200 monster hunters armed with drones join the biggest search in 50 years for Scotland's fabled Loch Ness creature

• 200 volunteers are searching for the Loch Ness monster this weekend.
• The operation in the Scottish Highlands is the biggest of its kind in 50 years.
• The search for "Nessie" has been underway for 1300 years.

The fabled Loch Ness monster is attracting the biggest search operation in 50 years. The elusive monster, affectionately nicknamed "Nessie," is a fixture of Scottish folklore and is believed to inhabit the deep lake in the Scottish Highlands.

The legendary beast has eluded capture and definitive proof it was reportedly first spotted in the 6th century. The modern myth of Nessie began more recently when, in 1933, a hotel manager claimed to have seen a whale-like creature in the loch.

The famous "surgeon's photograph" of 1934 allegedly shows the marine creature's head and neck. It was published in the Daily Mail and continues to make waves despite most now agreeing that the photo was an elaborate hoax.

This weekend, 200 monster hunters are trying to do what those before them failed to accomplish, the Washington Post reports.

They are descending on the Highlands better equipped than their predecessors, using flying and underwater drones to survey the lake, which is 788 feet deep and 23 miles long.

They are also employing infrared cameras to determine heat spots and a hydrophone that can pick up acoustic signals 60 feet below the loch's surface.

These are not just people "with binoculars and a tub of sandwiches," insists Paul Nixon, head of Loch Ness Center. The expedition is the most elaborate in the 1300-year search for Nessie, the New York Times reports.

Many have speculated that Nessie is a dinosaur lost in time

Alongside the 200 volunteers on-site, almost 300 people have signed up to follow a livestream from the search, the BBC reports.

Paul Nixon added: "The interest in our weekend of activities has been fantastic, and to see how people worldwide are still fascinated by the story of the loch and Nessie."

The effort is the biggest since 1972, when the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau carried out a study. In the meantime, other efforts to find Nessie have persisted. In 1987, 24 boats outfitted with echo sounders swept the loch's length in Operation Deepscan.

Many speculated that the creature was a plesiosaur dinosaur, a marine reptile that went extinct 65.5 million years ago. They somehow became trapped in Loch Ness when a geological rupture cut it off from the sea.

In 2019, scientists reported Nessie could be a big eel.

This weekend's operation, "The Quest," will span the 23-mile-long loch. Participants are asked to document everything they see from organized surface-watched locations.

"We are looking for breaks in the surface and asking volunteers to record all manner of natural behavior on the loch," said Alan McKenna of Loch Ness Exploration to BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland program.

Alan Rawlinson, business development manager at Visit Inverness Loch Ness, told The Washington Post that the intrigue surrounding Nessie and Inverness draws more than one million visitors annually.