On May 2, 1933, a sighting of the Loch Ness Monster made local news, and the modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster was born. The Inverness Courier reported the account of a local couple who claimed to have seen "a huge animal rolling and swooping across the water". The story of the "monster" became a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending reporters to Scotland and a circus offering a £20,000 reward for the monster's capture.
After the April 1933 sighting was reported in the newspapers on May 2, interest steadily grew, especially after another couple claimed to have seen the animal on land.
Amateur investigators have kept a near-constant vigil for decades, and in the 1960s several British universities conducted sonar surveys of the lake. While no conclusive evidence was found, on each detection, sonar operators detected some sort of large, moving underwater object. In 1975, another expedition to Loch Ness combined sonar and underwater photography. An enhanced image shows the giant flippers of an aquatic animal.
Further sonar surveys in the 1980s and 1990s produced more inconclusive readings. In 1994, it was discovered that the famous 1934 photo was a complete hoax, which only slightly dampened the enthusiasm of tourists and investigators for Loch Ness's legendary monster.
