The forever-bashful Loch Ness Monster has reportedly just made a spectacular near-appearance. Sixteen people were awestruck to see a powerful wake thrashing across the the famed Scottish lake for five to ten minutes. No one saw the creature itself, but the eyewitnesses are convinced that some sort of large submersed creature must have caused the motions on the water's surface.

The event was observed by staff and guests at the lakeside Craigcarroch House Hotel on the evening of June 6. Part-owner Kate Munro was the first person to spot the strange wake, while out for an evening stroll with her daughter-in-law.

"We saw a disturbance on the loch, a frothy disturbance with a wake tailing behind it," Munro said. "It would have been something large that was creating that disturbance, and it zig-zagged quite a few times as an animal would do."

She notified her husband Dave at the hotel, and a number of intrigued guests joined them in watching the bizarre occurrence until it vanished. Loch Ness was otherwise placid, devoid of passing boats or other forces that might explain the wake.

"I do not think there is any other explanation than it was the Loch Ness monster," said David Neeld, a tourist from England. "There were a few locals in the hotel's bar and they said it was Nessie, so I will go along with that," he said. Alcohol presumably played no part in the sightseers' testimony.

Whether this phenomenon was really Nessie nosing about or not, a lot of guests of the Craigcarroch House Hotel will go home thinking they've seen Scotland's greatest legend firsthand... and that can't be bad for business. ParaScope will be watching for further developments at Loch Ness.

In other recent sea-monster news, in May fishermen landed a strange 25-foot skeleton off the coast of Malaysia. With a "reptilian" skull and large, sharp teeth, it was first believed to have been a dragon or some sort of unknown aquatic beast. Examination by a taxonomist revealed it as the remains of a killer whale, a species common to Malaysian waters.

(c) Copyright 1996 ParaScope, Inc.