Instances of second sight in Tom Anderson's family.

Original Track ID

SA1972.238.A1

Original Tape ID

SA1972.238

Summary

Instances of second sight in Tom Anderson's family.

Second sight ran strongly in Tom Anderson's family. His grand-aunt would announce that such and such a person has passed away because she had heard him or her talking on the roof of her house the previous night. She was always right. She didn't tell everything she knew in order not to worry people. She lived by herself but was not frightened by the visitations, knocks and voices. She would warn people to keep a close eye on certain individuals while knowing that they were powerless to change what she had seen. She accepted her second sight as natural.

Tom's parents also knew things, and his father once got up in the middle of the night when he heard his brother Willie calling him. Willie, who lived a few miles away, died at that moment.

Tom's favourite aunt was sent to Lerwick for an operation. Tom woke up one morning with Auntie Mary at his bedside wishing him goodbye. He told his mother, and a little later they got word that Mary had died suddenly at the time when Tom had seen her.

Another time, Tom's father was caught in a storm while fishing, and his mother had a vision of the boat with its sails damaged drifting towards a lee shore. When he returned, Tom's father confirmed that they had had such an accident at that time. Tom theorises that people living close to nature in remote rural places like Shetland have senses that city dwellers have lost, and this explains why people in rural Japan and Scotland can have the same abilities. It was common in animals and people in the old days.

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Story Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Poor