Mum’s photo of Bruce statue goes viral online

A photograph which appeared to show Bannockburn Monument’s Robert the Bruce statue `flying’ went viral.

The image was snapped during heavy snowfall and it gave the illusion that the popular statue was floating above its own plinth.

It was captured at the Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre by Marisa Braithwaite.

The resident of Crum Crescent, Stirling, snapped the photo by chance.

And when she posted the image to social media it went viral, gaining over 6,000 likes on Facebook.

Marisa,38, had been out sledging with nine–year–old son Dylan when she pulled out her Samsung mobile phone and captured the image.

The Stirling Council adult social care worker says that there was no trick photography involved in capturing the freaky photo.

Marisa said: “I’ve seen a few folk online saying that the photo must be Photoshopped.

“I don’t even have Photoshop. I don’t even have Snapchat on my phone to add a filter to it. It’s completely natural.

“I just caught it at the right time. We were walking past it and I just pulled my phone out and took it.”

The top of the plinth was coated in a thick layer of the white stuff following fresh snowfall.

Marisa added: “The snow on the plinth blended into the sky in the background and just makes it look like its flying.

“I put the image on social media and I really can’t believe the response it has got.

“I’ve had people contacting me from everywhere. If we hadn’t gone out sledging then we would never have got it.

“Dylan is loving it. All of his pals at Bannockburn Primary and his teachers have been talking about it.

“He’s been disappointed though. Everybody is liking the photo and nobody is liking his pictures of him sledging.”

The image was shared on social media as far away as Canada.

Marisa initially posted the image to a Facebook group dedicated to photos of Bannockburn.

One person responded, saying: ”Best ones are sometimes the unplanned ones,”

Another added: “Brilliant photo. I always said his horse and him jumped down and rode around inspecting his lands in the dead of night.”