Death Omens,not That Anyone Pays Attention To Them Or Do They?

Graveyard Hound

Graveyard Hound

Member
As for "death omens", in folklore, they are a portent of a persons death. They can be signs of nature, like cloud formations or storms, signs that occur naturally, such as the way wax might drip off a candle or the apperance of coffin shaped cinders in the fireplace after a fire or a chair falling over backwards as a personrises from it. Death can also be foretold by certain animals, insect or birds, suddenly appearing, as if from out of no where, though they are associated with the "under world". "Black birds", "night birds", such as owls, rooks, ravens, or crows are widely regarded as "death omens" when they appear in a village or around one certain house. The howling of a dog or wolf, which in mythology is guardian of the underworld and guide of the souls of the dead, portends the death of somebody near-by. In parts of England, if the first lamb born to a farmer is black, a family member will die within the year.

Next the "supernatural death omens, like the "death coach", drawn by 6 horses, that might or might not have heads and driven by a headless driver stopping in front of a particular house, a sign someone will die the next day. Other phantom means of transportation such as boats, autos, trains, even airplanes have come to ppick up soulds of the dead, supposedly. Spectral hounds, black dogs, such as the "Black Shuck" and "Whisht Hounds" are associated as death omens.("GHOSTS & SPIRITS", ROSEMARY ELLEN GUILEY)
 
I've often heard about black trains, that come through at midnight. They're intensely quiet, and people claim they can herald death and more especially the death of many people at once. There's a common story around my parts about a black train that comes through over an abandoned section of rail. Most times, it's teenagers telling you about seeing it but there are a few adults who claim to have seen it as well.

Good post, man! The old folks almost always have a story or rule about things, because they work. "Red skies at night - sailor's delight. Red skies at morning - sailors take warning." These folk tales wouldn't be passed down if they didn't have something to them - and omens have always existed outside of the major religions, which would sometimes try to quell them. If omens didn't actually portend something then people wouldn't have put so much stock in them.
 

Don't put yourself down like you do, mate. Any post is informative in its own right, and regardless whether the reader agrees or not is valuable.

I'm sure you know worlds of information that I don't and vice versa. The key thing is that we keep presenting information in such a way as to keep the conversation/debate flowing in an intelligent manner. If we break down into worthless dribble and fighting conversation in the name of learning is kind of nulled.
 
Point being? I seldom use worthless dribble, define it before one should use it in a sentence, so if you are offended, just come out aand say you are po and why! The post is, well, at best, unclear, if its meant to be personal, I sure didn't feel it.
 
I just worded my post strangely, in retrospect. This is what I mean:

Stop calling yourself out on your stuff. You're posting good information. I'm not sure of the incident of which you speak, but I sure as hell am not going to hold it to you, and would expect others to do the same.
 
Graveyard Hound, you're definitely posting very interesting content all the time, you have nothing to worry about. No one's gonna put you down for the content you're posting, it's quality content. :)

As stupid as it sounds, I never heard of a Death coaches before.
 
The reports sometimes evolve over time.

It was more common in the late 1800's to see black coaches, trains, and before that black horsemen or black dogs. Modern reports report all of the above as well as black cars. There was a popular report that got investigated on a History Channel show, that described a phantom truck that would chase cars down a stretch of highway flashing its lights trying to wreck them, and near the end of the road it would just disappear.

I think the Headless Horseman stories evolved from similar incidents, and the Grim Reaper might be related to reports of such incidents during the Middle Ages/Plague times.
 

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