Today is the third, and final, Friday the 13th of 2009, and the date has long been associated with superstition and bad luck.
The number 13 is considered awkward and irregular because of the ‘completeness’ of the number twelve, which is reflected by the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, the twelve apostles of Jesus, the twelve Gods of Olympus, etc. There is also the superstition, believed to have either derived from Norse myth or the Last Supper, that that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.

And even as early as the 14th century Friday has been considered as the unlucky day of the week, with some suggesting that it’s because, according to Christian scripture, it was the day Jesus was crucified.

Statiscally speaking, though, it is clamied by the insurance provider AA that in fact Monday the 27th is actually Britain’s unluckiest day, and that is when most claims are filed.

But for the late Michael Mosey of Forth, Lanarkshire, it didn’t really matter what day of the week it was, his life was filled with so much misfortune that he was dubbed by the press “Scotland’s Unluckiest Man” - which he blamed solely on his wife, perhaps the country’s unluckiest lady?
Between them, the couple have suffered more than 50 accidents, more than 20 of which resulted in trips to the hospital.
Michael and Frances met whilst working as volunteer motorcycle couriers, transporting blood to local hospitals, and were married on St. Valentines Day, 1974. The couple honeymooned in Spain where they looked forward to a romantic holiday, but it didn’t quite turn out as hoped when their hotel room collapsed with Frances in the bath.
The unlucky streak continued throughout the marriage. On one occasion, whilst out riding his newly-bought motorbike Michael was hit by a car, which Frances happened to have been driving at the time.
When asked about his bad luck the former policeman blamed his wife, reportedly saying,

“Since I met Frances, I have broken my ankle and my back. I have fallen from a horse, out of bed, down stairs, into ponds … you name it. The telephone table has been rebuilt three times after me falling on it. And I have somehow managed to fall through the greenhouse three times.”

It has also been claimed that Michael also broke his right leg when tripping over a puppy, and he was left partially blind after drinking some black-market vodka.

Frances Mosey saw her fair share of bad luck too. She broke both her legs after falling down a 6 foot hole in the road which didn’t have any warning signs; she broke her shoulder blade after falling off a motorbike on her first ride; when in hospital recovering from a hernia operation a ceiling tile fell on her head, fracturing her skull; it was also said that on two seperate occasions, one in 1963 and one in 1996, during perfectly routine procedures she died on the operating table, yet was revived both times; and when making dinner one night she accidentally chopped off a finger, only for it to be eaten by her pet dog, making a reattachment impossible.

However, the final bit of bad luck for Michael came in 2006, a year after his wife died, when he was brutally murdered in his home. Fortunately the guilty man was caught by the police, with help from Michael; his dying words being the name of his attacker, and the killer is now serving a life sentence in prison.

Today (09/11) is the 30th anniversary of Robert ‘Bob’ Taylor’s inexplicable encounter with, what is claimed, alien life, and paranormal campaigners are looking for some sort of formal recognition at Dechmont Law, Livingston, the scene of the incident.

It was around 10:30 in the morning of the ninth of November, 1979 when Bob Taylor, then a forestry worker, was walking up the lower slope of the hill with his dog where he saw a large sphere-like object, roughly 20 feet wide, in a clearing. Mr. Taylor decided to head towards the object when suddenly two additional spheres appeared, rolled over to him and attached themselves to his trouser legs. These spheres were much smaller, each around 3 feet wide, with spikes protruding from all around, and were described as looking like “sea mines”.
The next thing he recalls is waking up with a thumping headache, a bitter taste in his mouth, and a sore throat, having been unconscious for, what he estimated, at least 20 minutes.
Bob Taylor went home, arriving around 11:30. His wife, Mary Taylor, was concerned over the state her husband seemed to be in. Assuming that he had been attacked she phoned the police. Taylor got in contact with Malcolm Drummond, a supervisor at Livingston Development Corporation. The two went to the scene of the incident and saw strange indentations in the forest floor which Taylor claimed were not there earlier that morning. One set were said to look like rungs in ladder, whilst the other indentations, which numbered forty in total, were suspected to be the tracks left by the smaller objects.
Taylor saw a doctor who could only find grazings to his chin and to his thighs. The police, who said the incident left them “completely baffled” recorded it as a common assault. The police involvment made it the only recorded incident in which a UFO sighting has been the subject of a criminal investigation in the UK.

Even to this day, people are still very much intrigued with the alleged UFO encounter. Bob Taylor, who was always described as being a man of good character, died in 2007 at the age of 88, still adamant and defending what he claims happened to him to the day he died.
Ron Halliday, chair of the Scottish Earth Mysteries Research (SEMR), believes that there are certainly some convincing parts to Taylor’s story. Though, to him, the most convincing aspect of the tale is that Taylor claimed that he never had any interest in UFOs before or after the event.

