Things don't always go as planned when you go on a camping trip. If your tent breaks, you'll be stuck out in the cold. If you're not careful with your food, a curious bear could crash your campsite. And if you and your family don corpse paint and set sail for a "heavy-metal camping trip" on a historic island, the cops might think you're embarking on a suicide pact.
That's exactly what happened to a group of Scottish metalheads, reports The Courier. The campers — three adults, three children and a dog named Jazz — sailed out to Reed Bower Island, near historic Lochleven Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was jailed in the 16th century. A passerby onshore called the cops after spotting their boat en route to the island, concerned the group had sailed off to carry out a suicide pact.
Local police were quick to respond, dispatching a full search and rescue team — including a helicopter, multiple fire crews and several boats — to find the group. After breaking into the campers' parked car in search of a suicide note, they headed to the island that night to fetch the group, fearing a possible kidnapping.
David Henderson, frontman for local black-metal band Nyctopia, recounted the bizarre incident to The Courier, setting the scene thusly: "We've got a large tee-pee and we had a campfire going. It was a nice evening and one of the kids had already gone off to sleep. Then all of a sudden, it was like something from the X-Files."
The cops escorted the campers back to the car park, where they were subsequently questioned. "When they realized we were just a bunch of good friends taking our kids on a heavy-metal camping trip that was the end of it," 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."
Speaking with Revolver via email, about the incident, Henderson reflected with the incredulity on the whole situation. "When people see a bunch of guys dressed in black wearing corpse paint playing with some kids, they think they're some kind of Satanic pedophiles or some shit God knows! People need to get a grip and start listening to true old-school black metal!" Agreed.
