Have you ever been (in) Lost?
14 June, 2024
By Paul Haneke
Within the Northeastern Scottish Council Area “Aberdeenshire” lies a small village with a peculiar name. “Lost” has piqued tourists’ interests without really having anything to offer other than a funny name. With a boastful population of “less than 24” (Wikipedia), the Scottish hamlet consists of merely a farm and a few scattered houses.
Many interested in getting their hands on a picture with the funny-looking road sign have undertaken the journey to Aberdeenshire and returned triumphantly. Well, unless it was stolen at the time, which is not as unlikely as it may sound.
As it turns out, some people were just not satisfied with taking pictures and decided to return home with a bigger and better souvenir instead: the entire sign. This road sign thievery eventually got so bad that the Council of Aberdeenshire decided to change the hamlet's name to “Lost Farm” so they could prevent having to renew the sign on a yearly basis, which cost them about £100 each time.
This, however, angered the few inhabitants of Lost. After some resistance, they quickly managed to reclaim their old name, even if it came at the cost of keeping the road sign at risk.
Sources and Further Reading:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3720848.stm