Case file · Folklore / legend
The Brahan Seer
Coinneach Odhar, the Brahan Seer, is said to have foretold the fall of the Seaforth Mackenzies and much else through a seeing-stone. Hugh Miller printed stories about him in 1835.
1835 CE · 57.57, -4.48 · status: legend
The account
In the legend the Countess of Seaforth had him burned in a tar barrel at Chanonry Point after he revealed her husband's infidelity, and he cursed the family. Prophecies about Culloden and the Caledonian Canal were credited to him.
The sceptical view
There is no firm evidence the seer existed; many 'prophecies' were published by Alexander Mackenzie in 1877, after the events.