Top 10 Fake Scottish Photos that went viral

At ScotClans we have a very active Facebook group: Scottish Clans and Families, it’s been going for many years now and has nearly 28,000 members. Over the years we have seen many photos of Scotland come in that have proven to be fake. So here are my top 10 (ish), enjoy 🙂

10. A lovely drive in the Scottish Highlands?

Where this is …. Ladybower Reservoir from Bamford Edge,Derbyshire, ENGLAND (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybower_Reservoir)

Notice the real photo has been manipulated to make the gentle hills look more like mountains.

9. An Old Settlement in the Scottish Highlands?

Where this is … Little Castle in The Lakes at Pena Gardens, Pena Palace, Sintra, Lisbon, PORTUGAL.  They are in the gardens and are only tiny.

Not surprising this one gets shared all the time as if you do a google images search for ‘Scottish Castle’ it’s right there on the first page.

Not surprising this one gets shared all the time as if you do a google images search for ‘Scottish Castle’ it’s right there on the first page.

8. Purple Forest, Scotland?

Where this is …. Jacaranda Tree Tunnel, Sydney, Australia

7. Romantic Scottish Bridge?

Where this is …. Tzielefos Bridge, Cyprus.
Tzielefos Bridge is one of the medieval bridges situated between Elia and Roudia bridges. The path towards the particular bridge goes towards a dense pine forest, over Arminou dam, past Pera Vasa picnic site (a huge dry tree trunk of the Pera Vasa pine exhibited here), and continues through “Saouris” farm belonging to Kykkos monastery, past the Cave of Saouris, “Mita’s pen and near the vultures” observation point.

6. Winding Rocks in The Scottish Highlands?

where this is ….

Barrica, SPAIN

5. Fairy pools, Skye?

where this is ….

Shotover River in New Zealand, where the vegetation is a normal shade of green. The vivid purple color is photoshopped.

Also labelled as The Fairy Pools:

Wrongly labelled – this is Mexico.

Also this one has been doing the rounds ….
This is a place in Jamaica called Noisy River.

4. Kilchurn Castle?

The real Kilchurn Castle …

3. Gerard Butler being all Scottish?

what this really is …

2. Definitive proof of the existence of the Loch Ness Monster?

what this really is …

fibreglass hump used in a National Geographic film

A Scottish skipper Nessie Hunter IV, George Edwards finally made the limelight after producing an image of a mysterious dark hump moving in the water towards Urquhart Castle. The picture quickly went viral and presumably Edwards, who insisted: “I’m convinced I was seeing Nessie as I believe in these creatures,” got a lot more customers wanting to visit the loch.
George later revealed it was all a big hoax – and what he’d actually photographed was a fibreglass hump that can be seen in 2011’s National Geographic film The Truth Behind The Loch Ness Monster.

“Why should I feel guilty for having a bit of fun?” the indignant 61-year-old said.

“Where would Loch Ness be without the world’s best known forgery? These so-called experts come along with their theories about big waves and big fish, and their visitor centre, but I’m sick to death of them.

1.5 Glencoe / Skye

Seen this labelled as both Glencoe and Isle of Skye but this is a composite image.  A cut out bridge  over a reversed image of the mountain range at Glencoe then heavily manipulated. The cutout bridge is a free stock image, download it and have your own Ye Olde Bridge (http://oilusionista-stock.deviantart.com/art/Cutout-Old-Bridge-275093367)

1.75 Hermitage Bridge

We often see this picture shared in out Facebook group, labelled Hermitage Bridge:

Where this really is: The Gorge De L’areuse in Switzerland

This is the real Hermitage Bridge in Scotland:

1.8 Abandoned Scottish Village

Where this really is:
Movie set in Germany. (Hansel & Gretal).

1.81

Where this really is: this is The Dalsnibba Mountains in Norway. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalsnibba.
Cairngorms look like this.

OK I Give Up – there are way more than 10.
Not Angus – this is Foz do Douro, Porto, Portugal.  The Bell Rock Lighthouse looks quite different.  But alas this has been shared over 5,000 times.

1.82

Beautiful Scottish Red Heads?

We see this one shared all the time, either labelled as Scottish or Irish. In fact this is a photo taken in the Netherlands. A beautiful photo by Igor Borisov ©. “Mare D’Inverno” for Vogue Bambini.

1.83   St Kilda at night???
Nope

This is a photo with dark room techniques – an image by Atomic Zen. It’s Mount Cradle in Tasmania.

1.835   Castle Island Scotland?

There is a Castle Island in Scotland, just not this one.  This is a picture of Castle Island, Lough Key, County Roscommon, Ireland

1.84

Can’t miss this one out – see it shared all the time – this is not Sean Connery but a look-a-like Dennis Keogh:

1.Wild haggis (Haggis scoticus)?

What this really is …