11 amazing facts about Scotland

If England is a highly visited and well-known country, its northern neighbor, Scotland, remains unknown to many people. Generally, the image that most people have of this country is linked to stereotypes such as the use of the kilt (those traditional Scottish men’s skirts), bagpipes and good whiskeys. But Scotland is much more than that. A fascinating, peculiar country full of legends and mysteries.

O awesome.club prepared a list of facts that will leave from lovers of nature and Celtic culture to those who love a good adventure, wanting to pack their bags and set out to discover Scottish lands.

The famous Loch Ness, as well as its most famous (and fictional?) inhabitant, Nessie – that’s the name of the monster – are found in Scotland. But few know that the Loch Ness monster has a sister named Morag, who, according to legend, inhabits another Loch, Morar. In the entire history of the country, there are 34 reports of encounters with this being, more than half of them with two witnesses or more. Its existence is even more likely than that of Nessie (the original monster), not least because Loch Ness has already been extensively studied and explored while Morar is much deeper, bigger and less known.

In all countries of the world the amount of red-haired people is around 1-2% of the population, but not in Scotland. There, redheads make up 13% of the inhabitants, and thanks to the genetics of this people, it is possible to find redheads in almost every family. Scientists believe that the reddish tone of the hair, combined with a lighter skin tone, allows for greater absorption of vitamin D, which turns out to be very useful as the Scottish climate is usually cloudy.

Since the 18th century, the Scottish judicial system has adopted a system of 3 verdicts: “guilty”, “not guilty” and “not proven”. The latter is used as an acquittal, even if the court is not sure of the accused’s innocence, due to insufficient evidence. There are those who support and those who protest against this system, but for now it continues to work and “unproven” verdicts continue to exist in the country’s courts.

The use of underwear under the famous kilts is a particularly relevant discussion in Scotland. Kilts emerged as part of Scottish army attire and soldiers traditionally wore them with nothing underneath; that’s why ‘a true Scotsman’ is one who follows this tradition to the letter. In the past, there was even an inspection and soldiers who were caught wearing their underwear had their kilts confiscated. Over time, the practice of inspection began to be taken as harassment, and after countless embarrassing situations, the Scots finally decided it was better to wear underwear underneath.

The typical stereotypical Scotsman loves to drink, swear, be very direct and always honest. Don’t these traits remind you of the tiny characters in fantasy movies and games? The fantasy world dwarves represent this stereotype of Scottish citizens well. And nowadays there are fewer and fewer representatives of this fictional race in mass culture.

A year ago, Scotland became the first country in the world to offer free feminine hygiene products. They are available at public institutions such as libraries, schools and even community centers.

In recent years, the worldwide demand for breeding domestic animals of breeds with physical anomalies has increased. These problems range from shortened paws to blindness and short noses. However, these characteristics become serious health problems for them, which require increasingly expensive veterinary care. Scotland is committed to the protection of animal rights, and there it is forbidden to breed animals with these problems.

To set a new world record for the longest echo (the previous one, by the way, was also recorded in Scotland), British journalist Tom Scott went to an abandoned fuel storage facility in the country. There the echo generated by the firing of a starter pistol lasts almost 2 minutes!

Blue street lighting in the streets of Glasgow (Scott’s largest city) was installed with the aim of improving the overall appearance of the city at night; however, the media has observed an interesting trend: crime and suicide attempts have declined. Psychologists explain that blue light is often associated with the police and areas with unusual lighting make people behave more cautiously. Later, Japan became interested in this discovery and began to use it.

Scotland is, in fact, made up entirely of islands: there are 790 in all, but only 99 of them are inhabited. Most of the country’s population lives in the northern portion of the island of Great Britain. The other islands are generally uninhabited or used for fishing activities.

Scotland welcomes visitors from other planets. At least that’s what they say. The aliens would have a peculiar attraction for the village of Bonnybridge, considered a local portal to another Universe. Every year around 300 people claim to see UFOs there, and that number is higher than anywhere else on the planet. One in two inhabitants has seen, at least once, extraterrestrial visitors.

Are you interested in getting to know Scotland? Would you like our country to have some of the characteristics that we have shown? Tell us in the comments section!