Tales of the Loch Ness monster have not gone away. In fact, instead of the tales dying out, 2017 was a record year for sightings. It is worth noting that the total number still only amounts to eight ‘official’ sightings.
The Original Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness monster is said to inhabit Loch Ness (a lake) in the highlands of Scotland. The story was brought to the public in 1933 by Alex Campbell, reporting to a newspaper that he and his wife saw a dragon-like creature with an animal in its mouth. However, the original story far predates this one. In 565 AD, an Irish monk called St. Colomba is reported to have encountered the beast. In 1871, D. MacKenzie reported sighting the monster in the vicinity, and in 1933, George Spicer indicated that a 25-foot creature without limbs went in front of his car. There have been many other anecdotal reports throughout the decades.
Is There Any Evidence?
There is no real evidence that the Loch Ness monster exists. Much of the photographic evidence has been proven false, and all of the ‘sightings’ seem to be of fins, hard-to-distinguish animal parts, or ripples in the lake. There also some practical considerations. For example, there is not enough fish to feed the animal unless it happens to be a giant herbivore. Moreover, if there is only one of its kind, it has been alive for a long time.
Hoaxes and Shams
On the other hand, plenty of ‘sightings’ were disproved. The most famous include the ‘surgeon’s photograph’ of 1933 and the 2011 photograph by George Edwards. There remains no concrete evidence of the Loch Ness monster, though it remains one of the most popular modern myths.
According to the vast majority of the scientific community, the Loch Ness monster is no more than wishful thinking, with people mistaking ripples and floating objects for the creature. However, this has not deterred people from making claims.
