I happen to be a seventh son of a seventh son – fancy that!

It was once widely believed that the seventh son of a seventh son (or child or either sex as some supposed) was endowed with notable talent and supernatural powers. According to a belief that persisted through the Middle Ages, the seventh son of a seventh son is endowed with the – power not only of curing diseases and disorders of all kinds by the laying on of hands but also of practicing magic and foreseeing future events.’ Even as late as the nineteenth century many people still believed that the seventh son of a seventh son was a born physician and possessed intuitive knowledge of the healing art. The natural gifts of such a person were supposed by some to be more effective in medicine than the professional training of an ordinary doctor. Seven was regarded as a sacred and magical number among many ancient peoples, particularly the Hebrews, Assyrians and Arabians. In the Bible seven frequently occurs as a number with a special significance.’ The ancient belief about the seventh son of a seventh son may have a slight foundation in fact. Some students of eugenics are of the opinion that the younger children of an unusually intelligent man are likely to inherit more of their parent’s mentality than his earlier children are. This is based on the theory that a man of unusual intelligence generally continues to develop mentally until late in life and his older children have a tendency to inherit only what mental qualities the parent possessed when they were conceived, while the children born later have a tendency to inherit their father’s acquired mentality. Assuming this theory to be correct, in cases where a man marries young the difference in the mental qualities transmitted to the first children and to those born eight or ten years later ‘might be considerable. The lives of great men and women are cited to support the theory that younger children have “more brains” than their older brothers and sisters and that the older the father is when the child is born, the more intelligent it is likely to be. It is true that a remarkably high . Percentage of famous men and women were not the oldest children in the family. But it is doubtful whether the facts will bear out the theory of the inheritance of “acquired traits.” Most authorities believe that the order of birth is not an important factor in heredity. In many of the cases cited to support the theory only the father is taken into consideration. The fact that more than one woman may have borne him children is ignored. Difference in environment and home life may account for the large percentage of successful younger sons and daughters compared with older ones. Later arrivals in a family often have the advantages of more experienced parents as well as of the help and training of older brothers and sisters. In his Autobiography Benjamin Franklin says he was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generation’s in the paternal line. He was the fifteenth child of his father’s seventeen children by two marriages and the eighth child of his mother’s ten children. His parents named him Benjamin, after the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob in the Bible, because they expected him to be the last and youngest, but they missed the mark by two girls.

http://www.4information.com/trivia/belief-about-seventh/

Author: Mike

Amusing folklore:

In the Middle Ages, the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (or sometimes just the Seventh Son) was believed to be born a werewolf. The Seventh Daughter was believed to be a witch. This led to the killing of many Seventh children until  the myth died out. However, another belief was instead of becoming a werewolf the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son would be gifted in some way, more in-touch with the Unseen World, for example, the ability to see faeries or speak to the dead.

The ability to turn into a werewolf In South America (called "hombre lobo" or "lobizón”) particularly Argentina  was attributed to the 7^th son of a 7^th son.  As a result many such young boys were killed. To counter this the government ruled that all seventh sons were the adopted sons of the president of the country and were entitled to bursaries and other perks. With a lucrative advantage to being a “seventh son”  the superstition quickly faded. - http://wiki.answers.com

There has been over 200 autobiographies or reflections of 'Seventh Sons' down through history, and it is also linked with musical scores performed by various artists starting with the blues great 'Willie Dixon' whom wrote the original lyrics that was taken from Benjamin Elijah May's 'A Black Man's God as reflected in his thinking' that Johnny Rivers rerecorded in his anthology of 1965 to 'Iron Maiden' who devoted an entire CD Disc to the Legend of which their lyrics were based on 'Orson Scott Cards' series of books on the 'Seventh Son'. - http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1753&Itemid=668

In Ireland: The seventh son of a seventh son is gifted as a healer. There are several alleged cases of an Irish healer in Scranton, PA.  Paul Joseph Cawley was a seventh son of a seventh son and was known in this coal mining town for allegedly healing many skin diseases. The seventh son of a seventh son is part of a more general phenomenon known as the "cure" (sometimes also called the "charm’).

In US: According to Kendall’s Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, in the year 1807-1808 while visiting the Newgate copper mine (and prison) the author met an inn-keep who told him that "there was to be found in the surrounding hills, a black stone, of a certain species, through which a seventh son of a seventh son, born in the month of February, with a caul on his head, can discern everything that lies in the depths and interior of the globe." The author speculates that the importance of mining to the community gave rise to this localized belief.- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_son_of_a_seventh_son

From Leslie Shepard's Encyclopedia of the Occult Belief:

In Romania: The Seventh Child is fated to become a vampire.

In England:  In the seventheenth century there were reports of a Seventh Son healing the deaf blind and lame.
In France: The Seventh Son was called a 'Marcou' and branded with a 'fleur-de-lis' (renown worldwide as a symbol of the Divine and Quality, and all that is Holy). - http://legendofseventhson.blogspot.com/

An excellent story about a seventh son healer, Mohawk Abram George, can be found here: http://www.wampumchronicles.com/seventhson.html

Lyrics to the Iron Maiden song “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son":

Here they stand brothers them all
All the sons divided they’d fall
Here await the birth of a son
The seventh, the heavenly, the chosen one

Here the birth from an unbroken line
Born the healer, the seventh, this time
Unknowingly blessed and as his life unfolds
Slowly unveiling the power he holds

Seventh son of a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son

Then they watch the progress he makes
The good and the evil which path will he take
Both of them trying to manipulate
The use of his powers before it’s too late

Seventh son of a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son

Today is born the seventh one
Born of woman the seventh son
And he in turn of a seventh son
He has the power to heal
He has the gift of the second sight
He is the chosen one
So it shall be written
So it shall be done.