Second sight in Gaelic Scotland

Historically in the Highlands and Islands, people known in Gaelic as 'muinntir an dà shealladh' - 'people of the two sights' - were often believed to have had an ability to predict the future, and in many cases, doom for particular individuals. The spooky Runrig song Cnoc na Fèille references the muinntir an dà shealladh in its first verse, who were able to see a strange light on the hill of the market stand.

There's a great article looking at the subject of 'second sight' in today's Herald at https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23640933.second-sight-folklore-scottish-highlands-islands/, including instances of it recorded by traveller Martin Martin on his journey of the Western Isles, published in 1703 (A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland - available at https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_a-description-of-the-wes_martin-martin-gent_1703). 

You can also find out more about second sight in the following book available on Electric Scotland at https://electricscotland.com/history/brahan/highlandsecond.pdf.

And here's that Runrig song - one of my faves...!

Chris

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