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Scotland's highlands are amongst the most beautiful and remote places in the world.

But to many, this stunning landscape of mountains,

lakes and coastal villages also bears a notable air of mystery and foreboding. Even today,

these ancient lands remain steeped in folklore and supernatural tales. Once one begins to dig into

the stories of high strangeness in the Scottish Highlands, it becomes clear why it is often considered one of the most haunted places on Earth. I'm going to be able to be. In Preistock In prehistoric times, virtually all of Scotland was covered by glaciers,

countryside swathes of ice that helped carve the highlands we know today.

Coincidentally, these natural formations also eliminated virtually all traces of human habitation

before around 10,000 BC. This has only served to deepen the mysteries surrounding who, or what,

might have called the Highlands home, before us. Thanks to the work of archaeologists and historians, we do know that those humans who did arrive in this rugged landscape, not only had to eke out a living in the harsh northern climate, but that their lives were steeped in ritual and superstition. This is evidenced by enigmatic monuments like the Kalinish stones on the Isle of Lewis and Scarabray on Orkney,

structures so old that they predate the Egyptian pyramids.

By the Iron Age, Scotland had become home to the Celts and the mysterious Picts.

These painted warriors were quick to battle and continued to prefer the isolation afforded

them by their harsh mountainous land long after England fell to modernity. To the invading Romans,

Caledonia, as they called it, was so treacherous and infertile that it simply wasn't worth

adding to their growing empire. And so, the Highlands remained a place of mystery and magic.

Even today, residents still speak plainly about seeing fairies and other mystical beings or warding off evil spirits with talismans and charms.

Many still leave offerings of bread or milk outside at night,

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