CANADA — A man in Ontario claims he saw a creature that looked “just like Loch Ness Monster”.

The Ontarian, a professional welder who provided a full name but asked to remain anonymous, told Cryptozoology News he was driving on the highway by Lake Nipissing when he spotted the dinosaur-like creature.

“I was going to another lake and cottage to go on a fishing trip. I looked over and saw a huge water creature break the surface of the water. I’m certain this was the real deal, it stayed surfaced for more than 5 minutes,” he said about the June 2001 afternoon encounter. Smartphones weren’t yet available and people didn’t carry cameras in their pockets daily.

The 40-year-old man described the creature has having a 20-feet-long “skinny long neck” and a head that “seemed small for such neck”.

“The head was like a football ball. It was a huge, dark in colour creature. As soon as I saw it, I thought of Loch Ness Monster.”

The eyewitness says that the sighting was real and that it was “beautiful”.

“But we need nature cameras here… for sure you will get footage,” he said.

The Loch Ness monster is a creature that was reportedly first seen in 1933 by Londoner George Spicer, who claimed to have seen “a dragon or prehistoric animal” carrying an animal in its mouth. Seven months later, the first purported picture of the cryptid was taken by Hugh Gray. Subsequent photographs were also produced throughout the years, although many of them have been proven to be hoaxes or floating tree branches.

In November 2016, a family claimed to have spotted a “Plesiosaurus” while on a fishing trip in Florida.

In 2015, a couple said they saw a dragon-like being in Texas. That same year, a a park ranger working at Lake Norman, North Carolina reported seeing animal that “looked like Loch Ness Monster” eating a duck.

In 2014, a man recorded footage of what he claimed to be the infamous aquatic monster in Scotland while staying at Foyers Bay Lodges.