Loch Ness 'Monster' May Be Underwater Wave

D R U M N A D R O C H I T, Scotland, July 12 -- It may finally be safe to go back into the water at Loch Ness, if researcher Adrian Shine is to be believed. The man who has established himself as one of the world’s premier Loch Ness Monster experts now claims his research has proven that Scotland’s most enduring mystery may be nothing more than a massive underwater wave.

Shine, who has dedicated the last 25 years to studying “Nessie,” says most of the sightings that have occurred can be attributed to giant sub-surface water movements, some of them as large as 131 feet.

Shine told ABCNEWS he believes that friction between different “layers” of water has created unusual tidal patterns, which have led people in the past to believe that they have spotted a monster.

“This could explain a great many of the sightings,” he said.

Not Sure What He Believes

Shine, who runs the Loch Ness Project in Drumnadrochit, Scotland, says the underwater waves could be attributed to Loch Ness’ location on a fault line as well as its position facing winds from the southwest. In conjunction with the Loch Ness Exhibition 2000, he has set up a laser-driven demonstration to illustrate this tidal effect.

Shine has sought to prove that the Loch Ness Monster could be a hoax before. In 1993, in an effort to convince locals that Nessie may be little more than a big fish, he “grew” a Baltic Sturgeon in a pond adjacent to the Loch.

The experiment was designed to show that large fish could survive and grow in an environment like Loch Ness, which provides meager nutrients for fish. His sturgeon still lives in the pond, Shine said.

‘I Saw It’

But Ian Cameron, a police inspector and old friend of Shine’s, says what he saw while out fishing one night in 1965 was no sturgeon, and no wave pattern either.

“I’m perfectly satisfied that the object had a decision-making process of some sort, call it a brain if you like,” Cameron says. He describes a large object moving with the current and then turning around to move away from the shore and against the current. His report was corroborated by seven other witnesses, who claim they saw the same object behaving the same way on the same night. Cameron’s is the longest sighting on record — he claims he saw the monster above the water for 50 minutes. Asked if he believes that science and the work of Adrian Shine might refute his explanation as well as the mystery of the monster, Cameron says no, “I saw it. There’s no doubt about that, with seven witnesses.”