Loch Ness Monster Search Yields Only a Few 'Gloops'

The biggest organized search for the Loch Ness Monster in 50 years did not turn up any monsters, sadly. But it probably yielded just enough to keep the legend alive for another generation or so. "We did hear something—we heard four distinctive 'gloops,'" search leader Alan McKenna of the Loch Ness Centre in Scotland tells Reuters. "We all got a bit excited, ran to go make sure the recorder was on and it wasn't plugged in." Drat. The center organized the two-day search over the weekend with scores of volunteers, per DW.com. They used drones that produced thermal images, underwater microphones, spotters on boats, etc., per the Scotsman. Nessie, however, failed to show.

"The waves were really choppy," American volunteer Caroline McNamara tells Reuters. "The rain was really coming down and there were a lot of boats on the water ... they all came up and waved and I'm like, 'This is a bad time, we're trying to listen for Nessie,' but it is what it is." Search organizers say they also received a slew of tips and "sightings" from people following along on live-stream cameras, but as DW.com puts it, "going through the data and separating fact from wishful thinking will take a long time." (New research casts doubt on the popular theory that Nessie sightings can be explained by big eels.)