In Brief

Surprise Atop Britain's Tallest Mountain: A Piano

Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the UK, with a summit of 4,418 feet (1,347 meters).
Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the UK, with a summit of 4,418 feet (1,347 meters). (Image credit: Clemson University)

If a piano plays on top of a mountain, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a noise?

Volunteers clearing stones near the summit of the United Kingdom's tallest mountain got a surprise when they found a piano, according to the Guardian. It's by far the strangest finding that the volunteers came across on Ben Nevis, the summit of which is some 4,418 feet ( 1,347 meters) above sea level.

Who took it there, or why, is a mystery. But a biscuit wrapper found under the instrument, with a "best before date" of December 1986, suggests it's been there for 27 years.

"We have a constant battle against litter being left on Britain's highest mountain — but this elevates being a litter lout sky high into a completely different category," volunteer group organizer Sandy Maxwell told the Guardian. "We are now trying to track down who took it there. We may even give them an outstanding invoice for 20 years storage of a piano under a cairn on Ben Nevis."

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Douglas Main
Douglas Main loves the weird and wonderful world of science, digging into amazing Planet Earth discoveries and wacky animal findings (from marsupials mating themselves to death to zombie worms to tear-drinking butterflies) for Live Science. Follow Doug on Google+.