When a Norweigen survey team took to the mysterious Loch Ness in 2016, they were intending to shed some light on the depths of the infamous Loch — but were in no way intending to find the Loch Ness Monster.
The sunken movie prop from 1970, that is.
Close to 50 years later, a prop built in 1969 for the movie “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” was picked up by the sonar robot “Munin” — the monster was 30 feet long (9m) prop and rested on its side at the bottom of Loch Ness. As the story goes, the monster prop originally had humps built into its back to help it stay afloat. Director Billy Wilder was not a fan of the on the back of the monster, and even though he was warned taking the humps away would affect the prop’s buoyancy, he decided to get rid of them, and the prop sank.
In the film, Holmes and Watson are following an investigation that leads them to the Scottish Highlands. After encountering dwarfs and monks, Watson believes to have spotted the Loch Ness Monster. It’s later discovered that someone was building a pre-World War 1 submarine for the British Navy, and it was being disguised as the infamous monster.
According to a BBC News article published on April 13, 2016, the team had so many issues lighting scenes that took place on Loch Ness, that after the prop sank they built another prop that was just the monster’s head and neck, and moved filming to an indoor water tank. Regardless, this is further evidence that as much we think we know about Loch Ness, the water still holds secrets.
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Written by Leah Wright