This Briton settled on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland to try to confirm the existence of Nessie in 1991. But he explains to the BBC that in 32 years, he has only seen a shadow once abnormal, and that he is still waiting for a second appearance.
Sixty-something Steve Feltham has dedicated 32 years of his life to Nessie, the creature that legend has it has been paddling around Scotland’s Loch Ness for centuries. 32 years of scrutinizing the lake, the slightest wavelet, silhouette or shape emerging from the surface. He takes stock of three decades of research in a long interview with the BBC and admits that he has not found a monster. Yet he put all his energy into it.
Steve Feltham fell in love with Loch Ness at age seven when his parents took him on holiday to Scotland. The legend of Nessie, this mysterious and elusive creature that has been talked about since the Middle Ages fascinates him, but looking for her does not make a job. Growing up, he put his passion aside and was in turn graphic designer, potter, alarm seller, until 1991, when Nessie’s quest took on an obsessive dimension. Steve Feltham leaves everything, his girlfriend, his job, his house in Dorset and leaves to settle alone on the banks of Loch Ness, convinced that with a little diligence and perseverance, he will find the beast.
Unparalleled knowledge of the lake, its fauna and flora
He looks, observes, scrutinizes every day. “I honestly thought it would be simpler, easier, because in the first year I saw something, I really thought a second sighting wasn’t going to take very long, but I have to admit that I I’m still there, 32 years later, at this same point: waiting for a second appearance” . And it’s off to a bad start. All the scientific research undertaken, including an analysis of the DNA taken from the water of the lake, found nothing extraordinary.
Yet Feltham does not give up. He holds the Guinness record for the longest Loch Ness monster hunt, an assiduity that has earned him the status of another local curiosity, the man to whom tourists come to report their own observations, doubts and hypotheses. Steve Feltham did not find Nessie, on the other hand he says that he gained two things: a freedom which he would not give up for anything in the world, and an unparalleled knowledge of the place, its fauna, its flora. It is perhaps that, at bottom, the true marvel which it was necessary to find.