Dede-Spall
The dede-spall was thought to be another omen of death. The following description is by J Maxwell Wood*. A dede-spall is ‘the semi-molten part of the grease of a candle (so called from its...
Category: Folklore
Dede-Chack or Dead-Watch
Can woodworms predict forthcoming deaths? According to ‘Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland’ (1911) by J Maxwell Wood,’significant terms associated with the premonition of death are the “dead-watch,” or “dede-chack,”...
Licht Before Death, Glencairn
There are many folk customs that are said to foretell a death. The following descriptions of a prophetic light in the communities around Glencairn are extracted from [Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western...
A Case Of Turning The Key Divination (1697)
At the end of the 17th century, John Fergusson of Cummertrees was found guilty of using divination to identify a thief who had stolen a sack containing some cheese and herrings. The technique he...
Suicide Folklore
‘The practice of burying self murderers at cross-roads with a stake driven through their bodies, was of immemorial antiquity in England. It was abolished in 1823. Tradition points out in almost every neighbourhood numerous...
Slaghtaverty Dolmen
Slaghtaverty Dolmen is a prehistoric cairn associated in Folklore as the burial site of the Abhartach. ‘There is a place in the parish of Errigal in Londonderry, called Slaghtaverty, but it ought to have...
The Loch Light of Rannoch
In his book ‘The Peat-fire Flame’ (1937), Alasdair Alpin MacGregor refers to a strange experience around Loch Rannoch. ‘A phenomenon…..is associated with Loch Rannoch, where a light in the form of a ball sometimes...
The Chagford Pixies
According to Sarah Hewett in her ‘Nummits and Crummits’ published in (1900), ‘As a gentleman, late at night, was driving across the moor to Chagford, a village in mid-Devon, he was startled by the...
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