DEATH OMENS

Entries

• #1158

  To raise an umbrella in a house is a sign of an approaching death.

  Pennsylvania; somewhat general in the United States.
• #1159

  To open an umbrella in the house is a sign of ill luck. An action of this sort seriously disturbed a friend of the informant, an American girl of good family. “I would never dare to do that,” she said.

  Niagara Falls, Ont.
• #1160

  If a hoe be carried through a house, some one will die before the year is out.

  Mansfield, O.
• #1161

  Carrying through the house a hoe, spade, or axe indicates a death in the family.

  Virginia.
• #1162

  Carry an axe or any iron implement through the house, and some one will soon die.

  Southwestern Michigan.
• #1163

  Death is foretold by the ringing of a bell that cannot otherwise be accounted for.

  Southern Ohio.
• #1164

  When bread, in baking, cracks across the top, it means death.

  New Jersey and Ohio.
• #1165

  Cracks on the top of a loaf of bread indicate the death of a friend.

  Several localities.
• #1166

  When bright red specks resembling spattered blood appear on linen, it is held to be a token of misfortune, probably of death.

  Northern Ohio.
• #1167

  If the candle burns blue, it is token of a death.

• #1168

  To see a coffin in the candle is a token of death.

  Boston, Mass.
• #1169

  To see a “winding-sheet” in the candle has the same significance.

  Virginia.
• #1170

  Three lamps or candles burned close together mean death.

  Virginia.
• #1171

  If a sudden and unaccountable light is seen in a carpenter’s shop, it indicates that the carpenter will soon have to make a coffin.

  Cape Breton.
• #1172

  If a coffin creaks in a carpenter’s shop, another order soon follows.

  Newark, N. J., and Virginia.
• #1173

  If the coffin does not settle down smoothly into place in the grave, but has to be raised and lowered again, another in the family will die inside a year.

  Stevens Point, Wis.
• #1174

  Change a sick person from one room to another, and he will die.

  New Jersey.
• #1175

  If a clock, long motionless, suddenly begins to tick or strike, it is a sign of approaching death or misfortune.

  Newark, N. J., Virginia, and North Carolina.
• #1176

  If a corpse remains soft and supple after death, another death in the family will follow.

  Trinity Bay, N. F., and Prince Edward Island.
• #1177

  A cow mooing after midnight means death.

• #1178

  To dance on the ground indicates disaster, or death within a year.

  Boxford, Mass.
• #1179

  The hearing, in the wall, of the “death-watch,” or “death-tick,” betokens a death in the house.

  General in the United States.
• #1180

  A dish-cloth hung on a door-knob is a sign of death in a family.

  Deerfield, Mass.
• #1181

  To knock on a door and receive no answer is a sign of death.

  Virginia and Englewood, Ill.
• #1182

  The last name a dying person calls is that of the next to follow.

  New Hampshire.
• #1183

  Sometimes the dying call for an absent one, as if in trouble. This is a sign that that person will have some great trouble in after life.

  New York.
• #1184

  Death takes place at ebb tide.

  New England Coast.
• #1185

  The person on whom the eyes of a dying person last rest will be the first to die.

  Boston, Mass.
• #1186

  It is a sign of death to see a flower blossoming out of season, as, for example, a rose in the fall. This has proved a true omen in several cases, according to the experience of a lady who believes in these signs. In consequence of this belief, when she has such a a flower, she will pick it off the stem and throw it away, without mentioning the incident to any one.

  Niagara Falls, Ont.
• #1187

  It is a sign of death to see a tree blossoming in the fall.

  Orange Co., Va.
• #1188

  If a garment is cut out on Friday, the person for whom it is made will not live unless it is finished on the same day.

  Southern Indiana.
• #1189

  If you begin a quilt on Friday, you will never live to finish it.

  An act of this sort gave great distress to a domestic servant, who, until after the completion of the quilt, daily expected disaster. This woman came from French Canada.

  Maine.
• #1190

  If a doctor is called on Friday, the patient will surely die.

  Cambridge, Mass.
• #1191

  If a hearse is drawn by two white horses, death in the neighborhood will occur within a month.

  Central Maine.
• #1192

  If anyone comes to a funeral after the procession starts, another death will occur in the same house.

  Ohio.
• #1193

  At a funeral the first person who turns away from the grave will have the next death in his family.

  Trinity Bay, N. F.
• #1194

  If one goes to a funeral with the intention of following to the grave but does not do so, a death soon follows in his family.

  Virginia.
• #1195

  If it rains during a burial, another member of the family will soon follow.

  Poland, Me., Baldwinsville, N. Y., Ohio, and Alabama.
• #1196

  If rain falls into an open grave, another burial in the same cemetery will occur within three days.

  Western New York.
• #1197

  If you meet a funeral train, it is a sign of death.

  Prince Edward Island.
• #1198

  Do not let any one wear your hat to a funeral when you’ve not worn it before yourself.

  Massachusetts.
• #1199

  Whoever counts the carriages at a passing funeral will die within the year.

