Robert Rines Underwater Photographs — Loch Ness, Scotland (1972–1975)

Between 1972 and 1975, Robert Rines — a patent attorney, inventor, and co-founder of the Academy of Applied Science — conducted a series of underwater investigations at Loch Ness that produced the most debated photographic evidence in the monster's history. In August 1972, using a combination of underwater cameras and side-scan sonar deployed in Urquhart Bay, Rines's team captured an image that appeared to show a large, diamond-shaped flipper attached to a massive body. The flipper was estimated at four to six feet in length, resembling the appendage of a plesiosaur or other marine reptile. In 1975, Rines returned and obtained additional underwater photographs, including one that appeared to show a long-necked creature and another seemingly depicting a horned or gargoyle-like head. The 1972 flipper photograph was enhanced by computer scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the images were presented at a joint meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the House of Commons in December 1975. Rines and British naturalist Sir Peter Scott even proposed a formal scientific name for the creature: Nessiteras rhombopteryx, meaning 'Ness monster with diamond-shaped fin.' However, critics argued the photographs were heavily enhanced and that the original, unprocessed images showed much more ambiguous shapes. Subsequent analysis suggested the flipper image may have been artificially sharpened and that the 'body' photograph could show the loch bottom.