Death Omens in English Folklore

 

            Death is everywhere. It pervades thought, superstition and religion. It preoccupies the heathens, the devout and everyone in between. As such, it’s a huge factor in English folklore. From spectral dogs appearing in churchyards to lighting fires on the New Year to robins and wrens bringing doom to innocent villagers, death is a central theme to many of England’s superstitions and legends. More specifically, death omens are everywhere, and they have represented a huge fear to many people throughout the ages. A premonition suggesting death is close at hand is therefore one of the most terrible things that can happen to a superstitious villager or peasant.

            One example of death appearing through a common entity is the well-known legend of the black dog. Sometimes referred to as the Black Shuck (East Anglia), Gurt Dog (Somerset), Cwn Annwn (Wales) or the Grim (Surrey), the black dog is not necessarily evil but is almost always a harbinger of death (“Black dog”). It appears at night, often around churchyards but also on lonely roads and along uninhabited stretches of down and moorland (Westwood 500). Usually the black dog has large, burning red or yellow eyes that glow like coals in the night and is very large and shaggy. It may also be headless (Westwood 501).

            Rarely does the black dog physically attack those it comes into contact with, but a notable exception of this is the Barghest (Yorkshire). A spate of deaths several centuries ago was attributed to a Barghest who had lost its way in the snickelways (narrow, public alleyways) of York. These murders were later revealed to be the work of a human perpetrator, but the legend of the Barghest persists (Shaw 204). Clearly, though folklore may be based on a one-time perceived truth it doesn’t stop when the real reason is found out. Even today, some residents exhibit reluctance to traverse the snickelways late at night, though this may also have something to do with an escalating crime rate.

            The black dog is one part of English folklore known throughout the country as an almost constant presence in local lore, but it has also made inroads into popular culture. Better-known hounds of this sort include the Hound of the Baskervilles, a creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his Sherlock Holmes series, and the Grim seen in the Harry Potter novels. Although the latter turns out to be a benevolent human in animal form, Harry is frightened by it, as he knows it to be a powerful suggestion of death. Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula also incorporates the black dog as one of Dracula’s alternate forms. Depending on the legend, seeing a black dog almost always means one’s death is near, sometimes within the coming year but occasionally as soon as a week or month away.

            In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry’s friend Ron says, “My Uncle Bilius saw a grim. Died the next day. Scared him to death” (Rowling 55). Clearly the legend of the black dog does have an effect on people, but not necessarily the one implied. For example, if one sees a black dog and then dies shortly thereafter those who knew of the incident will equate the death with the powers of the black dog. Alternatively, if one does not die immediately others may assume he is a marked man who has little time to live. Suggesting the “doomed” man may begin to live recklessly and dangerously could extend this theory, perhaps drinking more or engaging in highly unsafe activities since he knows he is to die soon. Through his actions the person might die, and then the curse of the black dog could be said to be fulfilled. Indeed, it could be considered the epitome of self-fulfilling prophecy. As any logician would advise, “Correlation does not equate with causation.” Just because event B happens immediately after event A does not imply event A caused event B. The black dog is as such a great example of people using folklore to explain events they don’t fully understand, in this case unexpected deaths.

            Another legend of death coming through an otherwise innocuous creature is that of the robin (and sometimes also the wren). Supposedly a robin hanging about outside one’s windows portends death within a year, and if the robin actually flies inside one’s house death is likely within a month (“English Heathenism…”). This legend dates back to at least the 16^th century, and a rhyme of the era advised, “Hurt a robin or a wran, (sic.) never prosper, boy or man.” Furthermore, if such a robin were to find a dead man’s body it would supposedly cover it with leaves and other forest detritus, as if it were respecting the body of the dead man (“English Heathenism…”).

            The death of Thomas Lord Lyttelton also echoes the robin superstitions. He died at 35 years of age in 1779, but three days before his death he received some sort of “vision” that he would die in three days. Included in this vision was an “angelic” woman and a bird, which Lyttelton later related he had seen fly inside a window some days previously. According to legend, the time of Lyttelton’s death was exactly three days post-vision (Westwood 716-7). Though modern logic suggests this is merely an untimely coincidence, Lyttelton’s death lends credence to the already common folk belief that a robin’s presence foretells death.