  Or, some one will die.

  Peabody, Mass., and Hennepin, Ill.
• #1200

  If shot remain in the gun after firing, some one of your family will die.

  Labrador.
• #1201

  If you build on to your house, you will die within the year.

  Labrador.
• #1202

  Lie down on a table and you will die before the year is out.

  Mattawamkeag, Me.
• #1203

  To hold a lamp over a sleeping person causes death.

  Massachusetts.
• #1204

  To break a looking-glass is a sign of death in the family before the year closes.

  General in the United States.
• #1205

  To break a looking-glass is a sign of death, or of bad luck or seven years. This is quite a general belief. Domestic servants, and particularly superstitious persons, are often thrown into a panic by accidents of this sort.

  General in the United States and Canada.
• #1206

  If three persons look into a mirror at the same time, one will die within the year.

  Peabody, Mass., and New Hampshire.
• #1207

  If one try on mourning when not wearing it, he will have occasion to wear it soon.

  Pennsylvania.
• #1208

  To put on a bonnet or hat of one in mourning is a sign that you will wear one before the year is out.

  Peabody and Boston, Mass., and Niagara Falls, Ont.
• #1209

  To drive a nail on Sunday is a sign that some one in the family will die within the year.

  Pigeon Cove, Mass.
• #1210

  Hearing an imaginary rap and opening an outside door lets death in.

  Ferrisburgh, Vt.
• #1211

  The hearing of three raps is a sign that some member of the family is dead.

  Boston, Mass., and Orange Co., Va.
• #1212

  If members of a family, after long separation, meet for reunion, some one of the members will die within the year.

  Cambridge, Mass.
• #1213

  Ringing in the ears is a sign of death.

  General.
• #1214

  Ringing in the ears means death before the week ends. Of this ringing the term “death-bell” is used. It may be said by a country woman: “Oh! I have heard a death-bell!” or, “What a death-bell in my ear! You will hear of a death before the week is out.” In case of a sudden death, such a person might say: “I am not surprised; I heard a death-bell on such a day.”

  Northern Ohio.
• #1215

  The term “death-bell” is also a popular one in

  Prince Edward Island.
• #1216

  In some localities the direction of the apparent ringing indicates the direction from which the news of death will come.

• #1217

  If an empty rocking-chair is seen to sway back and forth when apparently unoccupied, it is supposed that the chair is held by the spirit of some deceased member of the family, who has come back to choose the next to go, and call that person quickly.

  Michigan.
• #1218

  A spot resembling iron-rust on the finger means death.

  Maine.
• #1219

  Beginning on Saturday a garment that cannot be finished means death.

  Ohio.
• #1220

  Deaths do not come singly; but if one of a family dies, a second death in the same family will occur within a year.

  Cambridge, Mass.
• #1221

  Whoever works on a sick person’s dress, he or she will die within the year.

  Massachusetts.
• #1222

  If some one is sick and a storm comes, it is a sign he will die during its continuance.

  Virginia.
• #1223

  When a woman who has been sewing puts her thimble on the table as she sits down to eat, it is a sign that she will be left a widow if she marries.

  Central Maine.
• #1224

  If one sings at a table while the family are eating, it means the death of a friend.

  Or bad luck (Virginia); disappointment (New Jersey).

  Webster City, Iowa.
• #1225

  If three drops of blood fall from your nose, one of your family is dead.

  Labrador.
• #1226

  If you sneeze on Sunday morning before breakfast, you will hear of the death of some person you know before the next Saturday night.

  Northern Vermont.
• #1227

  If you sneeze at table with the mouth full, an acquaintance will die soon.

  Virginia and Alabama.
• #1228

  When sowing grain, if a strip of land is missed there will be a death inside of a year.

  Ohio and Maryland.
• #1229

  When you shiver, it means that some one is walking over the place where your grave is to be.

  General in the United States.
• #1230

  If sparks are left (unintentionally) in the ashes over night, it is a sign of death.

  Cumberland, Md.
• #1231

  If sparks of fire fly out of an opened stove door, it is a sign of death.

  Trinity Bay, N. F.
• #1232

  If any one in the town lies dead over Sunday, there will be another death before the end of the week.

  Bedford, Mass.
• #1233

  Three horses of the same color indicate death, but this sign is not very noticeable in a thickly settled community.

  Baldwinsville, N. Y.
• #1234

  Three chairs placed accidentally in a row mean death.

  Ohio.
• #1235

  If there is a death there will be three deaths in the family within a short time.

  New York.
• #1236

  To break the spell of thirteen at table, all should rise together, otherwise the first up (or, as some say, the last down) dies inside a twelvemonth.

  New England.
• #1237

  If thirteen sit at table, the one who rises first will not live through the year.

  Somerville, Mass., Newark, N. Y., and Mifflintown, Pa.
• #1238

  If thirteen sit at table, the last one who sits down will not die that year.

  Brookline, Mass.
• #1239

  If window-shades fall down without being molested, it is a sign of death.

  Cape Breton.