•Explores the overlooked stories of male witches, wizards, and seers who shaped — and haunted — the national imagination.
•Blends revered figures and folk heroes with the grim truths of witch hunts, frauds, and persecution.

The story of Scotland's male witches and wizards always promised to be a convulted one, and the tale indeed turns out to be a strange tree with many twisted branches. The nation has several venerable magical figures who compete in stature with the legendary Merlin. Michael Scot, Thomas of Erceldoune and Coinneach Odhar were, respectively scholar, poet and seer, but they still command enormous presence in the national imagination. The forgotten men who got caught up in the national witch hunts were as unfortunate as the far greater number if women persecuted. Among those prosecuted were healers like Andro Man, who practiced his skills for decades before being examined. For every sincere practitioner or innocent, there were many more frauds and distorted characters caught up in the supernatural net. Major Weir left a dark stain on Edinburgh for a century after his death and Gregor Willox Macgregor is still remembered in the north with a mixture of doubtful contempt and fear.

Keith Coleman has written about Scottish history over a wide timespan, from the sixth-century king Aedán to King James VI and I. His last book was on the Jacobites following the Battle of Culloden. He maintains several blogs on Scottish history and lives in Cornwall with his wife, and takes an interest in the history and culture of his adopted home.