Continuing some interesting local stories from the 1890’s, which I hope you’ve heard for the first time.
In May 1897, people travelling along Stoneymeadow Road near the Dalton junction were being attacked at dusk. However, it wasn’t people doing the attacking!
As the sun set, travellers heading back to Blantyre found themselves under attack from a bird near Doghillock. (Now Allers Farm). Doghillock was situated halfway between Blantyre and East Kilbride on the main turnpike road, which is now a backroad.
Several people over weeks had been attacked around the head, one person having their face badly scratched. A man seated in his cart had his hat cleanly taken away by the bird, though a search the next day nearby saw him retrieve it. This was a “big bird”, a similar pattern where each person was attacked and hats sometimes removed, always happening around dusk.
As the story circulated, it was later found the big bird was an owl, who of which had been nesting near the farmhouse. Authorities were quickly fed up of the complaints and seeing the public in danger, decided to do something about it. By the middle of May, the large male owl had been deliberately shot. It was accepted that owl behaviour of this sort was typical around nesting season. The female, now on her lonesome moved on and the attacks stopped as suddenly as they began.
Illustrated by AI.