            Just like in the American legend of Sleepy Hollow, headless horsemen are also a common feature of English folklore. One notable recent incident, occurring in the twentieth century Hampstead Marshall (Berkshire) (1965), relates that a mechanic driving back from his garage on a rainy, windy night met a horseman on the road home through a park. He kept driving, and when he reached his home his wife asked whether the horseman had a head. He replied that he hadn’t noticed, and his wife related that when a headless horseman was seen in the vicinity the local lord was doomed to soon die. The mechanic thought nothing of it but William Bradley, sixth Earl of Craven died less than a month after that (Westwood 21).

            This legend goes to show that folklore has not lost all its power, even though people are more likely to discount it in the modern era as compared to in centuries past. Furthermore, people still remember these local legends; the one mentioned previously seems to have been in existence for some three hundred years previously. Also, death omens clearly do not always result in the doom of the one who sees them; they can also result in someone else’s death, especially if that someone is famous or of great importance. Death omens are clearly quite a large part of English folklore throughout history, even up to present day.

            Further death omens relate to traditions, especially those of the church. Since for most of English history the local parish church would have been the focal point for all village social activities, all religious activities and even all government activities it goes to figure much superstition and legend would be associated with it. Death omens also revolve around it. One example is the Grim, or black dog, discussed earlier but there are many others. These seem not to focus so much on particular manifestations of the devil or other evil spirits but more on actions people must take to ensure nothing bad happens to them or their loved ones. For example, previously to the English Reformation, in the time of the old Catholic traditions, it was said in Sheffield “A candle or lamp should be left burning all night on Christmas Eve. Unless this is done there will be a death in the house” (Roud 518). This particular “Yule candle” may be exclusive to the Sheffield area, but its pull is such that many people to this day still leave a candle burning all night on Christmas Eve. In my personal experience, this tradition is even kept by my family at the same time each year, although the reasons for the tradition seem to have been lost for posterity. My grandfather always justified these actions with a deep sense of foreboding, and a feeling of ill will in the family that might persist all year were the candle not lit. This tradition may very well descend from the Yule candles of Sheffield.

            One more Christmas superstition was that of decoration, especially in the north of England (Northumberland). Especially with regard to boughs of holly many superstitions rose up in the area about how long to leave these decorations, both in the home and in the church. For many centuries the standard operating procedure was to leave them in place until 2 February (Candlemas) at the home or else “something evil” would befall one of the senior members of the family. But in the church practice was far more stringent, with the stipulation that were any of the festive decorations still left in the pews after Candlemas someone in the family that occupied that pew would die, and die soon to boot. Some people were so frightened of this possibility that instead of leaving the cleaning to the church authorities they would send their own servants to clean their pews (Roud 524-5)! Clearly this tradition held much sway for many years, as it began as a pre-Reformation Catholic tradition and continued strongly at least well into the Victorian era.

            As can be seen from the many and varied traditions of death omens (of which the ones I have related constitute only a very small sample) people have since time immemorial held their folk traditions very close to heart. In many cases they still hold them to be true or at least keep them out of a sense of habit. Death omens and the traditions associated with them are unsurprisingly among the first of these to be maintained, since death is the most primal human fear and the one thing to be most avoided at an instinctual level.

           

 

 

Works Cited

 

 

 

“Barghest”. Wikipedia, English version. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barghest. 15 July 2008.

 

“Black dog”. Wikipedia, English version. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dog. 15 July 2008.

 

“English Heathenism and Folklore”. http://www.englishheathenism.homestead.com. 15 July 2008.

 

Roud, Steve. The English Year. London: Penguin Books. 2006.

 

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 55. New York: Scholastic. 1998.

 

Shaw, Jeffrey. Whitby Lore and Legend. 204. Whitby: Caedmon, 1985.

 

Westwood, Jennifer and Simpson, Jacqueline. The Lore of the Land. 21, 500-1, 716-7. London: Penguin Books. 2005.