.

“I saw a big wave,” he told IFLScience. “Initially, I thought there was a big boat... but there was no boat there. I was the only boat on the loch that morning. And then all of a sudden, I saw the two classic black humps appear.”

According to Steve, the strange object then disappeared below the surface, which is when he started filming it. But then the humps returned to the surface with three splashes, before disappearing and reappearing one last time before vanishing into the depths.  

“It was definitely swimming with a serpentine motion, as opposed to the way an eel swims – a very side-to-side motion. It was definitely up and down and coming out of the water,” he added.

Steve’s footage was unexpected to say the least, but did it really show the elusive creature that supposedly lurks within this famous body of water?

Ever eager to investigate the weird, we decided to send our Scooby Gang to Loch Ness to explore the legend ourselves and to see what we could make of this iconic and apparently elusive creature. We met monster hunters who regaled us with their strange encounters and discussed what decades of scientific research in the loch have revealed about life in those peaty waters. 

Did we find the Loch Ness Monster? You’ll have to watch our documentary to find out, but we can say that supposedly having a legendary creature hidden in your depths makes you a great place for some excellent science.