Sunday 24 April 2011

Mystery of the Profile Picture.


I've been a busy lad this past week and haven't had much of a chance to blog so here is a quickie.

I'm thinking of changing my profile picture but before I do let me tell you the story behind it.

In 2009 I was travelling through the Scottish Highlands on the way to the Isle of Skye, I was driving along the A87 and climbing the hill just past Loch Garry.

As I came over the brow of the hill and was coming down the other side I noticed something just off the side of the road.

I pulled over and my wife and I got out and had a look. We were standing on a patch of moorland overlooking Loch Loyne and in front of us were hundred of stones, all arranged into piles.

Not like cairns but all precariously balanced, one on top of another. There were no signs advertising it, no towns or buildings of any kind for miles around and no logical explanation for these.

They weren't glued together ot anything and I tried to do the same, balancing one rock on top of another but couldn't manage anymore than three before they fell off. some of these piles were six or seven stones high.

Now this was a failry high, exposed area and the weather in Scotland is notoriously violent so these things must blow over.

Which means someone must go up there regularly to re-stack these things. Is someone getting paid for this, if they are they need to advertise this as a tourist attraction.

World of Stone or Rockland perhaps.

If anyone else has seen anything like this please let me know.

31 comments:

that guy said...

I have never seen anything like that...I thought it was like a pagan burial ground or something.

Whatever it is is awesome!

Anonymous said...

That sounds like the Scottish equivalent of crop circles.

bobo said...

Aliens, they allways do crazy stuff like this to mess with our heads ;p

ed said...

nice pic, for a sec i thought they were animals

Bushman said...

Ahh there just stone sheep. Nothing to worry about. If they fall over they always get baaack up!

Oilfield Trash said...

I have a friend who is from Skye.

123 said...
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Tony Van Helsing said...

Bruce: I've not seen anything like it before or since.

MissFFF: I thought that myself.

Bobo: you'd think they had better things to do.

Ed: A mate at work thought they were Meerkats at first glance.

Bush: You can't go wrong with a sheep joke.

OT: It's a wild place weatherwise.

Colin: We owe you our lives.

Grafted said...

That's weird, but cool

lynette355 said...

Oh that was my million dollar art project. I so needed that commission in order to keep my coffee habit in check. Glad you stumbled upon it!

Gelai said...

I was always curious about your profile pic. Thanks for sharing! Happy Easter! Ü

Al Penwasser said...

There were things like this in a lot of places in Iceland. Legend has it that fairies stacked them (didn't know Elton and his friends had a summer house there). Who knows? All I know is that I would have to be crazy bored to do this. So, it must be fairies (or poofs).
I know a girl named "Skye."
Does that count?

Hannah {Culture Connoisseur} said...

I saw something like this driving through morocco...little stones piled up on top of each other in the desert. Turns out they are markers for surveying land. Very primitive but it still works for them. That's the only place I've seen this. It doesn't make sense for these to be so close and so random in placement.

Unknown said...

the new Stone Henge mystery... O_O

katsidhe said...

I've never seen anything like then, but they are extremely cool!

Fugazi said...

i see stones like this all the time on hiking trails. some weird hippie thing i think

OatmealStout said...

UFOs. The only logical explanation. :P

Tony Van Helsing said...

Grafted: Weirded me out.

Lynette: I thought it was Damien Hirst's.

Gelai: Anytime.

Al: Fairy building site, I can see their little hard hats.

Hannah: The isolated area didn't make much sense either.

Justine: Stonehenge mini-me.

Kat: These things could be everywhere in the wilds.

Fugazi: I've seen cairns when hiking but not like these.

OAtmeal: If in doubt, blame space aliens.

savannah said...

thanks for stopping by, sugar! i see a very close resemblance to the peeps cake from last year!!!! ;~) xoxoxo

Pearl said...

Something akin, perhaps, to the moving stones in the Mojave desert. :-) No idea, really, but makes for a great picture!

Pearl

Tony Van Helsing said...

Savanah: Pleasure was all mine, honey.

Pearl: Moving stones? I haven't heard of them.

Lindsay N. Currie said...

Oh wow, that's weird but in a really cool way. I hope you uncover the mystery. . . but don't forget to post about it when you do!

Snakesmom said...

Whoever is doing it.... it is beautiful. I love rocks, they are all so unique and wonderful. Great post!

Krissy said...

How strange is that? Are you sure they weren't super-glued or something? lol That post may have been a quickie, but I don't think that's a quick job for anyone to have to do repeatedly. I wonder if there is a hidden camera so they can get entertainment out of watching people stop and try to stack them.

Tony Van Helsing said...

Lindsay: I'd prefer it to remain a mystery, we need mysteries.

Snakesmom: The area was beautiful too, high on the moors overlooking a loch.

Krissy: I have seen something similar on top of Castle Crag in the Lake District but with slate instead of rocks. Don't know what that was about either.

Margaret said...

Sounds like a labor of love for someone. Lucky you that you stumbled upon it.

PK HREZO said...

Yes! I have! In Hawaii there are places along the lava rock tide pools where I have spotted these types of stacks. I thought it was a Hawaiian thing.
I do remember in northern Scotland we stumbled upon a place called Carn Liath which was some kind of ancient structure. Your pic reminds me a lot of that place, but I can't recall if I saw stacked rocks there.
You know, we could just be reading too much into it. It's prolly kids having stacking contests or something. ;)

Italo said...

Ciao Tony, it's the first time I read your blog. Interesting and (for a non English speaking like me) your writing is very interesting :) Ciao.

StephanieC said...

That is a really neat photo. Something like that would probably freak me out, if it was just two of us in the middle of such an odd situation.

Then again, I am a major wuss.

So... yeah.

Make sure your new photo is interesting! I like to use banana guns in mine. lol.

StephanieC

_

Anonymous said...

Oddly, there's something similar in an open field near me. I wondered about it. And no one tampers with the stacks.

Ducky said...

How absolutely brilliant! It is on my bucket list to soon stretch the borders of my country and actually TRAVEL. I hope to make it there.