Original subtitles

It's one of the most idyllic lakes in the world.

But for centuries its dark waters have been thought to hide a deadly secret.

A massive unidentified species famously known as the Loch Ness Monster.

Despite alleged photos, video, and thousands of eyewitness sightings, I

over my right shoulder and there she was.

Many people believe that Nessie is simply a fairy tale.

But what if there actually is an unknown animal living in Loch Ness?

Can we combine enough information to profile the creature?

In our attempt to find out if Nessie does exist in some form, we've taken a

dive on alleged sightings throughout history.

We've closely examined its habitat, and we've studied potentially related

species for clues as to what the monster might be.

Now, we'll reveal a brand new look that just might bring us closer than ever to

identifying this possible unknown creature.

And finally, we'll enter the depths to see for ourselves, and have a

potential history -making encounter of our own.

As we continue in search of the Loch Ness Monster.

Our profile of the Loch Ness Monster continues to evolve.

It started like this, the classic image from the 1930s. Before long, we added

new features based on more recent encounters.

But just as important as the monster's physical appearance,

We've also built a key theory about its behavior.

What if the creature is migratory?

We haven't yet been able to confirm whether the monster can come and go from

loch, but there's a chance that the evidence may have already been found.

The remains of a massive, unidentified creature, nearly an exact match for

Nessie, washed up from the waters of Scotland, not far from Loch Ness.

This is the island of Stronsay.

Located due north of Inverness, it's a quiet and peaceful place for a seaside

getaway.

But as zoologist Jeff Swinney will tell us, on a summer day in 1808, visitors

were met with a terrifying sight.

A fishing boat noticed something.

Their attention was drawn to it by the screaming gulls that had gathered around

this carcass, which had been washed onto some rocks.

It was big.

It was smelly. This was nothing like anything they'd seen before.

The fishermen who had discovered the carcass, a man by the name of John

approached it with a group of locals.

The island dwellers were familiar with the occasional beach whale or shark

carcass that could wash up on the Stransay shores.

But this was something very different and very, very big.

What they found on the beach was an animal with a relatively small head,

about a foot long, and then a body which extended 55 feet.

And they measured this.

So we know that the measurement was accurate.

About a quarter of the length of this appeared to be neck, made up of

And then the rest of the vertebral column going off tail, there appeared to

three pairs of legs.

And the whole body was covered in what appeared to be matted fur, with a mane

fur running down the back of the body.

This must have been an extraordinary sight.

Imagine, this is what they would have seen.

Must have been absolutely terrifying, disturbing.

This huge, 55 -foot -long, mysterious, six -legged, hairy animal just lying

there on the beach.

These were not just a new species. This was a new species of megafauna.

This was a big animal. This was a sea monster.

It was dubbed the Stronsay Beast, and news of the discovery began to spread.

News spread fairly rapidly worldwide that this sea monster had arrived

on the shore.

They convened a sort of tribunal with two local justices of the peace taking

sworn affidavits.

from the local people who had seen this animal.

But while the accounts of the beast were now officially on the record, nobody

could do much more to preserve the carcass.

And the late summer heat nearly rotted away the remains of the mysterious

animal.

The animal lying on the beach had been trundled around in the sand quite a lot.

Much of the skin had come off.

and what you were left with were the fraying muscle fibers.

Various bits of the carcass were collected by some of the local people,

were sent down to Edinburgh. The skull, the head, was actually sent to London,

but unfortunately that has since been lost during the Blitz.

The vertebrae of the animal.

They were studied in Edinburgh by a very eminent anatomist called John Barclay.

He concluded that this was like no other animal. This was a new creature.

An equally eminent anatomist in London was absolutely convinced that the

remains were those of a large shark.

The puzzling thing is that the local community on Stronsley would be very

familiar with these big sharks.

Therefore, how could anybody possibly mistake this animal, 55

feet long, with six legs, for a shark?

The observations were accurate. I mean, we have no reason to

disbelieve the eye witnesses.

The remains of the animal that are still in the museum consist of

three vertebrae.

I've had the opportunity of looking at the three vertebrae.

