I admit it. I love those "documentaries" on Bigfoot, aliens, and of course, The Loch Ness Monster. I recall recently sitting up way too late on a "school night" watching a show on Loch Ness that promised "startling new information." I knew that I should've just gone to bed, but no. Two minutes in, I was hooked. Enter my wife, Amy:

Amy: Aren't you heading for bed? It's late, and your alarm goes off at 3:15am, remember?

Me: In a minute. I'm watching this thing on Nessie.

Amy: What's a Nessie?

Me: It's the nickname they've given the Loch Ness Monster.

Amy: Who's "they?"

Me: Uhh...people who...uhh...nickname things?

Amy: And what makes this show different than the dozens of others on Loch Ness that you've watched?

Me: Startling new information!

Amy: Startling? You mean, like, they've captured it?

Me: Uhhh...I dunno.

Amy: Found out exactly where it lives in the Loch?

Me: (Seeing where this is going) Ummm...I don't know.

Amy: Well then, spoiler alert! They've got nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

Me: What do you mean, nothing?! They said "startling!"

Amy: (as if speaking to a small child) What do you do for a living?

Me: Is this a trick question?

Amy: No. You're a morning radio talk show host. You and Scot have access to all the latest available information on almost anything. You see where I'm going with this?

Me: Uhhh...yes?

Amy: No. No, you don't. My point is: if they had found, captured, filmed, or were eaten by the Loch Ness Monster don't you think you would have heard about it? And, if you missed it, don't you think Scot might have seen it? Maybe your listeners?

Me: I suppose so...

Amy: Oh, wait. Maybe you're right. The collective news-gathering agencies around the world would just skip it. Maybe not even notice it at all. I'm sure the way we'll find out the the latest earth-shattering news from Scotland will be some cheesy retread of old information at 11:00pm on a barely-watched, obscure cable channel. No, Fox and CNN would never have news like that!

Me: (turning off the TV) Wow. Look at the time. I should be in bed...

Amy: Sigh.

I cleverly recorded the Loch Ness Monster show for later viewing, only to discover that Amy was (again) absolutely right. No new information. No new photos or videos. Just some newer high-def footage of Loch Ness, and a re-hash of sightings and hoaxes throughout history.

Fast-forward to yesterday, and this from ABC News:

Google Maps view of Loch Ness near the village of Dores, shows a strange-looking form in the water.
Google Maps view of Loch Ness near the village of Dores, shows a strange-looking form in the water.
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Images of what is reportedly the infamous monster of Scotland's Loch Ness has spawned a spate of copycat sightings since the mythical creature was supposedly captured on Apple Maps by amateur Loch Ness Monster spotters last year.

Photos of what appears to be a creature roughly 100 feet in length floating under the surface of the North End of Loch Ness, a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands, has recently gone viral in media reports and online forums.

This is far cooler than anything I've seen on those late-night documentaries.

Glen Campbell, 49, the founder and president of The Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, which has been studying the images for months, told ABC News he's received at least two more reports of similar sightings of the elusive plesiosaur known as "Nessie," since they went public.

The pictures taken on satellite imagery by Apple for its smartphone maps were first flagged by two people late last year. Andrew Dixon and Peter Thain both separately sent images in to the Nessie Fan Club, which contains a register for every Loch Ness Monster sighting since 565 A.D., according to Campbell.

After much debate and speculation, the group decided to take the pictures to Scottish Canals, a government entity responsible for managing Scotland's waterways, where authorities also "had no idea what it was," he said.

Of course, it has been suggested that what we're looking at is not Nessie. It could be lots of things, right Glen?

"The interesting thing is that nobody has been able to explain what it is," Campbell said. "It's pretty large, so it's not a seal or an otter. It's also not a whale or basking shark as some people claim, because they wouldn't go in fresh water."

Campbell is also convinced the unidentified object is not a boat.

"When you look at it, it looks like it could be a boat, but on the right-hand side, if you look at the various images taken from Apple maps, you can see the other boats moored on the shore, which do not look similar at all," he said.

It looks like things just got exciting for the Loch Ness Monster Fan Club.

Campbell, who is a professional chartered accountant in Inverness, Scotland, said he had spotted Nessie with his own eyes once before. He was sitting in his car near the loch in March 1996 when he saw what he described as a "mini whale" duck out and back into the water twice.

"I went to report it and there was nobody keeping a list of all the sightings and the last logging had been done in 1985," Campbell said. "We also realized Nessie didn't have a fan club."

The incident motivated Campbell and his artist wife, Kathleen Campbell, 46, to form the Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, which now boasts 353 members. The pair claim they run the hobby site "for fun" and do not profit from it. Campbell also said he hasn't seen Nessie since the first time.

"If you see the Loch Ness more than twice, people think you've been drinking," he said.

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