Metalheads are known for being outcasts and are sometimes even seen as dangerous individuals in the eyes of average folks. And this is what recently happened in Scotland when one group of metal fans was mistaken for a suicide pact cult.
According to The Guardian, last Sunday, April 8, a group of three grown men, their three kids, and one dog went camping in Loch Leven, Perthshire, when an unnamed passerby mistook them for a suicide cult and reported them to the authorities. The full-scale rescue operation was launched and police, ambulances, fire engines, and lifeboats were deployed at their location. Meanwhile, three men were drinking beers around a campfire while their children were sleeping in a tent.
Boats were deployed across the water in order to “rescue” the group, and the windows of one the campers’ cars on the mainland were smashed by the police in search of the suicide note. The campers were then transported back where around 20 vehicles and 50 people were waiting.
One of the campers was Panagiotis Filis, founder of the Black Metal Brewery and a lecturer at Aberdeen University, who gave this statement on the matter: “For some reason, the police had received a tip that we might be in grave danger and they came to rescue us. They really did a great job of rescuing us, the only issue is that we didn’t need rescuing.”
Ross Anderson, a civil engineer who was also a part of this group, commented: “The amount of resources they threw at it was just ridiculous. When we got on to dry land there was a police officer there and he had cuts all over his hand from breaking both the windows on my car. It felt to me that they were all pumped up and ready to take on something when there was nothing to take on.”
The third adult in the group, David Henderson, said: “They kind of made us feel as if we did something wrong, but we just like to go wild camping, drink beer and listen to heavy metal music. Because we were all dressed in black and look like heavy metal fans, people sometimes assume we are dangerous.”
You can read the full report here.
