The largest ever organised attempt to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster will take place next weekend when up to 35,000 people are supplied with thousands of cameras and offered a £1 Million incentive by bookmakers William Hill to find evidence which will finally persuade the Natural History Museum to admit that Nessie is flesh (or perhaps fish) and blood and not a myth.

Hill’s have teamed up with the organisers of the ROCK NESS music festival, which runs on the banks of Loch Ness on June 9th and 10th in an effort to produce proof of the existence of Nessie. The bookies have put up a Nessie Reward of £1 Million to anyone who can convince experts at the Natural History Museum that Nessie exists –but are offering odds of 250/1 about it happening in 2007.

“We are hoping the one Million pound bounty will help to solve one of the great enigmas of modern times. This is a great opportunity with such huge crowds on the shores of Loch Ness and it will be fantastic if someone can get a picture with one of the thousands of Nessie-Snappers cameras we are handing out, that can rival the ’Surgeon’s photograph’, which is still the most recognised despite being taken over fifty years ago,” said Hill’s spokesman Rupert Adams.

There is some evidence that Nessie is a music lover and the Rock Ness festival will hopefully lure Nessie to the surface but should she prove her elusive self Hill’s are offering a number of consolation prizes including £1000 and a free £250 bet for the best photographic evidence real or staged.

To qualify for the Million Pound Bounty all evidence must be gathered over the weekend of the 9th-10th of June and must be submitted to William Hill prior to High Noon Monday 18th June.

Natural History Museum Guidelines On What Constitute A Monster:

1/ The NHM cannot undertake to identify photographs, sonar traces, written descriptions or other forms of indirect evidence, although would be interested in seeing them.

2/ The NHM hope to be able to detect most hoaxes (e.g man-made modifications to bones) but cannot guarantee to identify all fragments and would not regard a determination of ‘animal bone, unidentifiable’ as positive indication of a monster (a small piece of horse rib would probably be impossible to allocate to species).

3/ The NHM will make every effort to provide a positive identification of tangible, adequate specimens.

4/ The NHM is unsure as to what might constitute a ‘monster’ though might define it as a species hitherto unknown to science or widen the definition to include species previously known as fossils.

ENDS

Sunday 3 June 2007

For further media enquiries please contact:

Mary McGowne @ The Vine 07786 231 066

mary@thevineprcompany.co.uk

Rupert Adams @ William Hill 07841 011 584