School: Sruthar (C.)

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1. Signs of Death - Pisreoga about Death and Funerals

   

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   There are a lot of ways by which people know of death. There was a woman living in Milford, and her name was Mrs. Joyce. She had one son in England. One night her daughter was sick in the house and she had to stay up to mind her. In the night at half past one, a face appeared at the window.

   She knew that it was her son’s face, but it was covered with blood. She asked the boy to come in, but she got no answer. The face remained at the window until the cock began to crow at four oclock. Then the woman fainted, and the face disappeared. The next day the woman got a wire that her son was killed at half past one that night.

   The night before my uncle died in Carlow my brother John heard a tick on the wall, and it was like the ticking of a watch. This is called the “dead man’s” tick. Next day we heard my uncle was dead.

   Before Mrs. Casey died, there were two girls staying with her, and every night at twelve oclock, there was a knocking at the windows. The night before she died, there was a woman heard crying outside the door, and she died at the same time the next night, and the crying woman was also seen and the people say it was the banshee.

   Nancy Donnellon, Carrowmore
   From Father John Donnellon 60 yrs.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. genre
      1. belief (~391)
         1. folk belief (~2,535)
   2. activities
      1. social activities (~7)
         1. rites of passage (~573)
            1. death (~1,076)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Nancy Donnellan

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Carrowmore, Co. Galway

   Informant

   John Donnellan

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   60

   Address

   Carrowmore, Co. Galway