After analyzing the remains, Jeff concluded that the Stronsay beast shared

similarities with our potential profile of the Loch Ness Monster, including a

long, narrow shape, flippers on its abdomen, and of course, its massive

This is the first physical evidence of a possible Loch Ness Monster -type

creature in Scotland.

Not a blurry photo or a fleeting sighting, but actual remains of a

must have roamed the area's waters at some point.

There are myth, stories, legends associated with many large bodies

of water all over the world.

Stories of unknown animals.

Loch Ness in particular.

It would, of course, be really exciting if we had some material evidence of a

new animal, a bit of megafauna, a large animal, a sea monster.

And until we have something to actually examine, I keep an open mind.

actually be the same species as the creature long identified as the Loch

Monster.

The resemblance is uncanny, as is the timing.

In 1808, the year the Stransay beast was discovered, there were alleged

sightings of similar creatures in Loch Ness and in Sweden's Storsjön Lake.

Is this just a coincidence?

Or were several of these unknown animals migrating through northern Europe?

Coming up, we go behind the scenes of one of the world's largest biological

archives to finally complete our profile of the Loch Ness Monster.

And then, we'll enter the loch for the chance to possibly see the beast

ourselves.

We've passed that point where I can't see them anymore. They're pretty deep

The mystery of the Loch Ness Monster has inspired generations of searchers

trying to find this elusive species.

But there's a chance it's already been found.

in the form of an as yet unidentified carcass on the shore of the Scottish

island of Stronsay.

If the Stronsay beast is in fact a match, it adds even more key details to

profile of the monster.

The Stronsay remains had three pairs of what the fishermen described as paws or

flippers.

This could explain the animal's ability to cruise along the water's surface at 6

miles per hour, as seen in a 2007 video by Nessie hunter Gordon Holmes.

It's also consistent with this photograph taken in the 1970s by a

encountered a creature in the loch.

The specimen at Stronsay was covered in short, wiry bristles.

most commonly found on marine animals, who use them to sense the presence of

food in deep, dark waters.

If Nessie exists, it would need similar features in order to feed and survive in

the near blackout conditions of Loch Ness.

We've now added quite a bit to our profile, but one can't help but think

still looks rather familiar.

Perhaps it's time to revisit one of the very first theories on the Loch Ness

Monster's identity.

So what particular species do you think it is?

The evidence, as I interpreted it, all fits. And I know this is a fantastic

statement, but this all fits plethysaur.

Since the 1930s, dozens of witnesses have speculated that Nessie is a species

we've already identified.

Could they have been right this whole time?

If so, the plesiosaur is an intriguing option.

It's a type of marine reptile that dates back to the time of the dinosaurs in

the late Triassic period.

Plesiosaurs thrive for nearly 140 million years before supposedly dying

the same time as their land -based contemporaries.

But is it possible the plesiosaur could have survived?

And could it still be lurking in the depths today?

Other animals survived.

including crocodiles, the duck -billed platypus, and even bees.

There have even been animals that were long thought to be extinct, only to

suddenly and mysteriously turn up again, alive and well.

One famous example is the coelacanth, a large, ancient fish species thought to

have died out with the dinosaurs.

But then in 1938, miraculously, living coelacanths were found off the coast of

South Africa.

Could the same thing be happening in Loch Ness?

Paleontologist Dr. Pernille Trollsen has studied thousands of fossils from

museum collections around the world.

And she thinks she may have the answer.

So the whole group of plesiosauria is divided into these two morphotypes.

One of them is the one we see here, so this is the plesiosaur, and the other

ones are the plesiosaurs.

Right away, the parallels to our profile of the Loch Ness Monster seem obvious.

So what is really unique about plesiosaurs is that they have no modern

which means that we have no animal that looks like this today.

They have this really unique body plan, which you can see here, the four

flippers, and then we have a trunk area, and the neck, the head, and the tail.

Is it possible?

that the Loch Ness Monster's skeleton has been here on display for nearly two

centuries.

Dr. Trollson is a plesiosaur expert, having dedicated her PhD studies to this

one specific species.

And according to her, the answer is no.

Because as we're about to find out...

