The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence Book-Length Work

The extraordinary myth of a monster inhabiting a deep, dark Scottish loch has intrigued believers and annoyed skeptics for decades. In The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence, a critical examination of facts and fictions regarding the mysterious creature of Loch Ness, by Steuart Campbell, theories are tested and believers are questioned. This elaborate study includes origins of the Loch Ness Monster stories and analyses of photographs above and underwater. It also includes reviews of film and sonar evidence and a survey of evidence from lakes all over the world.



This source has enormous amounts of review on photographic evidence. The question remains whether or not these photos are credible. Although I do not agree with Campbell on the subject of the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, he has written the most thorough examination on Nessie that I have seen in all my research. Campbell shows his attention to provable research when he says "The geometry of the picture indicates that the camera was at an angle of about 12 degrees to the plane of the water, and that Gray was much closer to the object than he admitted" (38).

Campbell, after his exhaustive effort to bring together all the research that has been done on and off Loch Ness concludes, "The word 'monster' as several definition, but one in particular is appropriate to this conclusion---an imaginary animal compounded of incongruous elemnets....it is a chimera, no more real than the centaur or the griffin" (115-116). While this novel provides many instances of detailed research and shows no proof of the monster's existence, nor does it disprove the monster's existence. The Scottish people that live near the loch are firm believers, whether their belief is based on economic reasons or nationalist reasons. I count myself as a believer as well.



Campbell, Steuart. The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. New York: Prometheus Books, 1997. Print.