The UK’s leading Loch Ness Monster enthusiast was left petrified after a “close encounter” during one of his expeditions.
Alan McKenna, the head of Loch Ness Exploration, a voluntary research group based in Scotland, confessed he was paralysed with fear when an object emerged from the water, lit up by his torchlight. A video clip of the incident, captured on camera, reveals the moment Alan discovered he’d merely stumbled upon a slender, harmless water weed, as reported by Need to Know.
Despite frequently embarking on trips onto the loch in pursuit of Nessie, the robust Scotsman confessed he actually harbours a fear of deep, dark water.
(Image: Jam Press/Alan McKenna)
Alan was at Urquhart Bay with team members Jared Christie and Dave Hastings on Saturday evening. In the video, a startled Alan can be heard exclaiming: “Oh what a fright, Jared, what a fright.” To which Jared responded: “It’s just a plant.”
Following the incident, he conceded: “It was a hilarious and slightly embarrassing moment where an underwater weed caught us off-guard. There was never a dull moment over the weekend. We were conducting hydrophone recordings and exploring the wildlife around the shoreline at night with infrared and night vision,” reports the Mirror.
(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)
“I have a genuine fear of deep dark water – it’s called Thalassophobia. Worst fear to have in this line of work. It was crazy dark. I was already nervous on the pier and in this funny moment my imagination got the better of me.”
In August, Alan was part of a team that used underwater detectors to detect a regular heartbeat deep within Loch Ness. The rhythmic pulsing was captured on a hydrophone that was deployed 100-feet below the surface.
Although the source of the sound remained a mystery, it certainly stirred up a monster-sized buzz.
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