Being a kid, the idea that some sort of dinosaur still alive and kicking in a loch in Scotland always appealed to me. As the years went by, failed investigation after failed investigation, my thoughts waned. Was Nessie an actual creature or a perpetrated hoax? I always had my reservations about Nessie, as I became older and wiser, I always thought how hard it would be for a plesiosaur to survive all these years, landlocked. Not to mention the how did it get there, how did it survive, and wouldn’t it have to had some way to reproduce (Surely these dinosaurs couldn’t have lived hundreds of years in lifespan)? Now it appears that  Scotland’s biggest tourist attractions is dead, and so are the dreams of dinosaur loving children everywhere…well at least my dream if anything.

NESSIE fans fear their favourite monster may be dead, it emerged yesterday.

There was only one decent sighting in Loch Ness last year and a recent documentary explored the possibility that the monster might be sleeping with the fishes.

Now Nessie watchers have warned that there are “reasons to be fearful”.

Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club president Gary Campbell said sightings were becoming increasingly rare.

The only one in 2009 he considers credible was near the Clansman Hotel in June.

Gary added: “We were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.

“When it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn’t been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.

“Ten years ago, we had a lot of good sightings but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off.”

There were, however, a number of “more dubious” sightings during 2009.

These included a sonar contact witnessed by ‘Allo, ‘Allo star Vicki Michelle while she was on a pleasure cruise on the loch in May, during a week-long run of the stage version of the BBC1 sitcom at Eden Court in Inverness.

And data analyst Ian Monckton, of the West Midlands, took a picture of what he thought could be the elusive monster while driving to Invermoriston late at night.

A 2009 episode of TV documentary series Monster Quest, titled Death At Loch Ness, examined the theory that Nessie’s carcass is lying at the bottom of the loch.

But Gary said: “If people start to believe this, it might affect tourist numbers.

“Whether you believe in Nessie or not, the monster is one of the most important tourist attractions we have.

“Perhaps, though, the answers are to be found underwater instead of on the loch’s surface. Unknown sonar contacts happen all the time. Maybe Nessie is just keeping her head down.”

Source: Linda Engels/Daily Record.co.uk