The Execution of the Brahan Seer at Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point, Black Isle, Ross-shire, Scotland

Coinneach Odhar, the Brahan Seer, was burned to death in a spiked barrel of tar at Chanonry Point around 1660 after telling the Countess of Seaforth what her husband was doing in Paris — and cursed the Seaforth line with his last words.

Chanonry Point is a low sand spit projecting into the Moray Firth on the Black Isle, a few miles from the mouth of the Beauly Firth. At its tip, a simple flat stone marks the spot where Coinneach Odhar — the Brahan Seer — was burned to death in a spiked barrel of tar, traditionally dated to around 1660, on the orders of Isabella, Countess of Seaforth. Coinneach's method of seeing was a small stone with a hole through its centre, through which he looked with one eye to receive his visions. He was employed informally by the Seaforth Mackenzies of Brahan Castle, and his death came directly from that employment. The Countess, with her husband the Earl absent in Paris, summoned Coinneach and demanded to know what he was doing. Coinneach refused at first; she insisted; he told her — the Earl was with another woman, and entirely content with the arrangement. It was not the answer she wanted. She had him arrested and condemned as a warlock. Before the tar was lit, tradition holds that Coinneach delivered a final prophecy — a curse on the Seaforth line itself. He said the last Seaforth chief would be deaf and mute, would outlive his four sons, and would watch his lands and titles pass to a stranger. The fulfilment attributed to this curse is one of the most cited in Scottish folklore. Francis Humberston Mackenzie, the last Earl of Seaforth, was left deaf by a childhood illness and lost the power of speech intelligibly late in life. He outlived all four of his sons. On his death in 1815, the Seaforth estates passed out of the direct male line. Sir Walter Scott, who was alive when the Earl died, wrote about the coincidence with evident unease. The stone marker at Chanonry Point is a real, visited site today, on a stretch of coastline now better known for the bottlenose dolphins that follow the tidal currents past the same spot where, in the traditional account, the Seer's ashes went into the Moray Firth.

Folklore Disclaimer: These accounts are drawn from local tradition, oral history, and community memory. They are not presented as factual claims.

Location accuracy: Approximate. Coordinates indicate the general area.