The photograph of a mysterious four-humped creature on England's Lake Windermere may have been a floating car tyre.
The image made news around the world last month, adding to speculation another Loch Ness monster lived in the Cumbria lake.
John Phillips, 46, of Solihull, West Midlands, was holidaying in Windermere with his wife Liz Phillips and their three daughters last week when they came across a large tyre cut open and stretched out in the shape of the humped "monster".
Read more: Lake 'monster' photographed
Mr Phillips came across the type lying on the footpath at the edge of the lake and was stunned by the close resemblance.
After throwing the tyre into the water, Mr Phillips said, from a distance, the thread of the black tyre tread gives the supposed creature a "leathery" look, resembling the skin of a seal or a snake.
"If you looked at this tyre floating from a distance, it did look a Nessie-like creature," he said.
"I don't want to ruin anyone's fun, but maybe this tyre is the Bowness Monster."
In February, IT worker Tom Pickles, 24, from Shrewsbury and colleague Sarah Harrington, 23, were kayaking as part of a team-building exercise near the Belle Isle, when they saw a four-humped creature emerge from the water.
Mr Pickles took a picture of the mysterious creature with his camera phone and said it was moving at about 15km/h in a rippling motion.
Mr Phillips said the wave of water may have been created if the tyre was pulled with a rope by a person or a boat.
Experts who examined Mr Pickles' photograph reportedly said the image was authentic but the file size was too small to tell if it had been altered.
However, Nigel Wilkinson, of Windermere Lake Cruises, claimed the "monster" in the photo is a group of otters.
"The problem with the tyre theory is that if it is a hoax, you don't normally leave the evidence behind, lying around," Mr Wilkinson said.
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