Her recently published research proves that despite thousands of eyewitness

accounts over hundreds of years, we might have the potential monster's most

iconic feature all wrong.

It's a groundbreaking new find that could allow us to finally complete our

profile of the world's most sought -after unknown species.

For decades, thousands of dedicated Nessie hunters have focused on a very

specific description.

A beast with a long serpentine neck, reminiscent of ancient plesiosaurs.

But plesiosaur specialist, Dr. Pernille Trollsen, has a major problem with that

theory.

She thinks that Nessie hunters should be looking for something significantly

different.

The plesiosaurs have a great variety of neck lengths.

It goes all the way from 16 vertebrae to 76 vertebrae. So that's a great chill

amount of neck vertebrae compared to us as mammals. We only have 7 vertebrae in

the neck.

A plesiosaur's neck ranges from 3 feet to 23 feet.

And while that length adds flexibility, it also creates a major weakness.

Dr. Trollson did extensive research on the amount of pressure and movement a

plesiosaur neck could take and compared it to what alleged witnesses have said

about the Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Monster depicted with this thin, long neck, like the long -necked

plesiosaurs, would not have been able to cross the water surface.

because the pressure on the neck when it was moving out of the water would have

been too high, and definitely that swan -like pose it's been depicted as would

have been impossible.

In other words, a flexible plesiosaur neck wouldn't have the strength to stand

above the waterline.

In fact, it would barely be able to break the surface.

The Loch Ness Monster would probably have been another animal than the long

-necked plesiosaur.

Similar to this ichthyosaur we see here, which has a really, really short neck

that would have been able to cope with the water pressure as the animal would

cross the water surface.

And that's not the only thing Dr. Trulson found in her research.

Another reason why I don't think the Loch Ness Monster would be a plesosaur

the fact that we assume that plesosaurs were air breezes.

Whatever this species is, If it needed to come up for air every few minutes, it

would easily be spotted by onlookers.

Therefore, the creature most likely has gills.

If Dr. Trolson is correct, we've been dead wrong this whole time about a long

-necked Loch Ness monster.

Even though it was a hoax, modern sightings have clearly been influenced

iconic 1934 surgeon's photo in the Daily Mail.

If not for that photo, the mistaken concept of a long -necked Nessie might

have existed.

Without it, is it possible the monster could have been found decades ago?

We may never know how much lost time it cost the search, but we now have all the

information we need to complete our new profile of the Loch Ness Monster.

So far, we've developed this image.

And at last, we have the final piece of the puzzle.

If the creature's eel -like serpentine form isn't its neck, then it must be its

body.

With that last detail, we can finally reveal our brand new, never -before

image of what the Loch Ness Monster might look like.

A far cry from the traditional dinosaur -like appearance pitched to tourists

over the years.

This is what the monster would have to actually resemble in order to survive

thrive while remaining hidden in the waters of Loch Ness.

It's still rather terrifying, perhaps even more so.

One thing's for sure.

If any creature got close enough to witness this detailed point of view, it

wouldn't survive long enough to tell the tale.

Now that we know what a potential Loch Ness monster might look like, perhaps we

can determine the location where the species could be found.

We theorize that this is a migratory animal.

In other words, it probably hasn't lived in the Loch for its entire existence.

In order to locate it today, we must answer two key questions.

First, How exactly could this creature come and go from Loch Ness?

Second, is it still able to do so?

Local guide Grant Sutherland has fished the waters around Loch Ness his entire

life, and he thinks he knows the route the beast originally took from the North

Sea to the loch, a path it may still be traveling today.

Having worked in the area for over 20 years, Grant is very familiar with the

waterways that surround Loch Ness.

According to Grant, there is only one natural link between the North Sea and

loch.

And that's the River Ness.

Well, here we are at the mouth of the River Ness. This is where it enters the

North Sea.

This area is one of the most food -rich environments in all of Scotland,

absolutely teeming with fish species.

This is a riptide you can see coming out here.

This is a popular area, lots of food turned up, so there's a lot of fish that

are going to be attracted to this area.

Humans have been hauling in large catches from the mouth of the River Ness

centuries, but we're not the only ones.

