- The Loch Ness Centre, a tourist attraction, is seeking "monster hunters" for a large-scale search.
- The center is hosting a weekend search operation for the Loch Ness Monster on August 26 and 27.
Since its first reported sighting in 565 AD, there have been over a thousand recorded spottings of the legendary beast said to lurk in the waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, according to the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.
Now, the Loch Ness Centre, a tourist attraction and exhibit dedicated to the creature, is mounting its "biggest search in 50 years" to spot ol' Nessie — and it needs your help.
With the Loch Ness Exploration, which describes itself as "an independent and voluntary research team," the Loch Ness Centre is offering the public a chance to join the team on an "exciting quest" to search for the mythical sea serpent.
"We are looking for budding monster hunters to be involved in the weekend, taking place Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th August, with the search being the biggest of its kind since the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau (LNIB) studied the Loch in 1972," the Loch Ness Centre said.
According to the center, the research team will use thermal drones to search the water and a hydrophone to detect acoustic signals that resemble "Nessie-like calls."
The Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register says there have been three reported sightings of the legendary monster already this year.
In June, one couple claimed to have spotted a 65-foot-long shape moving just beneath the water's surface, the website said.
The most iconic photo from Loch Ness, featuring a grainy, shadowy image of what appears to be a creature with a long neck, has long been debunked as a hoax. But a team of researchers in 2019 proposed that the sightings could have been of a giant eel.
"There are large amounts of eel DNA in Loch Ness," Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from New Zealand's University of Otago, said, according to CNN.
In June, British entrepreneur David Fishwick told This Morning show, a British daytime program, that he's offering a £25,000 reward for definitive proof of the monster's existence.