Has Apple Maps Found The Loch Ness Monster?

After centuries of searching, waiting, and hoping, Nessie believers can finally feel vindicated (sort of). So-called experts (read: fans) are beside themselves this week, after Apple Maps apparently captured the Loch Ness monster swimming along happily beneath the murky Scottish waters. Either that, or it's the wake of a boat. (But it's probably the former, right?).

The grainy, zoomed-in image, photographed via satellite, shows a form roughly 100ft long and seemingly flanked on either side by two large flippers. Said one of the spotters, 26-year old Andrew Dixon:"It was a total fluke that I found it. I was looking at satellite images of my town and then just thought I'd have a look at Loch Ness. The first that came into my head when I saw it was, 'That's the Loch Ness Monster'."

The image has been studied for the last six months by many Nessie authorities at the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, and they're excited to conclude that all evidence is pointing to the mythical beast. "We've been looking at it for a long time trying to work out exactly what it is," Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said to the Daily Mail. "It looks like a boat wake, but the boat is missing. You can see some boats moored at the shore, but there's one here. We've shown it to boat experts and they don't know what it is."

"Whatever this is, it is under water and heading south, so unless there have been secret submarine trials going on in the loch, the size of the object would make it likely to be Nessie," Campbell added.

Before you don your tweed and head to the Highlands, though, be aware that many such sightings have turned out to be false — one of the three "sightings" over last year wasn't actually taken at Loch Ness, and another one turned out to be a duck. Adding insult to injury? Some cynics have pointed out that, in spite of the supposedly "missing boat", the Apple Maps image still looks suspiciously like a boat wake. In fact, they've even made a GIF that shows the exact boat wake the image seems to be of:

Still, maybe this means Apple is getting serious about the map game. Remember when Google Maps found Jesus's face in Hungary?

Images: Apple Maps