# Paxton 2022: The Loch Ness monster: a modern history > Charles Paxton, 2022. 15 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The quantitative description of the sighting record by its main analyst. Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CRFX1S83P0N/the-loch-ness-monster-a-modern-history Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Loch Ness](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness)Paxton 2022 **0** # The Loch Ness monster: a modern history Charles Paxton, 2022. _The Conversation, 12 May 2022_. A St Andrews statistician who has catalogued the reports: first modern reports in 1930, more from April 1933; George Spicer's land sighting of August 1933 prompted the reptile and plesiosaur image; more than 85 published theories; 1,452 distinct encounters known to him, of which about 20 per cent mention a neck and under 1 per cent describe a reptilian or scaly animal. Concludes the monster has many identities and is "a function of human psychology rather than nature". **Loch Ness** Web pagedoi: **[10.64628/AB.cygdpr33c](https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.cygdpr33c)** Checked against the original0 ## What it's used for here The quantitative description of the sighting record by its main analyst. ## Cited by on this site 15 records [A mixture of misidentified boats, wakes, debris, birds and other animals, optical and wind effects, and…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/answers/ANS0CRFXEFG5F53/a-mixture-of-misidentified-boats-wakes-debris-birds-and) Answer ANS [A population of large reptiles, such as a surviving plesiosaur lineage, lives in the loch.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/answers/ANS0CRFXC9654S0/a-population-of-large-reptiles-such-as-a-surviving) Answer ANS [Paxton's catalogue of Loch Ness encounters (1,452 reports)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0CRFXKVC522E/paxtons-catalogue-of-loch-ness-encounters-1-452-reports) Dataset DAT [About 20 per cent of reports mention a neck; under 1 per cent describe a reptilian or scaly animal.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXCRT4QYC/about-20-per-cent-of-reports-mention-a-neck-under-1-per-cent) Evidence EVD [Reported colour, texture, shape and behaviour vary widely; no single identity fits.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXEQA6EK4/reported-colour-texture-shape-and-behaviour-vary-widely-no) Evidence EVD [Reports describe very different animals: pink to black, furry to scaly, with humps, manes or horns.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXFPJ67M2/reports-describe-very-different-animals-pink-to-black-furry) Evidence EVD [The plesiosaur image came from one 1933 land sighting and a journalist's suggestion days later.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXD0M4SH7/the-plesiosaur-image-came-from-one-1933-land-sighting-and-a) Evidence EVD [First modern reports of a strange animal in the loch](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/events/EVT0CRFX7CY1ASR/first-modern-reports-of-a-strange-animal-in-the-loch) EVT [George Spicer reports an animal seen on land; the plesiosaur image follows](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/events/EVT0CRFX7MR3JAG/george-spicer-reports-an-animal-seen-on-land-the-plesiosaur) EVT [Paxton summarises 1,452 catalogued encounters](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/events/EVT0CRFX93M4A4N/paxton-summarises-1-452-catalogued-encounters) EVT [Charles Paxton](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/people/FIG0CRFX6NG71C5/charles-paxton) FIG [George Spicer](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/people/FIG0CRFX5EE071N/george-spicer) FIG [Loch Ness](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness) The mystery article MYS [What accounts for the sighting reports?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/questions/QST0CRFXAAP6RKH/what-accounts-for-the-sighting-reports) Question QST [George Spicer: Reported seeing an animal on land, which he described as having a…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/accounts/WIT0CRFX9V27N1P/george-spicer-reported-seeing-an-animal-on-land-which-he) WIT ## Cite it ``` Paxton, C. (2022). The Loch Ness monster: a modern history. The Conversation, 12 May 2022. https://doi.org/10.64628/AB.cygdpr33c ``` [Read it free at theconversation.com](https://theconversation.com/the-loch-ness-monster-a-modern-history-182546) Key **SRC** 0CRFX1S83P0N Kind Web page Rights CC-BY-ND-4.0 Kept 29 Oct 2026, for editors Checked Against the published original Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) The record Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS. [CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CRFX1S83P0N/the-loch-ness-monster-a-modern-history/csl.json)