Research source

As we began by stating, it is a popular superstition among the learned that the belief in second sight has died…

Date of account: Published 1894
Source: Cock Lane and Common-Sense
Reference: Cock Lane and Common-Sense · selected passage 210
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

As we began by stating, it is a popular superstition among the learned that the belief in second sight has died out among the Highlanders

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

As we began by stating, it is a popular superstition among the learned that the belief in second sight has died out among the Highlanders. Fifty years ago, Dr. McCulloch, in his Description of the Western Islands, wrote thus: 'Second sight has undergone the fate of witchcraft; ceasing to be believed, it has ceased to exist'. {245} Now, as to whether second sight exists or not, we may think as we please, but the belief in second sight is still vivacious in the Highlands, and has not altered in a single feature. A well- known Highland minister has been kind enough to answer a few questions on the belief as it is in his parish He first met a second-sighted man in his own beadle, 'a most respectable person of entirely blameless life'. After citing a few examples of the beadle's successful hits, our informant says: 'He told me that he felt the thing coming on, and that it was always preceded by a sense of discomfort and anxiety. . . . There was no epilepsy, and no convulsion of any kind. He felt a sense of great relief when the vision had passed away, and he assured me repeatedly that the gift was an annoyance rather than a pleasure to him,' as the Lapp also confessed to Scheffer.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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