Death - stories from ancient folklore

Death III

The presence of crickets in a house is generally believed to presage good luck, and hence they are most carefully preserved ; as their departure from a hearth which has long echoed with their cheerful chirp is thought to betoken approaching misfortune, and even death.

The Death's Head Moth (Acherontia atropos) is said to foretell death.It is regarded as highly ominous when it flies into a room in the evening, oftentimes being supposed to foretell calamity or death.

Mice are said to portend death—a superstition not uncommon in Devonshire and Cornwall

If every remnant of Christmas decoration is not removed out of church before Candlemas Day (February 2nd) it is believed by many that there will be a death that same year in the family occupying the pew where a leaf or berry is left.

In Sussex it is, here and there, believed that if the church clock strikes twelve while a hymn is being sung in the morning service, a death will most surely follow in the course of the week.

In the counties of Leicester and Northampton there is a very prevalent idea that the removal or exhumation of a body after interment bodes either death or some misfortune to the surviving members of the deceased's family.

In many places it is supposed that the departure of life is delayed so long as any locks or bolts in the house are fastened, as they are believed to hinder the soul in taking its leave of the body. It is a very common practice, therefore, when a person is apparently at the point of death, to open every door in the house, so that the struggle between life and death may not be painfully prolonged, but the soul allowed at once to accomplish its exit from this world without the slightest impediment.

• Death I
• Death II
• Death III