Scottish Gaelic folklore and fairy belief

John Gregorson Campbell

1836 – 1891

John Gregorson Campbell was a Scottish Free Church minister serving the parishes of Tiree and Coll in Argyll who devoted his life to collecting and preserving the oral traditions, folklore, fairy beliefs, and supernatural lore of the Scottish Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Islands. His posthumously published works — Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (1900) and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands (1902) — remain primary sources for the study of Celtic fairy tradition, the second sight, and Highland magical practice. His meticulous fieldwork captured a living oral tradition on the verge of extinction, making his collections essential for scholars of Celtic esotericism and fairy faith.