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The Loony Dook.
List

13 Unusual Places to Ring in the New Year

Cold plunge, burn, or dance your way into a new year.
Roxanne Hoorn December 27, 2024
Glasgow, Scotland

Bella the Beithir

A mythological Celtic beast built with thousands of colorful tiles stands guard over a historic canal junction.
At the University of Edinburgh's graduation ceremony, a student is tapped with the Geneva Bonnet.
objects of intrigue

Before Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat, There Was the ‘Medieval Space Bonnet’

Legends swirl around the University of Edinburgh’s mysterious graduation bonnet.
Sarah Thomson May 16, 2024
Park rangers at Culloden Battlefield have deployed some unusual lawnmowers, such as this Highland cow.
war history

How Highland Cows Are Restoring Culloden Battlefield’s Historic Bog

Heritage breed cattle make quick work of the battlefield’s invasive plant species.
Kinsey Gidick January 4, 2024
John McLeish, chair of the Scottish Tartans Authority; curator James Wylie; and Peter MacDonald (right), STA tartan historian (left to right), examine the Glen Affric tartan.
objects of intrigue

Scotland's Oldest Tartan Rose From a Peat Bog

The 400-year-old fabric extends the iconic pattern's history in Scotland by over a century.
Roxanne Hoorn November 16, 2023
Stretching between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Scottish witch trials were among Europe’s longest and most deadly.
witchcraft

Isobel Gowdie and the Untold History of the Scottish Witch Trials

Some experts estimate as many as 3,000 people were accused and executed for witchcraft in Scotland.
Sarah Durn October 31, 2023
victorian

Uncovering Edinburgh’s Hidden Victorian History—One Doorway at a Time

A new project delves into the stories of forgotten Edinburgh residents and the places they called home.
Sukhada Tatke September 6, 2023
Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight on December 31 for almost a half a century. Lombardo became known as "Mr. New Year's Eve"—but the song always reminded him of Easter.
music

Do Americans Sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ Because of a Frat Party?

Or maybe it was the cigars that gave us this New Year's Eve staple.
April White December 29, 2022
Kirkhill Astronomical Pillar
Broxburn, Scotland

Kirkhill Astronomical Pillar

In the 18th century, the Earl of Buchan mapped the universe on this stone pillar.
Wallace stands looking out over a slightly different angle of Scott's View.
Melrose, Scotland

The Sir William Wallace Statue

This massive, 30-foot-tall statue of the famed Scottish knight overlooks a grassy knoll.
Castle Semple Collegiate Church
Lochwinnoch, Scotland

Castle Semple Collegiate Church

The ruins of a small church belonging to a powerful Scottish family still hold the remains of its patriarch.
Won't you be my neighbor?
islands

These Seaweed-Munching Sheep in Scotland Need Someone to Fix Their Wall

The small island of North Ronaldsay is looking for someone to repair the dyke that keeps the flock close to the shore.
Jessica Leigh Hester June 25, 2019
Like the Winskill Stones, pictured here, Riggs Moor sits around Yorkshire Dales National Park.
nature

The Most Remote Places in Britain Are Still Pretty Close to Roads

It's a reminder that there are vanishingly few places on Earth that don’t carry the traces of humans.
Jessica Leigh Hester June 4, 2019
Argyll and Bute, Scotland

The Drovers Inn

Nestled amid the peaks and lochs of the Scottish Highlands, this inn and pub has played host to outlaws and ghosts.
These women weren't just dropping by. See the trowel in her hand?
archaeology

The Female Archaeologists of the Scottish Orkneys Were Hiding in Plain Sight

The women in this century-old photo weren't visitors—they were probably scientists.
Jessica Leigh Hester March 27, 2019
The circle is much, much younger than archaeologists thought.
geology

It Turns Out That This 'Millennia-Old' Stone Circle Is Actually Only as Old as Millennials

It's a recent riff on an ancient Scottish tradition.
Jessica Leigh Hester January 23, 2019
Fetlar, Scotland

The Hjaltadans Stone Circle

On a remote island, legend has it that a fiddler and his wife were turned to stone.
Peacefully grazing cow—or the next victim of an elf attack?
witchcraft

When Sick Cattle Were Alleged Victims of Arrow-Wielding Elves

For centuries, farmers suspected their sick livestock had been "elf-shot."
Abbey Perreault December 27, 2018