Bownessie hunters begin their search today

10:30am Saturday 11th September 2010

By Bethany Abbit
Reporter

A PSYCHIC and a hotelier will be hoping for a close encounter when they venture to the depths of Windermere in search of ‘Bownessie’ today (Saturday).

The monster hunters have taken a £300,000 yacht to the deepest depths of the lake and will use sonar equipment to search for the beast.

And as psychic Dean ‘Midas’ Maynard and Langdale Chase Hotel owner Thomas ‘The Gladiator’ Noblett begin their adventure, a sighting from the mid 1970's has been disclosed for the first time.

Andrew Bury, has revealed that he spotted a 90 foot monster ripple in the water whilst fishing on Windermere more than 30 years ago.

“One summer Sunday whilst fishing I was rowing back from Lakeside when I saw a wave along the lake very near to our boat,” he said.

“It was a clear, calm day and it looked as though a boat was dragging along the water, but there was nothing else around that could have caused it.

“There were seagulls diving all over it and it was moving quite fast. We thought it was really strange. I’ve spent a lot of time sailing and I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Mr Bury, 52, who lives in Clitheroe, said the ripple disappeared after five minutes and he never saw it again.

“It could have been a small-scale submarine or a very large fish I suppose. It was very eerie,” he said.

This latest revelation is the earliest recorded encounter of the fabled monster, which is believed to lurk at the Lakeside end of the ancient lake.

The first sighting came in 2006 when tourist Steve Burnip witnessed a serpent like creature, around 15-feet in length, at the north end of the water.

In 2007, Windermere photographer Linden Adams described a ‘spine-tingling’ experience when he snapped the creature whilst walking with his wife near Gummers Howe.

"It just came out of the blue. The water was incredibly peaceful and then this huge thing appeared, diving and thrashing around,” he said.

Karen Walker was the next to report a sighting whilst boating.

“From out of nowhere this dark shadow just under the surface glided past the boat, it never broke the surface of the water, me and my sister-in-law both saw it."

Then last year, Mr Noblett himself was swamped by a three-foot wave whilst swimming on the lake.

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/8386548.Bownessie_hunters_begin_their_search_today/
(Submitted by Mark North)