The Loch Ness monster’s secret hiding place has been revealed

KEITH Stewart was “never a believer” in the Loch Ness monster, but now he thinks he’s discovered the famous creature’s secret hiding place.

Loch Morar is currently Britain’s deepest loch at 1017 and this was previously followed by Loch Ness at 813, until the new discovery

THE secret hiding place of the mythical Loch Ness monster may have been discovered in a stretch of water off the coast of Inverness.

A fisherman who has sonically mapped out the depths of the world’s seas believes he may have found a spot where the sea creature has been residing.

Loch Morar is currently Britain’s deepest loch at 1017 feet and is apparently home to another mysterious ‘water kelpie’ Morag.

Previously, Loch Ness was the UK’s second largest loch, measuring at 813 feet deep, until the latest discovery by former fisherman Keith Stewart.

The 43-year-old sightseeing cruise captain discovered an 889 foot crevice about nine miles east of Inverness, according to his sonar equipment.

Colleagues at Jacobite Cruises, a tourist vessel company, have named it ‘Keith’s Abyss’ and it’s sparked his passion to find more discoveries.

“I wasn’t really a believer of the monster beforehand,” he told the Daily Record.

“But two weeks ago, I got a sonar image of what looked like a long object with a hump lying at the bottom.

“It wasn’t there when I scanned the loch bed later.

“That intrigued me and then I found this dark shape about halfway between the Clansman Hotel and Drumnadrochit which transpired to be a crevice or trench.

“I measured it with our state of the art 3D equipment at 889 feet, which is 77 feet deeper than the previous recorded deepest point called Edwards’ Deep.

“But I have gone back several times over the abyss and I have verified my measurements. It gets deeper from 825 feet to the recorded depth.

Loch Morar is currently Britain’s deepest loch at 1017 and this was previously followed by Loch Ness at 813, until the new discovery

Mr Stewart said the sight is only about a few hundred yards offshore, which is much closer than locations where previous sonar searches for the Loch Ness have traditionally been.

“Searches of the monster have also been in those areas as well as Urquhart Bay so maybe the local legends of underwater caves connecting Loch Ness to other lochs and perhaps even the waters of the east and west coast are true,” he said.

“Obviously it will need more research. But it is an intriguing prospect.

“It is possible that an underwater earthquake has opened this up in recent times because the Great Glen lies in a well-known fault in the earth’s crust and tremors have been felt along it.

“I quit the open sea having been around the world and back using sonar equipment for years and decided to look for something more sedate.

“Being captain of the Jacobite vessel was something different and appealed to me.

“I started the job in March but now this discovery has made my job even more interesting.”

Gary Campbell, president of Loch Ness monster Fan Club and registrar of sighting agrees.

“This just adds another dimension — we thought the loch was 810 feet deep and just had a 20 foot diameter hole at the bottom,” he said.

“Now we’ve discovered a whole trench that makes the loch nearly 900 feet deep which is twice the depth of the North Sea.

“There could be more trenches which make it deeper.

“This looks like where Nessie and her whole family could really hide out and explain why they are rarely seen.”