Found Deceased UK - Susan McLean, 61, U.S. tourist, Aberfeldy, Scotland, 17 May 2015

[nola1]

......

 

[luckyseven]

Hippy, thanks for joining us!

 

[JerricaBenton]

Hi All
Just joined this forum on the back of the Susan Mclean disappearance. I live in Aberfeldy so have been witness to all the police presence here and heard all the chatter about town from the locals. On top of that I have been out with my dogs very afternoon for the last ten days for up to three hours at a time, searching in the woods hills and derelict out buildings. One of the dogs is a hound with an excellent nose. More later

Hi, I am about an hour from Aberfeldy, what searches are going on today?

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi I have just finished work and am heading out with the dogs for the rest of the afternoon to continue my own personal search. I keep going back to the same place which is a forest walk just past Gatehouse a Nursery on the A826 road to Crieff. I park on the right side beside a large notice board with a colourful detailed map of all the walking trails there . One trail can take you back down the hill almost directly to the holiday resort she went missing from. There is one field just at the bottom of he hill that has a bull in it so I never quite get to the resort. I've wondered could she have been mauled by the bull and dragged herself undercover to escape and then perished. The night she disappeared we had zero degrees Celsius and for the last two weeks every night has been not more than 2 degrees, so extremely cold, very windy too.
The police van with a team inside have just gone back up that a826 road, they have been digging at Pitilie Frm and also checking the loch further up the road. You can a Google map all this area. I take with me an ordnance survey map and search for about three hours at a time. When I return today I shall tell you all why I keep returning to this particular area.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Wow, hippyhippy, so good of you!! Good luck today and beware of the bull :moo:

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi Ajc the road is definitely not a road that goes nowhere. It is the main road out of Aberfeldy to Crieff and then eventually Stirling and Glasgow. It's a fairly busy road Monday to Friday and the Garden Centre is always busy this time of year at the weekend. Yes it was closed by 8 the evening Susan went missing however there is a detailed map of local walks just across the road from the centre which she might have known about. Obviously she can read a map so she may have thought, why not cut back down to the resort via the forest track where it's less exposed to the weather...
Going back up there now, and will be in touch this evening

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I know it's not a road to literally nowhere, I meant it's not a road you'd walk down to find a shop/pub/village etc. My map tells me it's 23 miles to Crieff, I guess there are smaller places in between. I agree there's a high probability she went off road somewhere... just where??!

 

[Queen Bee]

Hi I have just finished work and am heading out with the dogs for the rest of the afternoon to continue my own personal search. I keep going back to the same place which is a forest walk just past Gatehouse a Nursery on the A826 road to Crieff. I park on the right side beside a large notice board with a colourful detailed map of all the walking trails there . One trail can take you back down the hill almost directly to the holiday resort she went missing from. There is one field just at the bottom of he hill that has a bull in it so I never quite get to the resort. I've wondered could she have been mauled by the bull and dragged herself undercover to escape and then perished. The night she disappeared we had zero degrees Celsius and for the last two weeks every night has been not more than 2 degrees, so extremely cold, very windy too.
The police van with a team inside have just gone back up that a826 road, they have been digging at Pitilie Frm and also checking the loch further up the road. You can a Google map all this area. I take with me an ordnance survey map and search for about three hours at a time. When I return today I shall tell you all why I keep returning to this particular area.

wishing you safe searching hippy :seeya: looking forward to hearing more from you.............

 

[gregjrichards]

Hi Ajc the road is definitely not a road that goes nowhere. It is the main road out of Aberfeldy to Crieff and then eventually Stirling and Glasgow. It's a fairly busy road Monday to Friday and the Garden Centre is always busy this time of year at the weekend. Yes it was closed by 8 the evening Susan went missing however there is a detailed map of local walks just across the road from the centre which she might have known about. Obviously she can read a map so she may have thought, why not cut back down to the resort via the forest track where it's less exposed to the weather...
Going back up there now, and will be in touch this evening

Thanks Hippy Hippy for joining us and for all your efforts they are much appreciated.

The poor amount of press coverage here in Scotland about Susan's disappearance is disappointing.

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi All
I was up there three and half hours. Parked opposite the gran centre again and started off on the track that runs back towards the town but on the hill. This time I took the first track down so it was a more direct and steeper descent. Came across a few very steep ridges and checked all through there in case she may have slipped. As I walk I am constantly looking for anything at all she may have dropped...and of course I am looking for her too. After an hour the weather closed in very quickly and it began to rain very heavily but I was I thick woods. Not until I got all the way down to the bottom field did I start to get completely soaked. I trekked all the way back up the hill via another downhill track she may have used...the dogs suddenly pulled me into very dense forest and I assumed they had a scent of something. Then I became lost. It was dreadful. I couldn't see sky, the trees too close together and I lost my sense of direction. I ended up on a tiny deer track and followed it crawling as I couldn't stand in most places. So wet and filthy and hair full of pine twigs. Came out eventually to a clearing and I could get my bearings by looking for the electricity pylons and flowing them uphill to the car. The wind was gusting to fifty mph, cold driving rain. All three of us cold, shivery and very dirty.
So here's what I learned. The weather conditions are the same today as that evening May 17th. In sneakers and lightweight pants Susan would have been soaked and very cold within half an hour of leaving her lodge. She would NOT in my opinion have continued walking. That Crieff road is very exposed to the elements. I was miserable today in the rain up there and I had on proper hiking boots and warm jacket.
So did she then accept a lift from someone once she got to the garden centre because she would have been thoroughly wet and cold by then...