To commemorate Bob Taylor and his odd experience, Mr Halliday, along with other members of SEMR, are planning to go to the site of the incident on Dechmont Law.

Near the village of Milton in West Dunbartonshire lies the Overtoun Bridge; an arch bridge which has become famous for the bizzarely large number of dogs who have leapt over the side to their death.

Built in 1895 by Lord Overtoun, the Victorian bridge stands 50 feet over the Overtoun Burn which flows below. The dog jumping phenomenon started sometime in the 1950s continuing to be a common occurence for the following five decades, with each account having certain similar details.
It is said the majority of dogs who have clambered over the bridge wall have been long nose breeds, such as labradors, collies, and retrievers. Also the dogs have all gone over at the same point on the bridge when, more often than not, it has been a sunny, dry day.
It has even been reported that the dogs who jumped, but did not die from the fall, immediately made their way back up to the bridge to do the exact same thing again, and usually dying second time round.

There have been a number of theories as to why the dogs are choosing to go over the edge, ranging from the bridge being haunted to the canines suffering from depression, or even picking up depressed or suicidal feelings from their owners. However, the explanation which seems to be the most logical involves the presence of minks on the banks of the burn. The mink’s powerful anal glands leave marks wherever they go and the strong musty smell they produce apparently interest dogs. So it is suggested that the height of the bridge’s granite walls significantly impairs the dogs’ sense of sight and hearing, so when they go to investigate the smell, they are unaware of the massive fall that awaits them. This would explain why the dogs all went over on clear and dry days, because the mink smell wouldn’t have been strongly dilluted by the rain.
However, this explanation doesn’t satisfy all. For some, it is still puzzling as to why the dogs all jump from roughly the same spot, and why the dogs that didn’t die, went and jumped again. Perhaps they would prefer the paranormal explanation rather than the logical one.

The Overtoun Bridge is now known all over the world as the infamous suicide bridge for dogs, with some people coming to visit it to see how it affects their dogs, whilst the more loving pet owners are too wary of the crossings reputation to walk across it.

Last weekend saw an ambitious project to cover the Skye Bridge in knitting!! This was part of Highland Homecoming.

The Skye Bridge links the Isle of Skye with the mainland in the West Highlands of Scotland.

The aim was to link this (rather large!) piece of guerrilla knitting with Highland Homecoming 2009, a celebration of Scotland’s great contribution to the world.

Egyptian businessman and Harrods owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed has said that he wants to be president of an independent Scotland.
Al-Fayed, who owns a 65,000 acre Highland estate, is hoping that Scotland will go to a referendum and vote for independence, and he has urged  his ‘fellow Scots’ to denounce the monarchy and become an independent, self governing nation.
But the Egyptian is not a big fan of Scotland’s current leader, Alex Salmond. He was quoted saying,
“When you Scots have your independence, I’m ready to be your president.

“You have been living in a coma for too long.
“Whatever help is needed for Scotland to regain its independence, I will provide it. I have lived in England for 40 years but now the home that I want is Scotland.”
“It is time for you to wake up and detach yourself from the English and their terrible politicians. But I don’t want this Alex Salmond. I asked to meet him but he refused. Salmond would be better off fishing for salmon than being a politician. He is a dickhead.”

A spokesperson for the SNP leader did admit that Mr. Al-Fayed requested a meeting with Alex Salmond to talk about a potential donation, but the request was declined, adding that “no disrespect was intended”.

If Scotland did leave the United Kingdom, then Al-Fayed said that he plans to buy Balmoral Castle and turn it into a museum. But, for now, it is now the businessmans intention to erect a statue in honour of Scota, an Egyptian princess who is said to have founded Scotland some 3,600 years ago.
Al-Fayed said, “You Scots are originally Egyptians. Like Scota, I travelled north and I found the Balnagown estate. I will erect a statue of her to honour the links between Scotland and Egypt.”
However, unfortunately for Mohamed Al-Fayed, historian Richard Oram, from the University of Stirling, has said that the myth connecting the two countries was “rubbish”.

Emmanuel Coupe’s picture of sunrise over the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye was picked as the best out of thousands of entries in the Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year Award 2009. The Paris based photographer scooped the £10,000 prize with his stunning picture [top].

John Parminter’s shot of a wintery Buachaille Etive Mòr [above] won the Classic View award, whilst his atmospheric picture, titled Food For Thought [below], taken at Aberdeen harbour, won in the Your View Category.

