second sight

The power of discerning what is not visible to the physical eye, or of foreseeing future events, esp. such as are of a disastrous kind; the capacity of a seer; prophetic vision.

He was seized with a fit of second-sight.

Nor less availed his optic sleight,
And Scottish gift of second-sight.

Clairvoyance, as in Jane must have second sight; she knew exactly where Dad had mislaid his keys. This expression, alluding to the supposed power of someone to perceive an event in the future or distance as though actually present, dates from the early 1600s.

Paranormal perception at a distance in time and space, today classified by parapsychology under such labels as ESP, clairvoyance, precognition and remote viewing. Second sight, as a faculty of foreseeing future events or occurrences happening at the moment at a distance, is traditionally attributed to certain individuals in the Highlands of Scotland.

The medium Daniel Dunglas Home, who claimed descent from a Highland family, was supposed to have second sight and described it in the following way: "A deadly tremor comes over me, and there is a film on my eyes, and I not only see persons, but hear conversations taking place at a distance." While in Paris Home saw his brother, who was then in the North Sea. He saw his fingers and toes fall off. Six months afterward tidings came of the brother having been found dead on the ice, his fingers and toes having fallen off from scurvy.

The chief peculiarity of second sight is that the visions are often of a symbolic character. For example, in March 1927, in a lecture before the Societé Internationale de Philologie, Sciences et Beaux Arts, F. G. Fraser noted: "The vision of coming events which some of the Highlanders possess, used to be accompanied, in some cases, by a nerve storm and by a subsequent prostration. It must not be confused with the sight of apparitions, nor does it depend upon artificial aids, such as accompanied by the invocation of the oracles in classic times."

Samuel Johnson took note of the phenomenon in his 1775 account of A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland: "The foresight of the seers is not always prescience. They are impressed with images, of which the event only shows them the meaning." He denied that "to the second sight nothing is presented but phantoms of evil. Good seems to have the same proportion in those visionary scenes as it obtains in real life." According to some old books (Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon, 1482 and Robert Kirk's Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, 1691) second sight is communicated by touch. Napier's Folklore or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland (1879) mentions the practice as surviving in the nineteenth century.

The belief in second sight dates back to a very early period in the history of these regions, and has not been altogether eradicated by the encroachments of the twentieth century. And, of course, apart from the name, which is used primarily in Scotland, second sight itself is not exclusive to the Celts of Scotland, for it is allied to the clairvoyance, prophetic vision, soothsaying, and so on, that have been reported from time immemorial in practically every part of the world. Yet the second sight has certain distinctive features of its own.

It may, for instance, be either congenital or acquired. In the former case, it generally falls to the seventh son of a seventh son, by reason of the potency of the mystic number seven. In the days of large families and no birth control, such a person appeared far more frequently than in modern society. Yet again, sometimes Highlanders would find themselves suddenly endowed with the mysterious faculty. A person gifted with second sight is said to be "fey." Generally there is no apparent departure from the normal consciousness during the vision, although sometimes a seer may complain of a feeling of disquiet or uneasiness. A vision may be communicated from one person to another, usually by contact, but the secondary vision is dimmer than that of the original seer.

A frequent vision is that of a funeral, a premonition of a death shortly to occur in the community. This is an instance of the second sight taking a symbolical turn. Occasionally the apparition of the doomed person will be seen—his wraith, or double—while he himself is far distant.

Another form second-sight visions often take is that of "seeing lights." The lights, too, may indicate death, but they may likewise predict lesser happenings. In one instance, a light was seen by two persons to hover above the mansion of an estate, then to travel swiftly in the direction of the gamekeeper's cottage, where it remained stationary for a while. The next day the gamekeeper was found dead.

Animals also are said to possess second sight, especially dogs and horses. Two men were travelling in Scottland from Easdale to Oban on a stormy night. In making a short cut through a wood, one of them died from fatigue and exposure. That night more than one horse had to be carefully led past the spot by his driver, who as yet knew nothing of the tragedy. Many Highlanders used to believe that the faculty was common to all the lower animals, since they whine and bristle when there is nothing visible to human eyes or audible to human ears.

The march of civilization has eroded the occult beliefs of the Highlanders, but they still believe in second sight, even those who claim that they are not in the least "superstitious."

Sources:

Campbell, John L., and Trevor H. Hall. Strange Things: The Story of Fr. Allan McDonald, Ada Goodrich Freer, and the Society for Psychical Research's Enquiry into Highland Second Sight. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; Philadelphia: Folklore Associates, 1968.

Mackenzie, Alexander. The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer. Stirling, Scotland: Eneas Mackay, 1935. Reprint, London: Constable, 1977.

Macrae, Norman, ed. Highland Second-Sight: With Prophecies of Conneach Odhar of Petty. Dingwall, Scotland: G. Souter, 1908.

Napier, James. Folklore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland, within this Century. Paisley, Scotland, 1879.

Spence, Lewis. Second Sight: Its History and Origins. London: Rider, 1951.

Sutherland, Elizabeth. Ravens and Black Rain: The Story of Highland Second Sight. London: Constable, 1986.

Thompson, Francis. The Supernatural Highlands. London: Robert Hale, 1976.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: apparent power to perceive things that are not present to the senses
  Synonyms: clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, E.S.P., ESP