Forget the fabled Loch Ness Monster. Now we've got something else just as strange at Scotland's famous lake where, according to legend, a prehistoric beast makes its home.
Move over, Nessie, UFOs seem to take a liking to your backyard. A tourist unexpectedly photographed what looks like a pair of disc-shaped objects flying above the water of the 22-mile-long freshwater lake (pictured below).
Back on April 29, Alan Betts was vacationing in the Scottish Highlands with his wife, Anna, and her parents. They were at a holiday cottage near Urquhart Castle -- a longtime monster hunting location. In fact, you can spend your day in front of a computer screen, from anywhere in the world, looking for Nessie via a live Loch Ness web cam.
But on this day in April, it wasn't Nessie that had its picture taken -- it was something else.
"Alan is quite skeptical about paranormal things in general. I am not," Anna Betts told The Huffington Post in an email from the UK. "I believe in what human beings sometimes can't see or explain. I am quite a spiritual person overall. However, I have been quite skeptical about UFOs in particular -- up until now.
"We can say 100 percent that the camera was perfectly fine. It was raining very heavily, there were no lights in the house to resemble the objects in any shape or form. We were also quite high up, about 900 feet over the lake. And our Akita dog was quite weird that day, barking into the sky," Anna Betts said.
It was only after the weather dramatically changed from total sunshine to intense cloudiness that Anna's mother went out and snapped a picture of the landscape.
At the time the picture was taken, none of the family members noticed the thing -- or things -- in the air above the water of the loch. Betts and his wife only recently looked at the images from their vacation, and that's when they suddenly noticed the unusual aerial objects.
"After the holiday, we were looking through the pictures on our PC, as they were taken on a digital camera. On the PC screen, the resolution was better and it was only then we saw the objects. When we zoomed in (picture below), we were in shock," Betts, the director of a refrigerator company in Bradford, UK, eventually told Caters News Agency in the UK after he and his wife decided to publish the picture.
"I can't offer any logical explanation," Betts told the news agency. "I am probably one of the most skeptical people you could find about things like this, but I just can't explain what it is. I know what it looks like, though.
"We showed the pictures to Anna's parents who were as shocked as us, and her dad is probably more skeptical than me."
After getting over the initial shock of seeing the disc-shaped objects above the water, Anna Bates said she and Alan, pictured above, also showed the image to very close friends and family.
"Their reaction was very similar to ours -- stunned -- and can't give any reasonable explanation," she said. "But people definitely know that it was never Photoshopped or faked. We have pictures taken at the same time in almost the same spot with no camera faults or similar objects. Some think the reason we didn't see them is that they were flying into the lake at a very high speed, invisible to a human eye, but somehow the camera caught it."
Anna Betts also told HuffPost that one comment claimed the objects were nothing but a light reflected in the window. "We never had a light on, but even if we did, it's definitely not the shape, plus there are two exactly the same discs on the picture."
What do you think about these Loch Ness UFOs? Planes, drones, large insects...something else?
The truth is out there...somewhere.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.
Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.
Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.