Legend has it that a monster lurks in a body of water in Scotland called Loch Ness. Could it be true? One weekend in August 2023, volunteers traveled to the loch, hoping for answers.

“We are looking for breaks in the surface and asking volunteers to record all manner of natural behavior on the loch,” Alan McKenna told the British Broadcasting Corporation. McKenna represents Loch Ness Exploration, an organization dedicated to searching for the monster. “Not every ripple or wave is a beastie. Some of those can be explained, but there are a handful that cannot.”

For two days, hundreds of monster hunters scanned the murky waters for any signs of the existence of “Nessie” (that’s the monster’s nickname). While people have been searching for the creature for generations, the chance of success is better than ever due to modern technology. The weekend’s volunteers brought along sonar equipment, which allows them to map the lake bed. They also brought thermal-imaging drones meant to detect heat (a sign of life), as well as hydrophones that can pick up sounds from deep under the water. And they had a deep faith that Nessie is real.

“I’m 90 percent convinced [the monster] exists,” Ken Gerhard, who researches creatures like Nessie, told NBC News. “I’ve never had a sighting or an observation, but if you immerse yourself in the evidence, you have over a thousand good sightings that are very consistent.”