Researchers using underwater scanners have found evidence of 'Nesski' - measuring up to 33 feet in length - in the deep waters of Lake Labynkyr, says a new report.
Intriguingly, the evidence is at a lake where native Evenk and Yakut people have long claimed an underwater creature lurks.
The evidence includes a picture which, it is claimed, shows the monster, says the Siberian Times.
Known as ‘the Devil', testimony dating back to the 19th century says the monster has enormous jaws.
Associate Professor Lyudmila Emeliyanova, of Moscow State University, told The Siberian Times that on her own scientific mission to Labynkyr she recorded ‘several seriously big underwater objects’ with sonar readings.
Images have also recently emerged from a 2006 scientific trip to the lake when strange objects - one of 21ft 4in (6.5 metres) in length - were recorded on a Humminbird Piranha MAX 215 Portable fish-finder at a depth of 138 to 197 feet.
Based on the sonic readings, researchers drew how the creature might look in real-life on the fish-finder's screen.
‘It was our fourth or fifth day at the lake when our echo sounding device registered a huge object in the water under our boat," said Dr Emeliyanova of her own close encounter.
It was clearly alive and too large to be one of the dozen or so known fish species in the lake.
‘The object was very dense, of homogeneous structure, surely not a fish nor a shoal of fish, and it was above the bottom," she said.
‘I was very surprised but not scared nor shocked, after all we did not see this animal, we only registered a strange object in the water. But I can clearly say - at the moment, as a scientist, I cannot offer you any explanation of what this object might be.’
Other similar findings since her 2002 mission mean that a new scientific mission to discover the truth is essential, said Dr Emeliyanova, a biogeographer.
‘I believe there is a mystery in this lake because there is no smoke without fire,’ she said.
She was told an account of two fishermen who were ‘in a 10 metre long boat when suddenly the bow began to rise as if somebody was pushing it from under the water.
'It was a heavy boat, only a huge and strong animal can do such a thing. The fishermen were stuck by fear. They did not see anything, no head, no jaws.’
Another 'sighting' came when a group of Russian geologists were fishing in the lake.
‘Suddenly those in the boat started screaming - apparently they saw a huge head of some creature. Others, who were waiting for them on shore, started shooting, and scared the creature away,’ said a witness.
Monster or myth?: The local population have given testimonies on the monster they call 'the Devil' since the 19th century.
A 1953 sighting of a 'monster' in neighboring Lake Vorota by respected Soviet geologist Viktor Tverdokhlebov was initially covered up by the Soviet authorities.
But now Dr Emeliyanova wants to investigate a theory that the two lakes are linked by underground tunnels.
Strangely, despite being close to Oymyakon, the coldest inhabited town on Earth, the lake does not freeze completely in winter.
There has been speculation in Russia that Labynkyr and Vorota might be inhabited by a school of ichthyosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles resembling dolphins or sharks, or plesiosaurs, a popular theory concerning 'Nessie' in Scotland which is often depicted with a long neck.
Another version is that relic killer whales could have become marooned in Labynkyr when it was attached to the sea.
Some accounts even suggest the 'creature' makes a hideous primeval cry as it attacks its prey.
‘Personally, I do believe that when the information about something strange circulates among local people for so many years, it just can't be groundless, it means something is there,’ said Dr Emeliyanova.
’I know the local people very well - they are ingenuous but they do not lie.’
She stressed: ‘There are many lakes in Yakutia and around the Indigirka River, hundreds of them, big and small, their shores are more or less populated, but all the talk is about Labynkyr and Vorota lakes, and it has gone on for many dozens of years.
'It makes us think about it. And these stories about the local monster are older than those about the Loch Ness monster.’
Source: Daily Mail UK
