Walkers have been warned that a bizarre phenomenon on a Perthshire mountain could have been a sign of an imminent and potentially deadly lightning strike.
These remarkable photographs show the bizarre moment hairs on the heads of a mother and her son stood on end as they tackled a Perthshire mountain.
The Duncan family were descending Schiehallion, in Perthshire, at the weekend when youngster Rian Duncan, 12, felt an electric shock pass through his walking pole and into his hand.
The volt was so intense he had to throw the stick away, and was left with blackened skin on the palm of his hand.
He was climbing the hill with his mum Loraine, dad Andrew, and older brother Jamie.
Just seconds after Rian was shocked, the strange phenomena continued when his mum and 17-year-old Jamie’s hair stood on end.
Such experiences are said to be precursors to lightning storms, and have had tragic endings abroad in the past.
However Mrs Duncan, 44, said there had been no thunder and lightning on the day of their walk up the 3553ft Munro.
She said on the ascent of Schiehallion a storm cloud had passed above them, but on the way back down the sky had cleared and the darkened clouds had passed by.
The classroom assistant from Hartwood, North Lanarkshire, added: “On the walk down, coming down the hill our hair just started sticking up on end.
“My youngest son Rian had got a shock through his walking pole. There was a black mark on his hand. He threw the pole away. Then everyone started looking at me. There must have been about 12 other people around about
“My husband turned around and they all started laughing at me, my hair was sticking up on end.
“Everyone kept saying ‘you are going to get struck by lightning’ but there was no storm cloud. There was nothing at all.
“There was other people standing beside us and it wasn’t affecting them. It was really, really strange. I didn’t feel anything.”
After posting the photos to social media on returning home, Mrs Duncan said people had joked she could have been “fried”.
She added: “I looked it up afterwards and apparently static can travel 20 miles in the air.”
The mountain was their 16th in a family quest to tackle all of Scotland’s mighty Munros.
Last night Ken Thomson, secretary of the Cairngorm Club, one of Scotland’s oldest and biggest hillwalking groups, said: “This is an occasional happening on the Scottish hills. I have experienced this myself, particularly when carrying ice axes or poles, you get some humming in the iron.
“The best thing to do is to get away from your bits of ironmongery and take shelter in a hollow in the ground. There have certainly been fatalities in the Alps but I’ve not heard of one in Scotland.
“I would advise people to take it seriously and take the steps i just outlined. It is much less common than slips and falls, but it is not something to be ignored.”
US brothers experienced same phenomenon before being struck by lightning
For decades a photograph of two American brothers grinning to the camera with their hair standing on end has served to remind the world of the danger of lightning strikes.
Michael and Sean McQuilken were struck by bolts shortly after the image was taken whilst climbing Moro Rock in California’s Sequoia National Park on August 20, 1975.
Michael was 18 at the time and his brother was 12.
Though they survived the lightning strikes in the Sierra Nevada mountains, another hiker was killed during the storm.
Michael said all he remembered of the incident was a flash of white, a huge explosion and being lifted off the ground by the force of the lightning strike.
Between 30 and 60 people are believed to be struck by lightning in the UK every year, with an average of three dying.
According to a UK study by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, about 90% of victims survive being struck.
