By Tim Binnall
A teenage girl has been credited with 2023's first official sighting of the Loch Ness Monster after she spotted and subsequently photographed a puzzling series of humps that emerged from the waters of the iconic Scottish location. The first potential on-site observation of the elusive creature in nearly six months, the long-awaited event reportedly occurred on April 5th as thirteen-year-old Francesca McGarvey was with her parents in a car driving around Loch Ness. Gazing out the window, she was stunned to see "a dark shape emerge from the water, traveling north toward Urquhart castle."
Upon closer inspection, the teen recalls seeing "humps" resembling "the back of a whale" and estimated that the entire length of the anomalous animal to be "about 20 feet in total." Amazingly, the unidentified creature remained above the surface of the water for approximately 30 seconds before vanishing. During that time, McGarvey managed to snap a photo of the suspected Nessie (seen here) and "alerted her parents" to the wondrous sight. Although they quickly tried to pull over to get a better look at the creature, they were unable to find a safe spot to stop. That said, McGarvey's father did also catch a brief glimpse of the oddity which they say could not have been caused by a boat as there were none around at the time.
By virtue of her photo as well as her father's corroboration of the mysterious creature seen in the water, McGarvey's report has been recognized by the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register as their first accepted eyewitness account for 2023. The distinction may bring some relief to Nessie fans as it marks the first time the cryptid may have been seen by a person at Loch Ness since October 11th of last year. Of course, there have been a handful of webcam captures of anomalous forms at the site so far this year, though such reports remain unrecognized by the official record after it changed its evidentiary standards last year and opted to eschew such cases.