Born in the 17th century in Uig on the Isle of Lewis, the Seer or ‘Dark Kenneth’ as he was known by some (Gaelic: Coinneach Odhar) reportedly belonged to the MacKenzie Clan. He worked as a farm labourer at the Brahan estate, seat of the Seaforth chieftains, but both the Seer and the Seaforths would meet their intertwined fates at the hand of his ‘dark’ powers.
Legend has it that he gained clairvoyance after napping on a fairy hill and finding a small stone with a hole carved through its centre in his coat when he woke up, peering through this object bestowed the ‘second sight’ upon him but cost him his vision in that eye. While some sceptics doubt his existence it is known that there are records of a man who lived in the 16th century called ‘Coinneach Odhar’ who stood accused of witchcraft.
Many of the Brahan Seer’s prophetic visions did come true in the years following his death, while others still loom over us… Here are thirteen of his prophecies with two yet to pass.
9. The Airship and the Church Spire
Pointing to a field far from seashore, loch or river, the Brahan Seer announced that a 'ship' would anchor there one day. “A village with four churches will get another spire... and a ship will come from the sky and moor at it.” This took place in 1932 when an airship made an emergency landing and was tied up to the spire of a new church. Photo: Submitted
10. Unexplained transportation of the Stone of Petty
“That the day will come when the Stone of Petty, large though it is, and high and dry upon the land as it appears to people this day, will be suddenly found as far advanced into the sea as it now lies away from it inland, and no one will see it removed, or be able to account for its sudden and marvellous transportation.” The stone is a massive boulder (eight tonnes) which formerly marked the boundary between Culloden and Moray. On the 20th of February, 1799, it was mysteriously removed from its past location, and carried about 260 yards into the sea. Photo: Julian Paren via Geograph
11. Prophecy of doom with the Seaforths
At the height of his fame, Odhar a notorious prediction which would cost him his life when Isabella, wife of the Earl of Seaforth, asked for his advice. She wanted news of her husband who was on a visit to Paris. Odhar reassured her that the Earl was in good health but refused to tell her more. This enraged Isabella, who demanded that he tell her everything or she would have him killed. He told her that her husband was with another woman, fairer than herself, and he foretold the end of the Seaforth line, with the last heir being deaf and dumb. (Francis Humberston Mackenzie, deaf and dumb from scarlet fever as a child, inherited the title in 1783. He had four children who died prematurely and the line came to an end.) Isabella was so incensed by this that she had Coinneach seized and thrown head-first into a barrel of boiling tar. Photo: John Michael Wright via WikiCommons
12. The flooding of Loch Ussie
A Celtic stone, the Eagle Stone, stands in Strathpeffer, Ross-shire. The Seer said that if the stone fell down three times, then Loch Ussie would flood the valley below so that ships could sail to Strathpeffer. The stone has fallen down twice: it is now set fast in concrete. Photo: via WikiCommons