What happened to Nessie?

Gary Campbell, a man who has kept a close record of Nessie sightings, says there has not been a “confirmed sighting” of the Loch Ness monster in almost 90 years. Not only that, in the past 18 months, no one has reported seeing the legendary creature, and the three entries that have been submitted in an annual contest could be explained as a wave, a duck and photo not even taken in Loch Ness, Scotland, the BCC reports.

"It's very upsetting news, and we don't know where she's gone,” Campbell said. "The number of sightings has been reducing since the turn of the century, but this is the first time in almost 90 years that Nessie wasn't seen at all."

Campbell, who is an accountant by trade, says he spotted Nessie 17 years ago. Since then, he has kept a detailed record of those who have shared a similar experience – both past and present. His log book, which goes back 1,500 years, includes the Irish missionary St. Columba, who reportedly saw the legendary creature in 565 AD.

While some media outlets have implied Nessie is dead, Campbell still has hope. "I'm convinced that Nessie has just taken some time out and will be back with a vengeance this year," he said.

In the 1930s, a London man, George Spicer, and his wife saw a dragon-like creature in Loch Ness while on a motorboat. In 2011, a local shop owner, Jan Hargreaves and her husband Simon, said they saw Nessie on the loch.

"We stand here all the time and look out and see boats and kayaks, but it didn't look like anything we have seen here before," Hargreaves said describing a reptile with a long neck and black in appearance. “It was around for a good four to five minutes. It was just so strange."

Last August, amateur photographer David Elder snapped a photo of an unusual wave in the loch in the Scottish Highlands. The sighting, which looked like a ripple coming off a wave, had some believing it was Nessie.

“Out of the corner of my right eye I caught site of a black area of water about 15 feet long which developed into a kind of bow wave,” Elder told The Mirror. “"I'm convinced this was caused by a solid black object under the water. The water was very still at the time and there were no ripples coming off the wave and no other activity on the water.”

While Nessie by definition is believed to reside in the 23-mile long Loch Ness, unconfirmed sightings of similar creatures have been reported as far away as Australia.

"The head was approximately a meter and a half out of the water and it was bobbing up and down. I would estimate it was about four meters long,” David Herron told Australia's Sunrise breakfast TV show about the mysterious dragon-like object he photographed in the water. “I've never seen anything like it -- it could be anything. We are all wanting to know what it is.”