Lough Ree searchers detect large animal in the water

Three men searching for the "Lough Ree Monster" claim to have detected the movement of a large, unrecognised animal in the water.

Using technology devised to track Soviet submarines during the Cold War, they say the movement showed up near Killinure Point last Monday night. And the readings were similar to those taken in Norway six years ago after reported sightings of a serpent three to 10 metres long with a large horse-like head.

It was said to be capable of swimming at speed and reportedly stuck its head into small fishing boats.

Such a description would match many of those claimed for the "Lough Ree Monster", most notably by three priests in 1960, who said they had seen a large snake-like creature swimming close to their boat, its head, about 18 inches long with eyes, a long nose and ears rising out of the water.

Fathers Richard Quigley, Matthew Burke and Daniel Murray described a creature similar to those allegedly sighted in Scandinavia.

The three-man expedition of Jan Sundberg of Sweden, Nick Sucik of Hawaii and Espen Samuelsen of Norway has previously searched in Norway and Scotland, where they were part of the search for the Loch Ness monster.

Jan is a journalist, Nick a US marine biologist based in Hawaii and Espen a zoology student in Norway.

They met through the Internet and a shared interest in "cryptozoology", the search for as yet unrecognised forms of animal life.

They became aware of Ireland's association with creatures locally described as monsters through the work of Irish man Peter Costello's book In Search of Monsters.

The team arrived in Glasson, on the east shore of Lough Ree, last Sunday and set up their computers and hydrophone.

The expedition is encouraged by the results and had not expected to find something so soon. "In Scotland earlier this year we spent some time from last April looking for the Loch Ness Monster," Jan said, "but it was not there."

Underwater their equipment can pick up a conversation from two kilometres away. To lessen the impact of other boats and land-based sounds the team goes out on the lake from about 10 p.m. to after midnight. The topography of the lake-bed is ideal for an eel-like creature, according to Jan, who says it is full of "ups and downs, rocks and canyon-like crevices". The expedition is looking in a quiet corner of Lough Ree, north of Hare Island on the Leinster shore. It is off the marked navigation, and Jan says external noise is minimal.

He maintains the expedition is conducted along strictly scientific lines, and unnecessary interference is eliminated. "In these conditions the hydrophone can work up to 100 metres deep and to a couple of kilometres away. It can detect individual boats and even individual propellors," he said.

At 10.30 p.m. on Monday the team recorded a sound they thought they recognised. "We thought it was the same sound we have recorded in Norway when we were looking for horse-eels there. It was very faint, but it was an animal sound, not a boat, and it was not in our library of known creatures," Jan said.

One sequence sounded like large bodies propelled by large flippers, moving through the water. Analysis would suggest the movements resembled a plesiosaur, a legendary aquatic creature.

A marine reptile, the plesiosaur lived in the sea, not in freshwater lakes, but fossils from plesiosaurs have been found in Scotland, the group claims.

"We left on May 8th. A retired man, Mr James Gray, took photos of the monster he says he saw on May 9th, They were syndicated by Rex Features."

The team hopes to record a better sound before it goes home at the end of this week, and digitally match it with those taken in Norway. "If it works out we will mount a bigger expedition next year," Jan said.

RTE1 is to screen a report on the expedition on Nation- wide on July 5th at 7 p.m.