A wide array of marine predators feast here too, including birds, seals, and

dolphins.

So it's possible that a large North Sea marine hunter like the potential Loch

Ness monster could have come here as well.

Once it reached the river mouth, two tasty species in particular could have

coaxed it even farther.

A couple of species of Atlantic salmon and the sea trout that will carry on up

the river.

Looking for spawning grounds.

Brown trout and Atlantic salmon are the two largest and most nutrient -rich fish

in the area.

If the monster exists, it's easy to imagine it following these fish upstream

during a feeding frenzy.

But unfortunately, if this alleged animal wanted to make it all the way to

Ness from here, it would meet a major obstacle.

are, just a mile and a half from the mouth of the river.

This is one of the first obstacles that any animal that's wanting to navigate

its way through into Loch Ness is going to hit very bouldery shallow, fast

-flowing water like this, and there's another five to six miles of this, and

it'll make it difficult for any animal to navigate its way into the deep waters

of Loch Ness.

In other words, if the monster wanted to reach the loch by way of the river

Ness, this would be the end of the road.

Fortunately,

There just might be another way in.

Building off our new profile, we now have a compelling theory of the Loch

Monster's potential behavior.

What if the beast is so elusive because it migrates?

Can it come and go from the loch at will?

We know the River Ness is too powerful and rocky to be navigable by a large

marine animal.

But could there be another way?

This is the Caledonian Canal, and this is a backdoor into Loch Ness.

Completed in 1822, the Caledonian Canal was built as a shortcut across Scotland

for commercial boats.

It runs from coast to coast, including directly into Loch Ness.

35 feet deep and lacking the powerful current and rapids of the River Ness,

canal would make a much more inviting route for the monster if it exists.

The River Ness is a very tough journey for any species to take up there. The

Caledonian Canal would be a much easier piece of water for any animal that chose

to move from the sea into Loch Ness. It's a much slower, deeper piece of

The time frame of the canal's construction certainly checks out.

The earliest sightings of the monster were in the river Ness, not the loch.

It may have had no way to reach the loch at first.

But the canal opened in 1822, just 14 years after the strontae beast was

discovered, 131 miles away.

That massive North Sea species, that previously could only travel partway up

river, could now make it all the way to Loch Ness.

Today, boat traffic regularly commutes through the canal.

The question is, could the Loch Ness Monster use the canal the very same way,

coming to its favorite feeding ground during its salmon and trout spawning

each spring and summer?

If the Loch Ness Monster is migrating to chase food, it helps explain some other

mysteries.

For instance, the inconsistency in its annual appearances.

In 1996, there were 17 alleged sightings.

But in 2009, and again in 2013, Nephi was supposedly spotted just once the

year.

This seems like good evidence that the species doesn't live here full -time.

Still, it gives us an advantage.

We now know precisely when this species is most likely to be present in these

waters.

When the salmon begin to migrate into the loch, the creature known as Nessie

could be close behind.

And if we're right, then that time is now.

This year's salmon migration began two weeks ago, so armed with our new

The hunt for this unidentified creature is officially on.

It will be a two -pronged search effort, led by Captain Mike Lynch and scuba

diver Chris McKendry.

Captain Mike will be manning the Rebel, a 40 -foot catamaran outfitted with

state -of -the -art sonar that will give him a never -before -seen picture of

the murky lock bottom.

It's going to be messy.

Working in tandem with the Rebel aboard a high -speed Zodiac is Chris and a two

-man dive team.

Advanced cold -water divers Tom Theon and Ken Miller will be ready to enter

water at the captain's signal.

As soon as we're ready and we see something on the screen that we feel the

to investigate, then the dive team in the RIB there can launch at very short

notice.

Okay.

Just go into lock end as close as we can. Obviously, you can go further to

school than I can.

Yeah.

This is the mouth of the lock.

Lock end to the right there.

We've just entered lock nest now. Weather conditions are pretty good.

We've got a slight mist there, but there's very little wind. And these are

ideal conditions now.

Captain Mike is using our newfound understanding of the potential monster's

migratory habits to focus his search on the north end of the loch, where the

salmon -rich river Ness intersects with the Caledonian Canal.