Highland Homecoming will welcome locals and visitors to enjoy the best of the Highland’s rich heritage and culture with a programme of over 100 events including spectacular street theatre, music, storytelling and of course world famous ceilidhs. Some of the programme highlights include a performance by the sublimely talented award-winning Gaelic singer songwriter Julie Fowlis, a Polish performance of MacBeth, Homecoming Showcase’s at the Ironworks in Inverness with a number of gigs throughout Highland Homecoming including the Homecoming showcase featuring Shutter, Call To Mind, Bronto Skylift, Iain McLaughin & The Outsiders and many more.

All of this is happening around Scotland’s Global Impact Conference 22-24 October which will explore the theory that our small nation did indeed change the world.
At a time when the Highland population is rising for the first time in centuries, this gathering brings together prominent academics, historians, and other experts from Scotland and around the world to throw new light on the movement to and from our country. Distinguished speakers at the event include Professor Ted Cowan, Professor Jim Hunter, Professor John Mackenzie, and Dr. Tony Pollard

All information about the events and ticket booking can be found on the Highland Homecoming website.

Renowned archaeologist Dr. Tony Pollard will be hoping that the remains of soldiers from Scotland will be found buried in the German town of Lützen.
Under a modern-day supermarket in the east German town, archaeologists believe they have found the final resting place of some of the soldiers who fought in a battle during the Thirty Years’ War.

Dr. Pollard from the University of Glasgow, spent a week with other leading European archaeologists who have been carrying out a long-running investigation at the battlefield said that he has been interested in finding physical evidence of Scottish soldiers fighting out in Germany, where the majority of the Thirty Years’ War was fought.

He also commented, “[T]here has been the construction of a supermarket and car park.

“There is a possibility the graves survived because it seems they were dug deep, but there is probably little that can be done now because of the supermarket being there.

“However, hundreds of men were killed in this battle and there could be other graves. Bodies were said to have been lain side-by-side along a road and we think that we have identified the road and graves may not be too far away.”

For now the German experts are continuing their work at the battlefield, however, Dr. Pollard is intending to return to Lützen next Spring.

The Battle of Lützen was fought in the November of 1632 (either the 6th [O.S.] or the 16th [N.S.]) between the Protestant Swedish army and the Catholic Holy Roman Empire. The outcome was a definite Swedish victory, but it came at the cost of the death of the King of Sweden, Gustavus Aldophus, causing the Protestant campaign to lose direction. It was very common for Gustavus to hire German mercenaries from the Protestant states, but Scottish recruits were also common, with most originating, it is believed, from the Highlands.

The Swedish army lost roughly 6,000 men at Lützen; which included those who were seriously wounded or fled the battle. It’s believed that both armies lost around the same sort of numbers during the battle, though this can’t be claimed with 100% certainty. However, despite this, it was, strategically and tactically speaking, a clear victory for the Protestants, with the Swedish army going on to achieve the main goals of its campaign.

At a speech given to a gathering of chiefs at this years Gathering, Robert McWilliam president emeritus of the Council of Scottish Clans and Associations, said that Scotland’s Clans must turn to social networking websites such as facebook and twitter to increase their ranks in the 21st Century.

Holyrood was host to the Clan Covention with more than 100 Clan Chiefs taking part in the debate. This is the first time in recorded history so many chiefs have been assembled in one place. The purpose for this was to debate the Clan systems future and their roles within it.

Mr McWilliam from the US told the other chiefs that he had a message from American Scots that they need to use modern forms of communication.
“That would reach a different group of people,” he argued. “If you wanted to reach young people, you get your name in front of them on Facebook.”

Donald MacLaren, chief of Clan MacLaren, said: “A minority of chiefs think this is not for them. It’s a great disappointment for those who look upon them as the head of their family.”
He said some thought the clan system moribund since the mid-18th Century, but he disagreed and insisted it still had a future. North America alone has a clan membership exceeding 100,000.

What do you think? Are Clan Societies doing enough to communicate to a younger audience?

There’s a great new Social Network site purely dedicated to Scotland’s national drink - Whisky (spelt the Scottish way).  Connosr is a place for every Whisky connoisseur to read and write reviews, and  connect with other whisky lovers.  Here is a place to discover new whiskies and revisited old favourites.

There’s even an iPhone version of the site, so you can even review a whisky on the move.  It’s fast loading a gives you a lot of infomation.

Connosr is a well designed site that includes a Google Map of where each whisky comes from, plus whisky-related event listings and discussion boards. They’ve got a good business model too: affiliate links to partner sites where you can purchase whiskies.

If whisky is not your thing there are also Social Network  sites for wine - take a look at Snooth and Cork’d.  So does this work?  Is this what Whisky lovers want? or is this just another Social Networking site?  Please let us know your thoughts.