Haggis is Scotland’s national dish made of sheep’s heart, lungs, and liver boiled inside a sheep’s stomach. Visitors may not know what it is, leading to jokes about the non-existent wild haggis. A survey found that nearly a third of American tourists believed in its existence. There are also rumors of wild haggis being exported to Nevada and being related to other creatures with similar leg length characteristics.
Haggis is Scotland’s national dish which may make some visitors squeamish when they discover its ingredients. It is a combination of sheep’s heart, lungs and liver boiled inside a sheep’s stomach. For those in Scotland, haggis is especially enjoyed on Burns Night, January 25, which celebrates Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns even composed a poem, To a Haggis, which makes serving this dish all the more fitting.
Visitors to Scotland, especially from America, may not be aware of what haggis actually is, and this has led to a running joke in Scotland. Rather than describing the true ingredients of haggis, a Scotsman might be referring to the non-existent wild haggis, a creature said to live in the hills of Scotland. There is some disagreement about what kind of animal the wild haggis is. Some believe it is a three-legged bird.
Conversely, some describe wild haggis as a four-legged bird or grouse-sized mammal. It lives in the mountains due to the particular length of the animal’s legs. The haggis has its right legs shorter than its left, so it can easily run around hills in a clockwise direction. The joke is taken further when some suggest that there are two types of wild haggis. One guy has shorter left legs so he can go around the mountains quickly counterclockwise.
The myth of wild haggis is pervasive, and in a 2003 survey of 1,000 American tourists to Scotland – nearly a third – strongly believed in the existence of this ‘beast’ as Burns would have termed it. About one in four respondents thought they could also catch a wild haggis. It’s a tribute to the Scots that they can keep a straight face long enough to perpetuate this myth and actually convince their visitors that haggis hunting takes place on a regular basis.
There’s also a persistent rumor that people exported wild haggis to Nevada, where it may be related to two other creatures with similar leg length characteristics. These are the Black Hodags of Wisconsin, who have the muzzle of an elephant, the rear of a dinosaur, and thick legs; and the Sidehill Gouger, said to graze in the Canadian Rockies. Like the wild haggis, the Sidehill Gouger comes in left-handed and right-handed types, so they can go around mountains with great speed, both clockwise and counterclockwise. Sidehill Gougers can be blamed for landslides, while the fabled haggis is generally regarded as a boon to tourism.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
