"Elsa Richardson's excellent book represents a seminal work in interdisciplinary studies of supernatural culture in the British Isles. Her refreshing and insightful study throws the much-neglected phenomenon of second sight into the limelight, revealing how its narrative traditions shaped the emerging disciplines of spiritualism, anthropology and psychical research. This book is a 'must-read' for all students and scholars interested in the ever-changing boundaries between magic, epistemology, and science." (Dr Sasha Handley, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History, University of Manchester, UK) "Dramatically and admirably extending the range of spiritualism studies beyond the familiar limits of the imperial metropole, Richardson's ground-breaking new study demonstrates the hitherto unrecognized significance of Scottish second sight for nineteenth-century understandings of historiography and the supernatural alike. Through a series of compelling and lively case studies, Richardson argues convincingly that the previsionary traditions of the Celtic fringe were central to, and disruptive of, major Victorian investigatory projects such as phrenology, anthropology, psychical research, mesmerism." (Prof Christine Ferguson, Professor in English Literature, University of Stirling, UK).