 

[CoverMeCagney]

You're a star. Glad you returned safe as wouldn't fancy finding a thread about a missing hippy!

I hate to ask but is there anything in that area that would be a "good" suicide spot; high bridges, deep ravines, water etc? I'm also still wondering if helicopters went over asap with heat seeking cameras on.

If she did accept a lift has she been adbducted? Seems unlikely up there that she's have been unlucky enough to encounter a baddie. Alternatively I can't help but consider maybe she totally intended to leave, maybe she has been in touch with someone who she is safely with. Could she have booked the holiday based on an online penfriend?

 

[Jennibee]

Thanks for your searches Hippy Hippy. Your safety is very important though so be careful.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[JerricaBenton]

Thank you for your work Hippy Hippy, but keep yourself safe please!

Did you see any other searchers while you were out? Have the police stopped looking?

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi Ajc
After my awful walk yesterday in chilly windy rain on that hill I am extremely inclined to believe Susan was very wet and cold, particularly her feet and legs, by the time she reached the garden centre. If she is an outdoors person as her neighbour back home has stated to the press, then she would know to carry a phone with her and dress appropriately for the weather...
Everyone here is talking about this situation. There have been some wild ideas too of course, like is that really her in the CCTV image, or could it be someone else posing as her to throw off the investigation? Why was her absence reported initially as 6:30 pm then the CCTV image showed she was still at the resort as 7:45 pm? We seem to have lost 1 hour 15 mins, then she was spotted at 8ish pm up the road to Crieff. If she left the lodge at 6:30 why didn't she come back for an umbrella and better shoes before heading up the hill? WHY NO PHONE?
The weather has turned to rain again and fog so I may not head out today too far. Getting lost yesterday was a wake up call.

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi Jessica
I seem to be the only civilian out there. There was one police unit heading up to the loch up the Crieff road yesterday but they were gone again by 6 ...weather was dreadful. If she had gone into the loch her body would have come to the surface by now. It's a very small loch right on the edge of the road about 3 miles from the resort.

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi
About the helicopter. It arrived Monday afternoon and was also flying all day Tuesday, that is the two days after she went missing. That's all. Police divers have searched the small reservoir behind Dewars whiskey distillery, the Tay river by the Golf Club where I live, and also the very treacherous waterfalls and ravine called Birks o abefeldy right opposite the holiday resort. Google the Birks Aberfeldy and check out the photos. If you fall or jump you have nil chance of survival. Most of the cliffs are unreachable from below specially with all the foliage so if she fell or jumped they wouldn't find a body until winter when the trees are bare. I've walked up there a week ago, both dogs on the lead, and visibility from top of cliffs to bottom is impossible because of trees and overhangs. Can't reach the waterfalls from the bottom because there's too much water rushing down due to all this recent rain. Incidentally we have had a couple of such des there and also three I know about in the River Tay which flows through the town.

 

[JerricaBenton]

Hi
About the helicopter. It arrived Monday afternoon and was also flying all day Tuesday, that is the two days after she went missing. That's all. Police divers have searched the small reservoir behind Dewars whiskey distillery, the Tay river by the Golf Club where I live, and also the very treacherous waterfalls and ravine called Birks o abefeldy right opposite the holiday resort. Google the Birks Aberfeldy and check out the photos. If you fall or jump you have nil chance of survival. Most of the cliffs are unreachable from below specially with all the foliage so if she fell or jumped they wouldn't find a body until winter when the trees are bare. I've walked up there a week ago, both dogs on the lead, and visibility from top of cliffs to bottom is impossible because of trees and overhangs. Can't reach the waterfalls from the bottom because there's too much water rushing down due to all this recent rain. Incidentally we have had a couple of such des there and also three I know about in the River Tay which flows through the town.

I also live on the River Tay, further across near the sea though. A body was washed up on the beach a couple of days ago, but there has been no announcement in the press about it, I dont even know if it was male/female.

 

[Queen Bee]

I also live on the River Tay, further across near the sea though. A body was washed up on the beach a couple of days ago, but there has been no announcement in the press about it, I dont even know if it was male/female.

oh no

please let us know as soon as they announce something




:rose: susan......holding onto hope

 

[hippy hippy]

Hi Jerrica
I heard that someone was seen a couple of days ago entering the river at Dundee and there had been a massive search, particularly by the bridge so perhaps that was who they found?

 

[JerricaBenton]

Hi Jerrica
I heard that someone was seen a couple of days ago entering the river at Dundee and there had been a massive search, particularly by the bridge so perhaps that was who they found?

Let's hope so.