Loch Ness is a vast area.

The monster Nessie could be swimming anywhere under there, but I think

more fish up this end of the loch because of the salmon and that swimming

through.

As Mike pilots the Rebel, his fellow skipper Andrew monitors the sonar

information on a large screen below deck.

I'll come around port side.

Yeah, go around port side. That's good shape, Mike.

The Rebel sonar boasts unparalleled range and resolution.

Sonars have developed such a long way now. We've got a lot more detail on the

sonar. You can see that we can...

At least they're leaving the food on the sonars now.

So technology's moved on and it's given us more sophisticated equipment.

In addition to the latest technology, we also have a much clearer picture of

exactly what we're looking for and where it might be found.

We're not necessarily looking for a big, long neck, lots of humps.

What we're probably looking for is an apex predator, and because we know we're

looking for that...

We can narrow down the searches to what apex predators feed on.

Captain Mike sweeps back and forth in tight parallel lines, like a lawnmower

cutting a yard.

Yeah, you're picking that up now, aren't you?

Yeah, perfect. Just go round it, just about six, seven knots would be perfect.

The Rebel is now passing over a steep underwater ledge.

which could be an area of particular interest in our search.

We're now heading south down Loch Ness. We've just left behind us Loch End, the

small village there.

Now at Loch End, the Loch Ness is very shallow, but then it suddenly slopes

and we're now recording a depth of 258 feet.

And you can see on the sonar there that there's two sets, or two shoals of fish

there. Now, where there's lots of fish, obviously that means that that's a food

source. So obviously Nessie needs to feed, and that would be ideal, feed for

Nessie there.

As the boat moves over the shoals of fish, the captain notices something new

the sonar.

Looking at the sonar there on the LED.

I can see some dark spots appearing with the multi -beam there. We're not too

sure what those dark spots are, so we need to just go back and take a closer

look at that, hover over that. We need to investigate a little bit further.

Go, go, guys, let's go.

Coming up, the dive team goes in for a potential history -making

encounter with what could be the creature long identified.

as the Loch Ness Monster.

Armed with our new profile of the Loch Ness Monster, and a detailed analysis of

its possible migratory habits, we've zeroed in on the precise time and place

we're most likely to find this unidentified species.

We've got the very precise sonar technology now that will give us a 3D

the lock itself.

That's given us more detailed advantage than we've ever had before on board this

vessel.

The sonar has pinpointed several shoals of fish.

So they're currently swimming at the depth of about 193 feet.

And nearby, it's spotted something else as well.

A reading unlike anything the crew has ever seen.

Skipper Mike, we just take a run to the port side a bit. We'll get a better

view. Roger that, Black Sandy.

It's dark blue in here. We don't currently have any information on. We

get a skipper to go over this area a few times to help enhance the 3D image.

Captain Mike steers back over the dark area on the lock bottom, using a more

precise multi -beam sonar to try to generate a clearer picture.

He asks Andrew.

to put the dive team on standby.

Okay, okay.

The divers are going to get ready. We're going to go on standby.

The divers have got their dry suits on, the undersuits, the dry suits. That's

going to help protect them against the elements.

This loch is really, really cold.

If you're in there without a dry suit, you could be dead within minutes. So the

divers have got to be very careful about making sure their suits are all ready,

they're all zipped up, good to go. The speed is of the essence. We need to get

geared up quick, we need to get in the water quick, get right down on that

contact as soon as we can.

Now, it's up to the crew on the Rebel to try and identify this mysterious mass

as quickly as possible.

We'll park the boat just over this dark area to get more detailed information,

which is what we'll do now.

Skipper crew?

Yeah, go ahead, mate.

Yeah, mate, maybe we'll go a bit more starboard and a little bit floored.

cheers.

Unfortunately, the technique doesn't work, because whatever this dark form

it's on the move.

This needs further investigation. We may have to get the dive team into this

just to check it out.

Now we're almost directly over this area that's brought our attention.

The multibeam has shown something.

We're not sure what it is, but I think it's time we get the divers in for a

closer look.

Just waiting for confirmation just now.

Once we get that confirmation, get the location, we're going to send the divers

in to have a look around.

