Editing Loch Ness Monster (section)

===George Spicer (1933)===
Modern interest in the monster was sparked by a sighting on 22 July 1933, when George Spicer and his wife saw "a most extraordinary form of animal" cross the road in front of their car.<ref name="CourierSpicer">{{Cite news |date=4 August 1933 |title=Is this the Loch Ness Monster? |work=Inverness Courier}}</ref> They described the creature as having a large body (about {{convert|4|ft}} high and {{convert|25|ft}} long) and a long, wavy, narrow neck, slightly thicker than an elephant's trunk and as long as the {{convert|10|-|12|ft|adj=on|0}} width of the road. They saw no limbs.<ref name="Spicer">T. Dinsdale (1961) ''Loch Ness Monster'' p. 42.</ref> It lurched across the road toward the loch {{convert|20|yd|m}} away, leaving a trail of broken undergrowth in its wake.<ref name="Spicer" /> Spicer described it as "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life,"<ref name="CourierSpicer" /> and as having "a long neck, which moved up and down in the manner of a scenic railway."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Are Hunters Closing in on the Loch Ness Monster? |url=https://www.scotsman.com/interactive/are-hunters-closing-in-on-the-loch-ness-monster#main-page-section-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729173701/https://www.scotsman.com/interactive/are-hunters-closing-in-on-the-loch-ness-monster#main-page-section-1 |archive-date=29 July 2019 |access-date=15 March 2022 |website=The Scotsman}}</ref> It had "an animal" in its mouth<ref name="CourierSpicer" /> and had a body that "was fairly big, with a high back, but if there were any feet they must have been of the web kind, and as for a tail I cannot say, as it moved so rapidly, and when we got to the spot it had probably disappeared into the loch."<ref name=":1" /> Though he was the first to describe the creature as a [[plesiosaur]]-like dinosaur, evidence suggested by researchers at [[Columbia University]] in 2013 proved his story to be fake. The university and [[Daniel Loxton]] suggested that Spicer's sighting was fictionalized and inspired by a long-necked dinosaur that rises out of a lake in ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'', a film that was extremely popular in cinemas in his home city of London during August 1933, when Spicer reported the sighting.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 August 2014 |title=Did King Kong inspire Nessie? |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/did-king-kong-inspire-the-myth-of-the-loch-ness-monster/J5UR3D5VNKF6U6KQU6P76EYSJ4/ |access-date=20 July 2023 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ |archive-date=20 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720080557/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/did-king-kong-inspire-the-myth-of-the-loch-ness-monster/J5UR3D5VNKF6U6KQU6P76EYSJ4/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Loxton and [[Donald Prothero]] later cited ''King Kong'' as evidently an influence on the Loch Ness Monster myth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Phil |date=2015-04-21 |title=How scientists debunked the Loch Ness Monster |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/4/21/8459353/loch-ness-monster |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=Vox |language=en |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813070500/https://www.vox.com/2015/4/21/8459353/loch-ness-monster |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 4 August 1933 the ''Courier'' published a report of Spicer's sighting. This sighting triggered a massive amount of public interest and an uptick in alleged sightings, leading to the solidification of the actual name "Loch Ness Monster."<ref name=":0" />

It has been claimed that sightings of the monster increased after a road was built along the loch in early 1933, bringing workers and tourists to the formerly isolated area.<ref>R. Mackal (1976) "The Monsters of Loch Ness" p. 85.</ref> However, Binns has described this as "the myth of the lonely loch", as it was far from isolated before then, due to the construction of the [[Caledonian Canal]]. In the 1930s, the existing road by the side of the loch was given a serious upgrade.<ref name="Binns" />