Sensational Nessie Video wins International Award

2002's William Hill award (since discontinued) for the best Nessie sighting was by a Glasgow Postman.

The award, sponsored by William Hill the bookmakers, was presented in March 2002 and was worth £500 to the winner, Bobbie Pollock, 43 of Crookston, Glasgow.

Mr Pollock took the sensational footage when walking in the hills above Invermoriston bay with his family during the month of August.

Bobbie and his wife Catherine, 39, were resting on a seat at the top of a well known hill walkers' path when he spotted something moving in the water. A regular visitor to the area, he had his video camera with him to record his two year old son's hill climbing exploits.

"We stopped at a stone seat for our lunch and I was looking out of the bay when I saw something that was definitely out of the ordinary" said Mr Pollock

"The part coming out of the water appeared quite tall and narrow like a pole, but it was moving slowly along towards Fort Augustus against the wind and the waves. It appeared to be black all over and was about 60 feet out from the shore"

Mr Pollock's video camera had a zoom lens and was fitted with an optical image stabiliser. After contemplating what to do with the footage, Bobbie contacted Gary Campbell, President of the Inverness based Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club. The Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club administered the 2002 award on behalf of William Hill.

"Bobbie said that he waited for so long to contact us because he feared ridicule. But when I saw it, I realised that what he had was probably one of the best pieces of Nessie footage ever. This piece of video is some of the best proof yet that Nessie is still alive and well in the Scottish Highlands" explained Mr Campbell

"The footage, lasting over three minutes, is one of the longest recorded films of Nessie ever. After careful analysis, we concluded that whatever was in the water was definitely animate. We then considered the usual creatures that are seen in the loch such as otters, birds, dogs, deer and seals. Our conclusion was that the size of what Bobbie filmed could only be explained by being a seal but otherwise was unlike anything that would normally be expected to be there. We were sure however that it wasn't a seal because it comes so far out of the water"

The fan club contacted expert in the field Mark Stewart, Curator of Marine Mammals for the company that runs the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Oban, Argyll

"We were asked to examine the footage to ascertain whether the creature in the water could be identified." Said Mr Stewart "We agreed that the most likely explanation for something of that size in Loch Ness would be a seal that had followed fish up the River Ness in search of food. However, after examining the video along with other members of my staff, and noting the unusual movement of the creature, we concluded that we could not say that what we were seeing was a seal"

Graham Sharpe of William Hill, sponsors of the award said yesterday "a lot of research went into deciding whether Bobbie's film was worthy of the award. When we saw that even experts were baffled, we realised that what we were seeing was indeed probably Nessie!"

Nessie was first spotted in 565ad by St Columba and there were five sightings of Nessie last year. There has been one sighting reported this year. The award for the best sighting has since been discontinued but a sightings register is still maintained and an annual competition for the best sighting also takes place. More details can be found at www.lochness.co.uk.

Click here to see last year's £1000 winner...

Copyright 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this website
may be copied or reproduced without the
prior written consent of the author.
For info about the Official Loch Ness
Monster Fan Club or to register a sighting please email the president@lochness.co.uk