In 1970, a cryptid-obsessed biologist placed several cameras inside plastic trap boxes and sent them down to the depths of Scotland's Loch Ness in hopes of finally capturing compelling evidence of its storied monster — and now, it appears that one of those cameras has been recovered by sheer accident.
As USA Today and other outlets report, one of the cameras deployed by University of Chicago biologist Roy Mackal some 55 years ago was discovered during a test dive of an unmanned research submersible in the famed lake in the Scottish Highlands.
Specifically, the camera trap's mooring system appeared to have gotten tangled up in the propellers for the submersible, which was named, much to the chagrin of the British government, "Boaty McBoatface" by the public in a viral poll in 2016.
Full of sensitive oceanographic instruments meant to study Loch Ness' unique marine climate — it sits atop the British Isles' most prominent tectonic fault, after all — and the world beyond it, Boaty McBoatface's job description almost certainly doesn't include searching for monsters.
All the same, the researchers who work with the submersible, known affectionately as Boaty, were pleased with their discovery.
"While this wasn't a find we expected to make," Sam Smith, a robotics engineer with the UK's National Oceanography Centre, said in a press statement, "we're happy that this piece of Nessie hunting history can be shared and perhaps at least the mystery of who left it in the loch can be solved."
It seems that Smith and his team weren't quite aware of what they had their hands on when they pulled the aged but remarkably well-preserved Instamatic camera out of its thick plastic cylinder. With help from naturalist Adrian Shine — a researcher who's been studying Loch Ness for more than half a century himself — they were able to identify the famed UChicago cryptozoologist's camera.
"It was an ingenious camera trap consisting of a clockwork Instamatic camera with an inbuilt flash cube, enabling four pictures to be taken when a bait line was taken," Shine said in his own press statement. "It is remarkable that the housing has kept the camera dry for the past 55 years, lying more than [426 feet] deep in Loch Ness."
When researchers developed the Instamatic's film, they unfortunately didn't find any photos of Nessie, though they did recover some beautiful, eerie photos of the deep, dark lake.
A camera dropped in Loch Ness in the 1970s has been found and the film developed
The two pictures on the BBC website are the purest distillation of my biggest fears. There is of course no monster, there is only cold, deep, dark water and a layer of dead things. pic.twitter.com/LPSGgnu05u
— Monkey Bones𓅿 (@iratesheep) March 31, 2025
The government researchers subsequently turned the camera and film over to the Loch Ness Centre in the loch-straddling village of Drumnadrochit (Mackal himself passed away in 2013, meaning the camera couldn't be returned.) According to Nagina Ishaq, the center's general manager, the find provides another piece of the puzzle in the history of the "elusive beast."
"We are guardians of this unique story and, as well as investing in creating an unforgettable experience for visitors, we are committed to helping continue the search and unveil the mysteries that lie underneath the waters of the famous Loch," Ishaq said, per USA Today.
Indeed, it's lovely to hear of something good happening with a submersible for a change — and to know that there are people still out there searching for monsters in the deep.
More on marine beasts: It Turns Out Sharks Make Noises, and Here's What They Sound Like
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