AN AMAZING video shows a Scots bagpiper playing Scotland the Brave inside the infamous Alcatraz prison.
Roddy Garden wore his kilt and sporran as he belted out the patriotic tune on Wednesday while walking past cells that were once filled with notorious prisoners.
The jailhouse, set on a small island in San Francisco Bay in California, held criminals including Al “Scarface” Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
Video shows the 54-year-old walking slowly down the middle of the empty prison as the song can be heard echoing through the eerie room.
Another clip shows Roddy from Kilcreggan in Argyll and Bute continuing to play in an empty courtyard that was used as an exercise yard.
Roddy, 54, had put a list together of all the places he wanted to play the bagpipes travelling around America with his girlfriend Rachael Handy.
Speaking today, TV and film prop driver Roddy said: “I played the pipes at the bottom of the General Sherman Tree and in the forests there and now we’re just charging around America and playing in random places.
“On the day of the Alcatraz trip we played going across the Golden Gate bridge.
“Then in the evening we had tickets booked for Alcatraz, so I took my bagpipes on.
“The acoustics were great , the other visitors and guards loved it.
“I couldn’t help but imagine while playing all the things these cells had seen over the years.
” It kind of felt like there was still loads of people in the cells because of all the photos of former inmates and having listened to the audio tour with interviews of former inmates and staff, the audio tour is brilliant.
“When I played in the exercise yard I could picture in my mind loads of inmates walking about.
“That was eerie as I was the only person out there at that point.”
Roddy added: “The next thing is I’m going out to Nevada desert and I’m hoping to see one of these big cacti and I want to play at the base of one of those.”
Roddy, who plays for Helensburgh clan Colquhoun Pipeband, has been sharing the clips on social media where they have gone down a storm with viewers.
Fiona Creech said: “Wow! That’s awesome!”
Kenny Scotland said: “How did you manage that? Fantastic Roddy.”
Before Martin Freke said: “ WOW… absolutely amazing buddy… tick that bucket list.”
Jonathan Ward said: “Very cool… but did they let you out again?”
And Sharon Neal added: “Fantastic, how many people have done that, nice one Rodders.”
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a famous prison island that was open for 29 years between 1934 and 1963.
The prison was known as America’s toughest prison in its day, with former inmates claiming that their sanity was tested during their time behind its bars.
This isn’t the first time Roddy has stepped outside the box when choosing where to play his bagpipes.
In 2017, the thrill-seeking piper played Scotland the Brave as he plummeted head-first towards a river in Killiecrankie, Perthshire, at 50mph during a bungee jump.
Donning his kilt, Roddy was filmed making the 132ft jump whilst clutching onto his pipes.
