It won't end the search for the world's most famous sea monster, but maritime researchers say they have found the Loch Ness Monster.
Well... maybe not THE fabled Loch Ness Monster, but a famous moviemaker's vision of the mythical beast.
The discovery was made as part of a survey of the lake done by Norwegian company Kongsberg Maritime and two local groups, The Loch Ness Project and VisitScotland.
The surveyors deployed an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called MUNIN, which pinged on a very Nessie-looking feature lying on the seafloor of Scotland's second deepest body of water.
The image clearly showed the body and head of something that looked very much like our notion of 'Nessie,' based on the grainy photos and lousy video that purport to show her in the water.
Long-lost Monster
In fact, it was Nessie! Just not the real Nessie. This was a long-lost film mock-up of the monster that sank in the 1970s, while director Billy Wilder was on the lake filming "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes."
The underwater robot wasn't necessarily searching for Nessie, but finding her was an added bonus for Kongsberg.
They plan to keep putting MUNIN through its paces at the loch, which is notoriously deep, and difficult to survey.
So, stay tuned, maybe Nessie is still out there.
