On my first trip to Scotland I was not prepared for what I would see and feel. The country is beautiful and the scenary is breathtaking. Scotland is steeped in history, but there was something operating there that was beyond this earth. Scotland is charming but for me the charm and the draw of Scotland is the charm and weird charisma of the people. By that I mean the people that walk and scurry about the cities big and small. I see these folks as the embodiment and the character of those that trod those cobblestones hundreds and thousands of years before them.  The people of history whose voices echo through the walls.

"One of the early Uncanny Scots,
Robert the Bruce" slaying the Red Comyn

Even a brief trip into history reveals the reason that the Scots are so unique as a people, and why they cling so tightly to their traditions. Theirs is a history of triumph, defeat, struggle, hunger and violence. They are often the victim and almost as often the agressor.  They have fought to keep what they saw as theirs. Their struggle for survival and for the survival of their time honored traditions is a struggle they do not take lightly. Their traditions have risen from ashes many more times than once.  The fact that their traditions are so intact today is a testament to their resilience and frankly to the fact that they are uncanny

These words from "The Declaration of Arbroath" really sum up how I think they feel even today:

"For so long as a hundred of us remain alive, we never will any degree be subject to the English. Since it is not for glory, riches, or honor we fight but for liberty alone which No good man loses but with his life."

To have survived and to have preserved their traditions the scots have had to be uncanny and for me they were and always will be The Uncanny Scots!

Select who you think should be the Uncanny Scot of the month!