First "Official" Loch Ness Monster Sighting Report of 2024 Features Photo Taken by Witness

The Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register has published its first “official” sighting report of 2024.

Nessie—as the monster is affectionately known—was reportedly seen on April 4th by Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman, a Canadian couple living in London, who were visiting Loch Ness with their children.

The family was near Urqhart Castle, a purported hotspot of Nessie activity, when they spotted something unusual in the water.

"We just started watching it more and more, and we could see its head craning above water," Malm told The Canadian Press. "And then it was swimming against the current towards the castle, slowly but surely, like very fastidiously going over the waves (and) coming closer and closer. And then it submerged and disappeared."

Thinking quickly, they took a picture of what they were seeing and ultimately decided to submit it to the Register.

The original photo (left) with progressively enlarged images. *(The Canadian Press)*

"[The Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register] got in touch within 24 hours. They were super excited. They sent it to one of their Loch Ness experts who said that it was 'compelling evidence,' I believe was the exact phrase," Malm said. "And just one thing led to another. I mean, it's been incredible."

The family’s story and photo have received widespread publicity, although there is no consensus on what, exactly, they saw.

"We don't know what we saw. Our children believe we saw Nessie, and I believe it for them," Wiseman said. "I believe that we saw something that could be Nessie, and that is a very broad possibility."

But Nessie researcher Alan McKenna is more certain that there is a prosaic explanation for the sighting.

"I'm not convinced," he wrote in a post to the Loch Ness Exploration Facebook group. "As always, I’m open to be corrected, but in this case I'm fairly confident that we've all seen this particular object many times before."

McKenna shared several photos taken by different witnesses on various dates; each showing the same object “captured from the very same spot and angle,” near Urqhart Castle.

The images shared to Loch Ness Exploration by McKenna. *(Alan McKenna / Facebook)*

McKenna went on to explain:

Mr. Malm claims that the object appeared to be moving against the current and therefore believed that it was a "living creature," rather than a piece of driftwood or something similarly prosaic. It's also worth mentioning that Mr. Malm observed the object for a whooping FOUR MINUTES and in Nessie terms, that's basically a full feature movie. After the four minutes, Mr. Malm tells us that the object eventually vanished back into the waters of the Loch.
Sadly, this is NOT a photo of the Loch Ness Monster. The object captured here is very much stationary and does not move, therefore it couldn't have vanished below the surface. The only time when the object may appear to submerge would be during high winds or rough weather conditions creating large waves resulting in the object being concealed in short intervals.

However, the veteran researcher, who last year helped organize the largest surface watch of Loch Ness since 1972, doesn’t blame the family for thinking they might have seen Nessie.

"Mr. Malm explained that this was actually his family's first time visiting and exploring Loch Ness which is great, and I truly hope that they all had a fantastic day!" McKenna said. "Being their first time at the Loch, I think we can forgive Mr. Malm for making this small mistake."