I think we need to investigate.

Go, go, guys, let's go. Straight the way down here. Get the divers in now, guys,

let's go, and I'll move the boat now out of the way, directly under the boat

where we are.

Okay, guys, it's all clear now.

All ready on the count of three.

One, two, three, go.

On the northern end of Loch Ness, Captain Mike Lynch has spotted an

his sonar.

A dark form near several shoals of fish that very well might be a sign of the

elusive monster.

Whatever it is, the anomaly is on the move.

So the captain has quickly made the call to deploy the dive team before it can

escape.

All ready on the catering?

One.

Two, three, go.

All right. Well done, guys.

That's it. Good night again.

The water is thick with

mud and debris.

It also filters out more and more sunlight with each foot the divers

They're a bit deeper.

We've passed that point where I can't see them anymore. They're pretty deep

It's pretty dark and murky down there.

The divers have reached the upper level of the rock shelf.

that the rebels' equipment spotted from above.

The shoals of fish that initially drew attention to the area have scattered.

Perhaps scared away.

But by what?

Tom is now searching for anything that could have created the massive unknown

object on the sonar.

We're close to getting what we feel could be a sighting, and that really is

experience in itself.

Remember, this goes back hundreds of years, and we're on the edge of maybe

finding something.

Despite conditions that get darker, colder, and more dangerous with every

of depth, the team decides to keep going.

With no sonar picture of what lies beneath them, they are diving blind.

This is a very dangerous time for divers. They need to monitor their air,

sure they've got enough air to stay at that depth to try and find that contact,

but also to make it safely back up to the surface. That's key. That's the

important thing.

At this depth, the visibility is so bad, Tom's flashlight provides less than

five feet of illumination.

And the water temperature has plunged below 40 degrees.

What we're looking for, The signal to the surface is an SNB, a surface marker

boy. That's going to let us know if they've made contact.

the divers have encountered something massive.

As you can see, a large animal with a vertical tail fin passed directly in

of the camera, knocking it aside and kicking up a large cloud of sand and

debris.

As the cloud subsides, the creature has disappeared into the darkness.

Tom and Ken would prefer to continue their investigation.

But over 150 feet down, and with their oxygen tanks running low, they must

return to the surface.

Tom prepares to send out the surface marker buoy to let Chris know the

of their contact.

The divers slowly and carefully make their ascent.

The divers have definitely seen something. They've definitely made some

contact. It's just hard to tell what it is right now.

That's them coming up. They're almost at the surface.

So what did you guys see?

There was something massive in there.

Kicked up a lot of salt.

Time to get back to it.

This could be the first time ever that a diver has not only spotted the creature

long identified as the Loch Ness Monster, but actually made physical

with it.

As the day comes to an end, the dive team and the crew of the Rebel know that

they've been a part of history.

Okay, I've received that. Thanks, Robbie.

Yeah, it looks very promising. It's filled with other... found something

there that's worth further investigation. So, talking to the divers

Yeah, we were so close this time and at least we've got a good idea now of where

to look for the next time.

We'll keep trying.

We're closer than ever before.

Well done, Hans. Well done, mate. This is about the closest I think anybody's

ever come to... Exactly, mate. Well done.

Fantastic, yeah.

I'm really excited for this one. Hopefully.

Yeah, yeah. Really good.

That's all.

Fingers crossed. Here we come.

Our experience

tonight shows just how difficult the search for the Loch Ness Monster can be.

Despite years of research and months of planning, all we could get was a

fleeting encounter.

And yet...

That may be closer than anyone else has ever come.

At the very least, we've identified a new approach in finding the beast based

scientific logic.

As many as 18 ,000 new species are discovered every year.

That means four new ones might have been found in the time you've been watching

this program.

There's a chance we've identified something new tonight.

We may have even seen it.

No matter what, we've certainly added to the rich history of this legendary

creature. From St. Columba in the year 565, to Alex Campbell in 1933, to Gordon

Holmes in 2007, to us here today, one thing is clear.

Something is out there.

There's only one way to find out what the Loch Ness Monster truly is, and

to keep looking.

The search continues.

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