Mystery behind Loch Ness Monster may have finally been 'solved' by Oxford scientist

The Boogeyman, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, all these characters and mystical beings we’re told stories of growing up but eventually end up not believing in.

But there’s one creature in particular that people really do go into adulthood with full faith it’s real.

Obviously, the Loch Ness Monster. But while plenty of Nessie believers will remain on a hill for it, it seems like the mystery may have finally been ‘solved’ by an Oxford scientist.

Scotland's Loch Ness is said to be home to the monster. ( Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

And spoiler; that lot aren’t going to be too pleased by their outcome.

Because despite people making trips to the Scottish site to search for the water creature, it’s apparently a ‘biological impossibility’ that it exists.

I know, who could’ve seen that coming?

A professor of Zoology at the prestigious university, Tim Coulson, says there’s plenty of proof that Nessie is absolutely not real.

He backs this up by saying there have been no skeletal remains of the monster found in the area and points out that no one has ever caught something like it in their fishing nets.

But while people might think they’ve caught snaps of it and cite photographic ‘evidence’ over the years, the expert says there is a very simple explanation for it all – despite the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register logging 1,159 sightings to date.

Some reckon it's similar to a plesiosaur. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Coulson told MailOnline: “In the case of the Loch Ness Monster they are either seeing bits of floating debris, or a bird such as a cormorant with a longish neck that sits low in the water.

“You might think that sounds unlikely, but I am always amazed at how bad people can be at judging size – particularly when they are hoping to see a particular animal.”

Ah yes, it’s the hope that gets you.

And while some of those alleged photos of Nessie suggest the animal has similar features to a plesiosaur, he ruled that out too.

The giant marine reptile first appeared on our planet around 215 million years ago, dying out with the dinosaurs.

So, Coulson added that there have been no plesiosaur fossils found to be dated any sooner than 66 million years ago.

“It is a biological impossibility for a single individual of a long extinct species to live in Loch Ness, and if there were many hundreds, we would surely have caught some in our fishing nets,” he said.

Well, that’s going to be a hard pill for people to swallow, if they choose to believe Coulson over the idea of a mystical creature swimming in the Loch Ness anyway.